Bushtracker construction photos

Still a work in progress. 

The attached photos have been supplied courtesy of Bushtracker with Thursday 18th August scheduled as our handover day.

Our new Bushtracker

In October 2015 we placed an order on a 20' Bushtracker.
Mid March 2016, and we were once again at the factory at Kunda Park to finalise our plans and lock in our options, before the start of construction.

 We always thought we would remain with the timber interior, but after looking at the new colour choices up close and personal, we have now decided to go with these. 

All eight vans we viewed at the factory were finished in the new interior colours.

IOHO the colours we have chosen will not date over time and best of all Ros can use vibrant colours throughout the van to complement these. 

Our leather colour is Storm:

Curtains are Steel:

Benchtops and splashbacks in the kitchen and ensuite are White Tigris:

All the doors and drawers are Basalt:

All bulkheads are coloured Platinum Micro:

The vinyl flooring is Urban Dark Grey:

So overall our colours will be close to those in this photo:

The only major hassle is having to wait for delivery day, until our van rolls off the production line. All up it will have been a nine month wait, which has a lot to do with the vans popularity, its build quality, and like us so many Bushtracker owners who have come back and ordered a second van.

Apart from all the usual standard inclusions we have also decided to have some of these options installed.
A 300 a/h Lithium battery pack:

An Aussie Sizzler BBQ. These are made of stainless steel, have two separate burners and can be used as a BBQ, oven, or as a cooktop: 

We also like the look of the new external shower connection and have decided to have one of these:

Of course we love not having all the switches in plain view but hidden inside a cupboard:

Another favourite is the Crimsafe look alike door.

Individual USB charging ports either side of the bed:

Generator/jerry can storage along with wood rack. Our diesel heater tank will now be installed at the rear of the generator box giving us much easier access for filling:

Also having a Melenco TV aerial installed. 

These are omnidirectional with no need to rotate or raise and lower. They are 32 cm high:

We are also upgrading the tow capacity on our Landcruiser 200 Series. Lovells Suspension have just announced a tow upgrade from 3500 Kgs to 4000 Kgs. The only prerequisite is that the vehicle has already had its GVM upgraded to 3800 Kgs, and ours was upgraded prior to being registered.

Of course it doesn't mean we are going to load our new van to the max. It's more about peace of mind knowing that we will always remain well under our maximum load limits without impacting our insurance.

Our Bushtracker is sold

Our Bushtracker has now been sold, and today it headed north to a new home in Queensland. 

We are eagerly counting down the days until our new Bushtracker is delivered in July..................

Our van is still for sale

Due to unforeseen circumstances our Bushtracker van is now back for sale.

Our much loved Bushtracker

We have sold our Bushtracker to the first person who inspected it. Congratulations to Mark from Toowoomba. Now we have a nine month wait before our new Bushtracker is built..........

Heading home

After seven relaxing days at Airlie Beach we were on the road once again. We swam every day and gathered a few rays along the way.

Half an hour after leaving we joined the Bruce Highway at Proserpine as we continued on towards Mackay a further 124 km away. It wasn't long before we passed through Sarina as we continued south. It was another 64 km until we passed by Carmila. There is a free camp at Carmila Beach where we have stayed in the past.

18 km south of Carmilla we arrived at the small seaside settlement of Clairview. The Bruce Highway is only several hundred metres from the coast here. Its the only point along this highway where the coast can be seen from Bowen in the north to the Gold Coast in the south, which is a distance of just over 2000 km. Lucky for us that the tide was in because when it's out the mud flats don't look very appealing. There is caravan park here and if you are self sufficient you can camp right beside the beach. 

We spent about twenty minutes here before continuing on towards the turnoff to St Lawrence which is 6 km from the highway.

After passing the turnoff to St Lawrence for the past forty odd years we were quite surprised with this little town. The towns streets were very wide and reminded us a lot of Normanton in the gulf country. It wasn't until we read some of the history about the town that we could understand why.

The town is one of the oldest on the Queensland coast and was originally a main port and a very prosperous town. Gold and copper from the mines inland, along with cattle were exported from here. The towns growth however was short lived and its population rarely exceeded  250 people.

The courthouse was built in 1872 and is now the local Police Station. It has been repainted in its original colours: 

These pylons are all that remain from the original bridge:

And the new bridge over St Lawrence Creek:

 Our camp for the evening was a free camp several kilometres from town. There were toilets, a dump point, coin operated showers and water taps scattered throughout the area. It was quite a large area and when we stayed, there were about thirty groups camped here with plenty of room to spare.

Even though we didn't use any of the facilities we still left a $10 donation. Unfortunately many who arrived and then left early the next morning weren't going to part with even a gold coin donation. These type of people are the ones to thank when areas like this are closed down. Word is that the Isaac Regional Council will soon introduce fees here and at Carmila Beach, because they are providing a service and receiving nothing back in return.

Another early start as we left St Lawrence this morning just before 7:00. We were trying to get several hours under our belts before the strong winds returned. An hour later we passed by Marlborough with another 105 km until we arrived on the outskirts of Rockhampton. It took us ages getting through Rocky as we struck red lights at every intersection.

