《原创》房车之旅总结

写了不少，先贴一部分，如果没人看就不继续贴下去了：

A life on wheels:
This is a feasible travelling method in Australia, before I go, I checked it out from http://www.freeoz.org/forum/view ... 0&page=1#pid1914637 and summarized that:

1.  No savage beasts in Australia, only some insects and little animals worth a caution in the wilds;

2. Caravan parks are common and easily found, and all essential facilities are accessible in it;

3. Even not staying in caravan park is feasible since the writer of the post only stayed and paid for the caravan park for 3 times during travelling around Australia in one year time, because all essential equipments for daily life are set in the motorhome already, and the disposal and refill of water and even gas can be done in gas stations which are widespread in Australia;

4. A motorhome is easy to find a place to park, it’s flexible, and all the areas except for those with a signpost of “no camping” are OK for parking overnight;

5. The social security is not worried about, e.g the writer didn’t meet any security troubles during the one-year journey.

In our practice, the motorhome which we hired have the benefits of flexibility for daily life activities; the reason why this sort of vehicle is called motorhome is that it is a portable home or a home on wheels, less things to worry about since our home is set in a safe vehicle already, like accommodations booking, time of having a rest or even sleeping, timing of dining, etc.. As this is the first time we experienced a motorhome travelling, we spent our nights all in caravan parks rather than in the wilds , so that the night life was more comfortable and the sense of safety is more secured, because the facilities are more sufficient and convenient, water, electricity and gas supplies are more abundant in caravan parks, in 4 nights we had, 2 of them were booked in advanced, the other two are casual, although it’s weekend, it would be OK with not booking ahead if it’s not a peak of traveling, like Easter or Christmas, and I have to mention that the two bookings are of Big 4 caravan park which is a chain caravan park company Australia-wide, we feel good to stay in Big 4 (www.big4.com.au): Big 4 Port Augusta – Wilpena pound (centre of Flinders Ranges National Park <FRNP>) – Wilpena pound – Big 4 Hawker.

支持支持。
可是为啥不用中文涅？

我就不喜欢把东西贴出来后被晾着没人看，既然有两位友好看客了，已经足够了，呵呵！我就把剩下的全贴出来吧。
刚回来一口气写的，顺便练练英文，大伙就将就着看吧，怎么也算是劳动成果嘛，中英文平等嘛，呵呵，反正不会造成阅读障碍的。
因为其它事情比较忙，就不打算增减或修改内容了。不好意思啦哈。希望对大家有用，也是自己的一个小总结。

Besides, living in a motorhome is really a group life, we are 4 persons, 2 narrow beds which are designed for 4 adults, one is top bunk located on the top of the driver’s cabin, the other is at rear dinette, we exchanged the beds by nights in order to experience differently. In such a small space with lots of facilities and daily life activities, a harmonious atmosphere is more than important, especially while someone getting up at late night for toilet making noise to interrupt other sleeping people, and putting things away so that the motorhome can move without shaking the stuff to fall down.

For recommendations of hiring a motorhome, I do suggest that the toilet is not recommended if you are not interested in disposing the toilet waste, or, if the budget is really loose enough, you can still hire the model that has a toilet, just in case you are a female and need it in the wilds at night, but make a rule that whoever uses the toilet first will need to do the disposal; anyway, that’s not a big deal because you will only suffer a bit from the smelling rather than any skin touching, the toilet waste tank is quite convenient and safe to operate.

Relevant maps or streets directories are enough, but to be convenient, GPS is recommended, this is also the case in all other types of self drive travel.

Driving carefully is always an important issue, especially when you drive a vehicle with 6m length, 2.2m width and 3.4m height as our Explorer (model name), hence, a sufficiently covered insurance is strongly recommended to purchase; our motorhome’s top was hit by the angle of a Hungry Jack’s Drive Through building’s roof, and fortunately, we had purchased the full covered insurance from Britz.

Camping tables and chairs are further giving you comfort and fun, think about the limited space in the vehicle, you need to better perceive the nature and the opening area, so this expenditure is inevitable, our hiring package includes 1 table and 4 chairs, they are all foldable.

