NIK `N` OFF

Bordertown RV Park

2026-09-17T17:32:00.000+08:00

A night at Bordertown at the RV Camp which is situated within walking distance to town. Situated beside a lake and nice walking trail, plenty of space for other travellers.

1st time we have come across a card pay station, $15 per vehicle for the night. Pay with card and place receipt on dash of car. Four other caravans came in during the afternoon, making a total of six counting ours.

I walked into town via a short cut across the railway line and under the bridge, looking for a news agency to buy a birthday card for Tate our grandson who recently turned 11 but no newsagents in town, but fortunately the Post Office had a few to choose from.

I took a few photos of the buildings, I bought a steak and lamb chops from the local butcher to surprise Vickie, but because we had no vegetables due to border restrictions they were put in the freezer, and the two cakes from the bakery, well the Vanilla slice was the worst I’ve had, 🤮 but Vickie’s ‘danish’ was ok.

Onto Adelaide today and stay with our daughter for some time. 💙

Ararat Jail

2026-09-16T16:59:00.000+08:00

After leaving Deniliquin we stayed a night at St Arnaud and then made our way down to Ararat to catch up with Vickie’s Sister Sue & Husband Greg. We had booked a site at the Acacia Van Park and a cabin for them. As most know I’m not a fan of Van Parks but if we have to stay in one this one ticked the boxes, very friendly staff, a small park, excellent amenities for those that need them and the cabin and site were a reasonable price, plus they allowed us to take up two sites so we didn’t need to unhitch the van.

Sue & Greg had arranged to take us the the former Ararat Jail & mental Asylum J Ward … not to be committed but to do a tour. 🥴🤪

Ararat Jail operated from 1859/1887

J Ward - Hospital for the Insane 1887/1991

Jim was our volunteer tour guide and he did an excellent job in showing us around and telling us stories of some of the patients / prisoners. Some very sad and disturbing stories as an example was a six year old boy institutionalised and spent most of his early life. His life didn’t improve with him being jailed in 1982, due to possible release in 1991 the Govt were concerned his self mutilation and threats to kill they kept him locked up, he died in 1993 from swallowing razor blades.

There were so many stories and so interesting we bought a book with all the information. The inmates were locked in their cell for 12 hours at night had their clothes removed and slept naked on a straw mattress with a heavy canvas cover to stop any possibility of suicide.

There was Bill Wallace the oldest incarcerated person in the World, he was 107 when he died.

A Frenchman Charles Foussard was the longest incarcerated person in the World with 71 years.

Another well known prisoner was Chopper Read who was sent to J Ward after cutting his ears off.

So many stories ….

If your ever around Ararat Victoria we can recommend you visit.

That night we all went to the local RSL and had a great meal and donated some $ to the pokie machines. 🥴🥴🫣🫣

Holder Bend Reserve - Murraydale

2026-09-08T16:56:00.000+08:00

A night at Holder Bend Reserve just out of Waikerie was very pleasant and a very friendly duck who liked a free feed.

The next night we stopped at Pinnaroo RV camp where temperatures dropped to 1 degree over night 🥶 But cosy and warm in the Van & the Truma Gas Heater went on at 7am to keep things cosy.

A walk into town and like a lot of the small towns we have come through most businesses look closed down. The Hotel was open but we didn’t bother and chose to have dinner in the van and watch some Netflix. The Starlink is very handy though expensive per month, I just compare it to an extra tank full of diesel a month.

Tonight we have stopped along the Murray River just a few K from Swan Hill. It’s called Murraydale on WikiCamps. Directions say to take the right track but we decided to go left and found a nice flat area right beside the river.

1st Night we have had a camp fire so it’s Curry Jaffles for dinner.

A few memories

2026-09-06T16:49:00.000+08:00

Seeing as how it’s our mate Kimbo’s wedding anniversary with the love of his life Nerida and also his birthday, a little memory of a trip we all did together that I had published in a caravan magazine so many years ago.

Never Forgotten R.I.P.

