Winton to Cloncurry

Start: 12pm

I really haven’t given much information about the Avan Aspire 499 Caravan,itself so now if the time to give you and update. We as a family of 4 have been traveling in the Avan Aspire 499 standard layout for 7 days. We have a double bed in the back with a combined shower and toilet, front café style dinette that converts into a double bed. So every night we convert the bed for the kids to sleep on. I know that sounds like more work but really it isn’t that bad, but the bunk bed model would have been better giving them a bed each and still have the use of the table…

Even thought this Aspire 499 is only 15ft we have managed quite fine. I will say one thing this van has heaps of storage. This surprised me. I have under the bed with next to nothing in it, the over-head above the bed are nearly empty as well.  I have still not bought much from shops of the way and still I’m trying to get through the food I bought from home. I did not anticipate this at all.

Next time I will only plan for a few days and stop by the many IGA / Spars / Foodworks I have found in most towns along the way. Still city me thought we wouldn’t have access to as much food stores at prices I would say are just higher that the city. We should expect that for how far out we are. All in all even as a family of 4, I would still tell people to have a second look at the Avan Aspire 499 Caravan… it would be a great starter family van for short to medium trips.

We have found dump points and access to water has been easier than we expected, but I would say a good filter is a must and a grey water storage tank would be a recommended option for freedom camping.

This morning after a walk through Winton, we headed with the van back out to the Age of Dinosaurs Canyon walk. We jumped on the bus and headed down to the canyon display. In this area they show re-creations of what it would have looked like when the dinosaurs roamed the plains. There were some great photo opportunities coming off the jump up.

Off to Cloncurry, for some reason this was a hard drive… It was hot and flat with little passing traffic. We fuelled up at Kynuna a tiny town about 170kms out of Winton. We arrived in Cloncurry about 4pm and found a spot at the Discovery Park Cloncurry. This park has heaps of cabins for miners, shady van sites a pool and the best thing of all……Free CLEAN washing machines and driers. Guess what I did……LOL

Finish: 4pm