AROUND THE BLOCK

[kiwijim]

G'day Gang,
Well here we are sitting on the water front in Beautiful Pt Lincoln,
South Australia.
It took us three days to cross the sand patch, with no troubles,
The Thomson towed like a dream, we averaged 90-95 kph in 5th gear in the Nissan and with a tail wind all the way.

The days were hot to very hot, but as soon as the sun set the temperature dropped like a stone, very nearly freezing over night, not to worry, the Thomson is very well insulated and kept us very cozy.

Sorry no photo's as yet, still have to get this lap-top to accept that Photo Bucket, Don't worry Folks, there will be plenty of pretty pic's to come.

The temperature here is for-cast to be in the low 40's for the next week, so we will move on up toward Adelaide tomorrow and hopefully find a Caravan Park on the Coast where we are going to camp for a week, or until it cools down a fare bit.

The Thomson has been a big attraction every-where we have stopped, Getting pretty tired of repeating it's history,
Think I shall have to get some sort of poster made, before I go horse.

The pictures should start to appear under the heading of this present tread fairly shortly.

Cheers and Beers All.

kiwijim
P.S.....hope to catch up with all you South Aussies as we travel through your area's.

[bobt]

well well Happy new Year young fella

I was starting to think you might have melted in the heat. But I guess you did not...

Glad to hear you got across the way. sure not the weather you were hoping for. Wot Adelaide about to have the hotest stint in history.. I am sure that air conditioner will look after you.

Look forward to the pictures.

bobt

[Deleted]

Hey Kiwijim

Yeah, I'm still alive

Great to see you are on the road and got accross the sand patch. ;D ;D

I know the feeling well, when everybody wants to talk to ya about the Thompson. I have the same with the Val

We might finally cross paths somewhere as we are at Narooma NSW, till at least end January.

The bride is working.......I'm just enjoying being a dole bludger

Look forward to some photies. Why don't you start a travel blog, its good fun.

Safe travels

vkgreenie
Follow our adventures and travels theretroroamers.blogspot.com

[mike]

Greetings kiwijim, ;D

Good to see you've finally hit the road!!

That heat can't be too good, but under the shade of an banksia, or acacia in one of them coastal caravan parks sounds great.

I'm glad to see you enjoy the fruits of your labours working on the Thompson over the years, and I was interested in your trial of a 12v/lpg freezer just before you left. How's that going?

Bon voyage
mike ;D ;D ;D

[kiwijim]

G'day Gang,

Well I finally got that Dreaded Photo bucket to do the right thing (I hope)

Here are a few Pic's of the first week's travels. Around the Block....

this is a photo of where the three Truckers met their fates after being allowed to drive into a Bush Fire on Gt Eastern Hwy, just over two years ago, the bush is still trying to recover.

The Memorial erected on the side of the Hwy for the Truckers,

Our first night's camp, Southern Cross C/van Park.

A Road-side stop, Checked the Wheel Bearings on the Thomson...Nice and cool.

Thats all for now Guys, This Wireless B/Band chews up the credit in no time.

The next shots will be of our Nullarbor crossing.

Cheers & Beers.
kiwijim

[kylarama]

Jan 10, 2010 16:04:28 GMT 10 kiwijim said:

Your setup looks a treat!
You've gotta be happy with that.

Sad story about the truckies.

Happy and safe travels.

[atouchofglass]

Maaaaate ......... good to see you out there and enjoying the open road

look forward to seeing you when you are up my neck of the woods
keep the photos coming and we will all be envious ;D ;D ;D ;D

Cheers
Atog

[kiwijim]

Howdy Guys,

Just a quick question, as I try to set up this lap top,

Can anyone jog this old memory and tell me which program you use to re-size your photos before transferring them to photo bucket ?

Thanks kiwijim.

[kylarama]

I know you can resize them on photobucket, thats what I do.

Or do you want to resize prior to save on upload time?

[mike]

Greetings Kiwijim,

Assuming you're in Windows Photo Gallery, go to (press) Fix,
then Crop picture,
then Custom.

then you can select one of about 5 sizes that are available, one of which is A4 size!!

Not very user-friendly, but may be able to be used, BEFORE uploading to photobucket.

*************************

Or is the problem that they are huge in terms of memory size?
You can reduce multi-Megabyte sized photos to a few hundred kilobytes by converting them to jpegs. If that is the problem, I can do a cut and paste here to describe the process: about 20lines.

Cheers
mike

[kiwijim]

Hi Kalarama,

Yes I want to resize before I transfer to Photo bucket,
Seconds saved on this wireless B/B can add up to big $$$

Trouble with these Senior's moments.... I have used this resize program for years but in the haste to get the wheels turning,
I forgot to transfer all the programs from the home computer to this lap-top.

I do recall telling some-one about it here on one of the treads only a short while ago, and giving them the Web Address for it's down-load.

Howdy Atog,
We will eventually get to your heck-of-the-woods, but I would hate to say which month or year that will be.