2026-09-06T16:41:00.000+08:00

Kim Greenwood

Happy Heavenly 70th Birthday Bro 🤠

Your in our thoughts everyday, if only our trips these days meant we were catching up with you at some outback place to continue our shenanigans ..

Love & missed - Mick & Vickie

Kimba RV Park

2026-09-04T16:39:00.000+08:00

Not much news to be honest, we’re just enjoying the driving, the scenery passing by and our stops along the way.

A night at Kimba at their RV park which was remarkably quiet compared to previous visits. One thing had changed and that was the incredible camp kitchen, large gas BBQ’s and stainless benches, stainless everything, the place looked amazing and easily the best camp kitchen we’ve seen. The park was the quietest we have ever seen it.

We drove the route from Port Augusta Oops not Hedland 🫣🥴 to Quorn and then on to Wilmington, Melrose etc and have stopped for the night at Gulnare Sports Oval, we have stayed here previously and it’s a large area suitable for the biggest of rigs.

A big drive the next morning of 30k to Brinkworth where we stayed at the great little town van park to catch up with the washing and refill the water tanks. We have stayed here previously and highly recommend it and a very reasonable cost of $15 per night !!!!

Nullarbor / Cohens School Site

2026-09-02T16:37:00.000+08:00

Yikes ! 587k driven today … so much for the 350 / 400k maximum I thought we would do. It’s no hardship sitting in the Chev listening to music and watching the country side pass by.

Tonight it’s one of our stops we have stayed at a few times before. Old Cohens School Site, approx 14k West of Penong.

Along the way we stopped along the Bight for a look and read a few memorial plaques placed about on rock piles.

Fuel at Yalata was a reasonable $2.67 for diesel.

Finally Back On The Road

2026-08-31T16:33:00.000+08:00

Finally we’re back on the road heading to Deniliquin to meet up with friends at the Masterpiece Caravan Muster.

Left on Sunday at around 7.45am and 1st coffee stop was Meckering and a stretch of the legs. Meckering was the site of an earth quake back in October 1968 and in the memorial gardens are some interesting displays, the bent railway line is a good example.

Our stop for the night was at Boorabbin free camp where we have stayed many times before, 4 or 5 other vans but well scattered about. Some heavy rain came down as I was about to go for a walk, instead we watched a movie.

Refuelled at Southern Cross, at $2.59pl and then again at Norseman $2.96pl.

One place we have always driven past is the Fraser Range Farm stay, this time we ventured in and are staying the night and booked us in for a meal.

Camp Fires

2026-07-07T16:27:00.000+08:00

Getting away with the caravan means more than just traveling and visiting different places. When we can we have camp fires, Its not just a means for cooking a meal, It’s also the bush TV and so relaxing being away from every thing and just the night sky and a mesmerising camp fire.

NIKNOFF - VIRAL

2026-06-07T16:19:00.000+08:00

FB just informed me I have 450 Followers 😳😳😳 A long way off going viral 😂😂😂 But I’d say it’s Quality over Quantity … or people accidentally stumbled upon NIKNOFF, looking for NIKON or NIKE 🫣😎

BUT 416,481 hits on the NIKNOFF Blog .. imagine if everyone left $1 🫪😳😱

Anyhow here’s a random pic in 2007 of our ‘old’ F250 next to some matchbox cars 🤣

Playing with Ai ChatGTP

2026-04-16T16:07:00.000+08:00

Playing around with ChatGTP and a few designs for some T Shirts, this was in reference to the Roo & Emu we hit on our way to pick up the new van back in 2024

Lesson learnt the hard way but good to see the Roo & Emu have learnt to stay out of the Chev’s way …. 😁

Ningaloo Closed For Camping

2026-03-24T08:21:00.014+08:00

EVERYBODY OUT !

That was the call today at South Lefroy as the camp Host went around the camps letting everyone know the Parks were being closed due to the Cyclone.

We had already made the decision to leave today anyway so it didn’t disrupt our plans.

The winds have picked up along with the beach sand blowing around & two weeks was enough, very few fish, one chance at getting on the water with the Kayak almost had me heading to Africa.