South of Rockhampton we were held up for about ten minutes waiting for an eight metre wide load heading north:

Now we were on the homeward stretch for the day. Our camp tonight was the Calliope River a further 108 km south. Its another free camp and we camped here on the 11th July on our way north. On that day there were more than sixty vans camped here but tonight we countered just thirty. 

Yet another early start as we left Calliope at 6:15 in an effort to beat the winds yet again. Our coffee break was taken at the free camp just north of Gin Gin. Our breaks are normally around 10:30 but because we left so early this break was taken at 8:30.

It wasn't long until we passed through Childers and then left the Bruce Highway at Howard as we took some minor roads through Takura before the final 22 km run into Hervey Bay. We camped at the Happy Wanderer caravan park just 400 metres from Shelley Beach.

Spent two days at Hervey Bay having a look around and would certainly come back here again once all the southerners have left. October and November would be the ideal time.  We swam on both days with the water being lovely and clear but just a little cooler than Airlie Beach. 

On one of our days we lunched at the Boat Club which overlooks the marina. Unfortunately I chose the fresh Hervey Bay scallops on a bed of rice with a mornay sauce and grilled cheddar cheese. What a mistake, it had absolutely no flavour. 

We made our way south to the Sunshine Coast without booking a site at the Maroochydore Beach holiday park. When we arrived just before midday we were surprised to find that just about all the sites were taken. School children on the Sunshine Coast were having a pupil free day on the preceding Monday making for a busy long weekend.

If we had arrived that afternoon then I'm sure we would have missed out all together. 

Our days here were mostly spent at the beach with two part days taken up visiting the Bushtracker factory at Kunda Park. 

After five days we headed south towards home. Our drive today was just 250 km but included driving south on the Sunshine Motorway and then down past the Gold Coast. These roads are always choked with traffic and these conditions continued until we crossed the Tweed River. From here it was just another 30 km until we arrived at the Yelgun rest area for the evening. 

Amazingly the caravan parking area is on sloping ground, so to level the van the 4wd is driven onto chocks to ensure a pleasant nights sleep.

The remaining 260 km home now takes extra time south of Grafton. Much of this road now has a speed limit of just 80 km/h with the upgrade to the Pacific Highway.

Bushtracker for sale

Our December 2008 19 foot Bushtracker is for sale for $85,000.

We stopped in at the Bushtracker factory the other day to pick up some spare door locks and asked if we could look through some of the new vans. 

The rest is history and after several days contemplating our navels we placed a deposit on a 20 footer.

We never thought we would move away from the Tasmanian Oak timber look but have done just that. The new modern colour choices have really appealed to us and we have already chosen all our interior colours and our new layout.

Delivery of our new van is expected in July 2016.

Those who read our blog will know that our van was damaged by hail in November 2013. Insurance work and extras we paid for at the time were completed in May 2014 and include the following listed below.

·    • Total van re-skin. Changed to silver cladding 

• Dometic A & E Electric awning 
• Air-conditioner 
• Four seasons hatch 
• Windows above kitcken and café dining 
• Roof mounted satellite dish 
• 12 volt hatch above ensuite 
• Vehicle Components liftmaster jack 
• Dual coloured LED lights on vans nearside 
• Sail track on offside 
• All interior lights replaced with LED lights currently being installed in new    Bushtracker vans 
• Fusion MS-AV600 marine stereo with IPOD/CD and MP3 connection 
• 24” TEAC LED TV on swing arm 
• Detachable TV mount and external connections under annex installed into fully fibre glassed external AV locker with DPP & 12VPP 
• 2 x silver Alpine external speakers 
• D035 hitch with dust cap 
• 2 x 12 volt Sirocco fans 
• 4 x 110 amp/h exide batteries installed 28 July 2015 
• Enerdrive 12v 60 amp ePOWER battery charger fully automatic multistage 19 October 2015 
• 2 x 9kg gas cyclinders 
• Rear taillights changed to LED 
• Weight distribution system 
• Main door with black surrounds 
• Bearing service 
• Underbody resprayed body sound deadener 
• All stove gas jets updated 
• New gas regulator 
• New toilet cassette 
• 4 x brand new tyres 

Original inclusions: 

• 2 x single beds with one longer than the other 
• Waeco 190 litre Danfross compressor driven fridge/freezer 
• Swift 500 series grill and oven 
• 12” commercial brakes 
• 4 x 90 litre water tanks 
• 4 x 135 watt solar panels 
• Diesel heater with two outlets (1 in ensuite) 
• Water sterilisation unit 
• Gas bayonet outlet with 3 metre lead 
• Winegard TV Antenna with Next G antenna 
• Autosat 2C roof mounted satellite dish 
• Alltec VAST satellite decoder 
• Connection for Austar/Foxtel 
• Cordless headphone system 
• AV switchbox 
• 4 x roof mounted Pioneer speakers 
• Subwoofer/amplifier system 
• 2 x rear stabilizer legs

With all the options listed above our 19′ Bushtracker van is fully self contained and includes the following options that allow us to travel and camp away from caravan parks:  4 x 125w solar panels, 4 x GRT AGM 100a/hr maintenance free batteries, 4 x 90 litre water tanks, Dometic diesel heater, 190 litre fridge/freezer. All these options including the 24″ LED TV and fully automatic Autosat satellite dish mounted on the roof use 12 volt power generated by the van. 

Contact me on 0438 319 284