Because of the present heat-wave in Adelaide, we have stayed here in Whyalla for the past 4 days,

The Air-con I fitted to the side of the Thomson hasn't stopped since our arrival and is keeping us cool, a good 10-15 deg down on the out-side temp, which last night only came down to 29 over-night and is at present around 43 out-side.

We intend to hit the road again just after sun-down this evening,
probably around 10 pm and set sail for Port Augusta, this is only 75 clicks away so once there we will have a break then head on down to-wards Adelaide.

A cool change of 26 deg is forecast there tomorrow with a chance of some rain (lovely) haven't seen that stuff since last Nov.

Well Guys, here's hoping some-one out there in Classic-land, can put their finger on that program I want,

As VKGREENIE said keep tuneened for more Pic's of the wandering Thomson soon.

kiwijim & the Sugar N Spice

[mike]

Kiwijim, ;D ;D ;D

I'm going to assume you've got a problem with the size of the memory used by the photo (not the measurement of the length by breadth).

The way to do it is as follows (my sons method! It is used mainly for photos that are too large to fit on the screen; but can also be used to enlarge a photo):

**************

Open Windows Explorer (or the folder) to where the file is saved.
Right click the photo's file name and
choose 'Open With'
From the list choose 'Paint' (or 'choose program' then choose 'Paint')
Then Ok and the photo appears in Paint

Choose the pull down menu 'Image'
Then 'Stretch/Skew'
In the stretch section change both percentages to 10% (or whatever you want as long as what you enter is less than 100%)
[But make it more than 100% if you want to enlarge it]
Then Ok.
The picture will now have come into view as it is a lot smaller [larger].

Choose pull down menu 'File'
Then 'Save As'
You have to enter a 'File name' and more importantly a 'Save as type'
Enter a file name
For the type it may already be saying 'JPEG', but if it isn't click on the arrow and choose 'JPEG' from the list
Then Ok

When looking at this new file in Windows Explorer you will see that this file is very small in file size and when you open it the photo will now be all on the screen. [Larger if you chose >100%]

*******************

Hope this is what you need.
... and the piccies will be just what we all need!!
(Hope it coold down a bit for you both!!)

Cheers
mike ;D ;D ;D

[millard1399]

Hey kiwijim, you don't have time to worry about posting pictures and all that stuff! You should be sitting in your deck chair enjoying the sunrise, the midday siesta, and then the evening sunset!

And if you do have any spare time during the day, you should spend it sitting in your deck chair waiting for the next sunset!! ;D ;D

Maybe the software program you're thinking about is IrfanView, or Picasa, or something like that. Click on this old thread for some info about software for resizing photos: posting pictures ?

I wanna see a picture of you in the deck chair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D ;D ;D

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Hi,

If you are using XP ...

While it's great that newer digital cameras can take beautiful 5, 6, or 7 megapixel pictures, e-mailing such large photo files can clog up your recipient's Inbox.

Resizing pictures before you e-mail them—or even before you burn them to a CD—is made simpler using a free Windows XP download called the Image Resizer, which is one of the many handy tools that make up the Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP.

Microsoft XP ‘How To Resize Pictures’

Microsoft XP Image Resizer – Download .exe and install on XP PC (521 KB)

What ISP are you using for your Wireless connection?

I presume Telstra.

[Deleted]

Perhaps a hint.

Turn off Microsoft updates and your Virus protection update, until you find some free wifi to get hold of the updates.

This will save a lot of download.

[bobt]

hi kiwijim

I am disappointed I would have thought the man with all the right moves would have had it mastered before he left....

If you have office install on your laptop then you have an application that will reduce the size of your images it is called "Microsoft Office Picture Manager" If not then perhaps someone in SA or Vic will be able to help you before you get to far down the track.

The other thing you need to watch is your email. If you have friends like mine that send 20meg of jokes to you every day then you will run up a big bill on the wireless. I have my email account at home that gets tons of "joke" emails and I have my hotmail account that I use when I am travelling. ONLY a very select few know what it is.

So where are you now?

bobt

[kiwijim]

howdy Bobt.

Thanks for the tips on saving cash of this wireless B/Band.

At present we are camped in Murray Bridge,
later this morning we will head off South aiming for Talem Bend,
then on South down the coast to-wards KINGSTON S.E..

We had a night run from Pt Augusta, very high temp (47deg) there, so did an over-night trip South to Adelaide, lost directions and ended up towing the Thomson right through the C.B.D.
in pouring rain at 9.00am yesterday morning.

Finally found our way out of that Hell-hole to our present location, the weather here has returned to a lovely cool over-cast 16 deg at present,

I spotted a heap of old caravans in a wreckers just North of Adelaide around 5km out, unfortunately couldn't get a photo of them because of heavy rain and that traffic (GEZ).

Now the photos of the Nullarbor crossing follows..........

The start of a long boring drive.

The only shade and water on the whole trip, about half way across, near the W.A./S.A. border.
Thats all for now,

Cheers kiwijim

[Deleted]

Hi KiwiJim,

And Good grief.

You wizzed past the West Coast in the blink of an eye without putting King George whiting on the dinner table.

Are you on the Redex trial.