So today what started off as a beautiful morning then went pear shaped as I went to drive the van out so we could face the right way. Tyres down to 20psi all round and I made the mistake of taking a track onto the beach which is usually hard …. Today it was quicksand soft ..

40 minutes of digging and 4 Max Tracks got me out .. then it was the rough slow corrugated 45klm drive on the Ningaloo Homestead Road to get onto the highway. Fuelled up the Chev at Coral Bay $3.05 and our tummy’s with a Bakery Pie & Pasty plus two cakes and coffee $32 😁 topped the Chev up again at Carnarvon $2.97.

Stopped the night at Edaggee Free camp, 80k South of Carnarvon.

Trip to Ningaloo

2026-03-06T08:35:00.056+08:00

Finally we ‘hit’ the road .. on route to Sth Lefroy Bay Ningaloo for 3 weeks. Travelling with the Billy’s family in their JB Scorpion. A slight delay with Dave who had injured him self whilst working on his car which required a hospital visit, yikes …. He looks like he’s done a few rounds with Tyson.

We didn’t leave until midday so a leisurely 160k for our 1st night, stopping at Wannamal Rest Area. The Sun is going down so a nice night ahead.

The town of Carnamah WA & the Giant Tractor.

Were the tiny people next to the wheel.

Called in at our mates the Parker’s place at Geraldton for the night, always good fun and laughs and a great

We left around 9am, stopped at Northampton Bakery for a top up for us and a dump for the cassette toilet and we continued on.

Stopped at Carnarvon to refill the van water tanks and a water bladder so we have enough water to get by for a couple of weeks.

Our stop for the night is Minilya , a few flys around but they have left as the sun has gone down. We are being entertained by Lightning so could be an interesting night.

A late night visit from a snake so it was time to get in the vans.

Got to our Happy Place, South Lefroy Ningaloo. Main road in to the old Lefroy Homestead was fine though I took it slower than usual as I didn’t want to shock the Chevy & Van to much on its maiden rough track drive. All went well with no issues.

Site 13 for us and Billy’s have site 16, we all agree they have the best ocean views from their awning, we are tucked behind the dune so more protected and private, just a very short walk over the dune for us.

Fuel prices we paid $1.82 at Dongara and $2.05 at Carnarvon, we can expect that to increase on our journey home.

Waking up for our 4th day at Sth Lefroy Ningaloo, the wind eased off around midnight from its 50/60kph to around 20/30kph … we wake up to sand covering our outdoor chairs and mats but the awning and shade walls are still up and haven’t moved so that’s a good thing.

The days are around 36 / 38 degrees Celsius and the Ocean water is beautiful. Yesterday I snorkeled along the reefs not far out from the beach, the current swept me along so all I had to do was float. I saw the most Aquarium type fish I’ve ever seen before, they were literally everywhere I looked around the coral bombies, I just floated on the surface holding onto some coral to stop me getting carried away by the current and was mesmerised by the amount and different varieties of fish.

No chance of getting the kayak on the water or fishing off the beach yet, hopefully the wind stops at some stage, but it is what it is.

The sites are at a guess 80% full, we haven’t walked North to far along the beach yet but visually we can see Vans further along. On the sites 1-12 there are 5 other campers. And close to us 13-14-15-16 are all taken. We were told the Camp Hosts have left, don’t know why 🤔

Nearly a week has gone by ! Far Out time goes quickly !

Not that we have done much in that time other than swim, beach walk and fishing along with reading a few books when the sun got too hot or the wind too windy … one book I read was Itchy Feet, author is John ‘Busby’Winton, we met John & Shirley back in 2010 at a camp in Lipson Cove SA and have stayed in touch since. It’s a great read of their traveling adventures.

Disappointing but expected was the track over the sand dunes heading to the old Norwegian Bay Whaling Station is now fenced off which also stops us from obtaining fresh water we used to pump up to replenish the non potable water tanks in the van. Lucky we bought a large water bladder in filled up.

We will probably take a drive into Exmouth one day in the coming week to refuel with diesel and obtain some fresh water there. Hoping of course Exmouth has stocks of diesel, internet tells us they do and priced around $2.79 but prices could change any day.