Buying an inventor by yourself is also a good idea if you can’t completely get away from your city life, plenty of electric appliances were carried in our this journey, they all need power recharging, but we stayed in the caravan park every night which means the recharging is not a problem at all, however, if not planning staying in any set accommodation for several days, or there is only unpowered camping site available, an inventor which invents from AC to DC is really useful and practical, I bought one from Dick Smith for $50, it’s easy to use.

Last but not least, unless you are in a rush to a definite destination, it’s wiser to settle down at least 1 hour before sunset, so that you can be clear about the surrounding of the location that you will stay overnight, you are supposed to know how dark it is in the unfrequented regions after sunset, moreover, if you are a timid people, the active night activities of various wild animals would be a huge mental challenge to you, fortunately not physically; if choosing to stay in caravan park, still settle down early please, those places are really dark as well, it would be fun to walk around the caravan park and meet different camping families or travelers with a wide range of camping facilities and gears, they are interesting to have a look, chatting with them would be more wonderful, because camping is a fundamental and ‘compulsory’ lessen to learn about Australian’s life style; just before sunset and in the early morning, wild lives are willing to close to human-being, no matter staying in the wilds or in caravan park, at this time, you will easily encounter a cute kangaroo or some lovely birds closely. That’s why I suggest you to arrange your time like this.

Bonfire:
That’s an interesting night entertainment program, isn’t it?

First of all, checking out the regulations about camping fire is an essential preview of your camping journey, e.g. the highly risky season, scope of prohibited areas, whether picking up firewood is allowed in certain districts. We were traveling within the prohibited season, but setting campfire in camp site of the caravan park is permitted because the bonfire site is set there, that is that we can set fire beside our vehicle; on the other hand, picking up firewood is prohibited in FRNP, luckily, our caravan park – Wilpena Pound is at the edge of the park, we reached the near creeks (drought creek) just outside the park to collect about 20kg firewood for one night, every day time collecting firewood and in the evening burning them. Just keep it in your mind that the fire is ensured put out and the campfire site is not windy, bushy or leafy, it’s a reminder that the bushfire disaster in Vitoria early this year. Fire can be fun, otherwise it’s absolutely a disaster.

Leaves are strongly recommended by me to be the tinder, the second best option is thin bark or slim branch, in Australia, such a low-altitude country, commonly compact gas lighter is enough to be a kindling, match stick is not essential in most cases, unless the region is highly humid, then a box of water-proof match stick may be practical, it costs no more than $2 which is still economically acceptable. If the firewood is fairly limited, don’t burn too much at the beginning, just add them into the fire gradually to keep burning.

Set a wood cone, then the burning can be guaranteed ventilated, ventilating is the primary factor of constant burning.

Mobile phone network covering:
In FRNP, your mobile phone can hardly connect to your service provider, going south by Hawker, the signal will become more and more accessible, landline telephone can be found in certain locations within the FRNP, plus, cars are traveling on roads frequently in day time, thus, hiring a satellite phone is not essential in FRNP.

Hiking:
There are plenty of walking and climbing trails in FRNP, we picked the Mount Ohlssen Baggage Hike, it’s a trail reaching one of the tops of the Wilpena Pound range, it took us around 4.5 hrs to accomplish the return hiking, somewhere is really a climbing by using both hands and feet, durable and sturdy boots are recommended for the trail’s uneven surface and gravel.

Cycling:
The exclusive cycling trail in FRNP is Mawson Trail, we only completed a short distance, it’s said that the whole course is 100 km. Cycling consumes more energy than hiking because the surface is uneven and graveled. Renting a bike can be done in the Wilpena’s information centre.

Water：
It’s always a concern during traveling in dry regions like Flinders Ranges, deserts and Outback, make sure you have prepared definitely sufficient drinking water before each time you set off, even in late April, we could hardly find one drop of water on the ground surface outside populated towns or villages. To drive a motorhome, water supply in the tank should be prepared well before setting off.

Rubbish:
Australia has a widespread fragile ecological system, especially in the drought areas of SA, WA and NT, unregulated disposal of rubbish or waste without reasonable treatment is harmful to the nature and its residents (both animals and human). Caravan parks are everywhere, which is an ideal place for disposal.

ok，功成身退了。。。