[kiwijim]

Howdy wahroonga,

As they say there is a reason for ones madness,
In my case, the reason for not stopping to chuck the line off the Great Aust Bight, was the fore-cast of very hot weather on the way, so I wanted to get across the "Sand Patch" before it hit.

It's no place to be when the Temp climbs into the mid 50's.

Now that the heat has come and gone, and we are well South of Adelaide, there is a good chance of getting some good sized Whiting off these lower shores.

Today we arrived in Kingston, home of the Giant Lobster.......



Now how would you like that "little Baby" on your Dinner plate!!

Just stepping back a week or so, here are a couple of shots I took while we were in Pt Lincoln, a very pretty place for a break..

This photo was taken out the front door of the Thomson

any closer and we would be in the water.

Cheers all, kiwijim ;D ;D

[Deleted]

Gidday Jim and Jean,

How is the trip going, good to see that you have the piccies sorted mate and yes the rig certainly is looking good.

That shot at southern cross reminded me of when I worked out there and stayed in that very park for about three months, not a bad camp that one actually thats where I got my viscount from in that very caravan park, bought it off the owner Les I think his name was funny bugga he is a real character.

Geez mate the weather is a bit hot for travelling aye mind you your not missing much here either gonna be 42 on sunday they reckon in perth.

Hope you and SWMBO are enjoying the break mate and keep up the good work with the piccies and story as well. All the best mate and happy trails.

p.s I reckon if I caught the red eye to melbourne you could pick me up tomorrow and I would be able to co drive the rest of the trip for ya waddayarwreckinmaaaate pretty pleeeaaase.

Carl

[bobt]

Hey kiwicarl

Have you noticed a sudden silence for the other kiwi??? ;D ;D


Kiwijim

LOve the pics.. Must get to that side of the earth one day soon. Now ya not on a redex trial... or are ya???

I know its hot but ya have an airconditioner..... and a generator too if I remmber right.... Or have you travelled that bit so many times ya just are over it??

bobt

[kiwijim]

" All RIGHT "
WHO PULLED THE PLUG !!

Start again, $#&^^##.

Howdy kiwicarl,

As I was saying before someone wiped me out..
There is still a chance for you to catch up,

The Sugar & Spice has felt sorry for you ( or your whining ) he he he,
The one who must be obeyed, has decreed that we will wait a week when we hit Melbourne for you,
So hook-up the Viscount and catch up real fast, you should do it easily with that "8 Banger" of yours ;D ;D.

Bobt, we do intend to do some camping, starting tomorrow we head south around 50km to a private property on the beach, slip the owner a couple of bucks, then set up camp for a few weeks,

That should give that other kiwi a better chance of covering the sand patch in record time ;D ;D ;D it will also give me a chance to catch some great big Silver Whiting known to lurk in these waters.

I can tell you all that Classic Caravans are far from dead, here in S.A.
I took these pic's this morning through the fly screen of the Thomson (because of the flies)...........

A Millard right next door, around 16ft


just across the path, an early Lowtow Prattline.

The Fibreglass camper below was being folded up when I spotted it, the owner knew nothing about it, he bought it in Canberra and after chucking a new axle under it, took off on holiday, there is an emblem embossed on the rear, "ACT" but no other name any-where.
May-be some-one can identify it, the owner would be very pleased if any information about it comes to light as he will be joining us on this forum when they return home...........



Till we get some more pic's...........

Cheers kiwijim

[Deleted]

Gidday Jim and Jean,

I tell you what mate if I could hook the old girl up and do a runner I would do it in the blink of an eye, but alas work calls (bugga it) and I have to stay put for now and I am stuck here in Perth for a while yet as the job down the line where I was gonna take the van to live in fell over so I cant even enjoy the camping lifestyle at work either, so I might have to plan a weeks getaway with my cheese and kisses just so we can use the blimin' van.

Good to see a few classics still getting about out there and keeping the dream alive aye Jim we have a few roving ambassabors for the forum out spreading the good word so to speak so we might just gain some membership over the next wee while I'm thinking.

I have been plotting your course on google earth mate and geez youv'e covered some ground alright and some beaut spots that youv'e stayed as well buddy giving me a few ideas for when I get the go ahead to do the same.

Anyway mate happy trails and keep them coming.

Carl

[bobandjacqui]

G'day Kiwijim.

We have been following your adventure for awhile. Looks like you and the missus are having a great time. That fold down camper that you posted is an Australian Camper Trailer, we had one way back in the 70's . The first camper we owned. We spent Xmas at Elliot Heads Qld. and we met two couples there camped side by side in the local van park in identical vans. Sorry but never thought to take a photo....too much Xmas cheer

Cheers Bob and Jacqui.

[millard1399]

Hey there, kiwijim!

Well, you're getting close to providing a photo of you sitting in the deckchair! At least you've given me a photo of a couple of chairs outside the Thomson, but I really, really need to see some evidence that you are actually out there taking it easy!

C'mon kiwijim, just a little photo of you relaxin' !! ;D ;D


And as bobandjacqui have said, the camper is an ACT "Consort 80" model, made around the middle of the 1970s.

cheers,
Al.