Anyhow life is good so not to concerned.

3 Night Escape

2026-01-15T20:44:00.000+08:00

We had a small window of opportunity to give the Chev & Van a run down to Donnybrook WA and visit family on their beautiful property. It was also a chance to fit the new rear vision camera that will replace the one that’s been hidden by the Smart Cap canopy. Video instructions showed it being a fairly simple job but that didn’t take into account a couple of old blokes doing it. After stuffing up by running the cable wrong with the connections at the wrong ends, sorted that and after getting the factory plugs disconnected and new cable connected and fighting with a rubber grommet that proved difficult getting back into place we refitted all the plastic interior panels back in place. We then connected the new camera only to find it didn’t work ! Arrgh !! We rechecked the original camera worked, tested the new cable and came to the conclusion the new camera was the culprit ….luckily it was a EBay PayPal purchase and after sending a message to the seller I received a full refund. I then did what I should have at the start and that was order a new genuine Chev Silverado camera from Rock Auto in USA. This company is great to deal with and an extremely quick delivery. My last purchase of a Furl Control Module and some filters arrived in 4 days !! Unbelievable ! Here in West Australia it’s not unusual to wait 2-3 weeks to get things from the East Coadt of Australia.

So now I wait until the camera arrives before I get to fit it and hopefully we have some success.

Oh and Chev goes in next week for a service and hopefully fix the drivers side window that refuses to go down or up. And it’s not a fuse .. the other 3 work fine.

Such a beautiful entrance to the property

Bored so we got some lights connected

2025-11-23T14:35:00.005+08:00

Recently we had Kade & Shania from Boss Builds & Mechanical do a reconnect of lights on our Chev Silverado 2500 that GMSV don’t bother with when doing the LHD / RHD conversion.

We now have indicators in the side mirrors and front and rear facing lights in the mirrors, Tub lights and a light in the tailgate plus some other stuff connected.

We can recommend these folks, their work is excellent and utmost care was taken.

Home SWEET Home

2025-06-10T09:50:00.002+08:00

HOME SWEET HOME 🥴🤣 And it’s raining heavy … 🫤 Seriously we do love getting home after a trip, we quickly fall back into our home life with seperate lounges and seperate TV’s 😂🤣 … As we do , we were kept busy stripping out everything not needed or used on our recent trip, we still make the mistake of taking far to many clothes and the Chev was chock full with everything we did take, plus the electric roller cover and drawers I removed so a Smart Cap canopy and full set of Decked Drawers fitted.

They were not intended changes when we left home but seeing as how we were close by and saved heaps on freight costs we decided to inconvenience ourselves for a while and create a lot of work. 🥴🙄🫤 Now we’re home and everything is cleaned and emptied we can start reorganising ‘stuff’ to go back in. New tyres fitted to the Chev, wow these round black things are expensive!! Probably be the 1st and only set I fit 🙄🤔 Yokohama Geolander X AT 285/65/20 on the factory rims. I had to source a 5th 20” alloy rim as the factory spare is a 18” steel with different profile tyre so it’s not compatible with the new sizes. At some stage a portable power station and some internal lights in the canopy to get fitted.

Madura Pass

2025-06-03T09:48:00.006+08:00

Stayed the night in the bush at Madura Pass, had a lovely evening chatting with Tom and Katy, a couple from Sydney off on their Big Lap of Oz in a Mercedes Sprinter motor home 4WD. Wake up to another stunning Sunrise, life is good.

Walgett - Peterborough

2025-05-31T09:40:00.001+08:00

We have left Bingara after 3 nights, rain was coming down quite steady and we didn’t feel like a day in the van so we headed off to Moree with the intention of visiting the Tilpa Hotel … We stayed a night at Walgett where we have stayed before, very busy with other vans but we scored a spot someone had recently left.

The next day we drove through Bourke following the Apple Map where we stayed the night in a pleasant bush setting at Louth near a river that appeared to be flowing mud .. certainly not the clear water of the Gwydir we had been camped next to.

Leaving Louth we followed the blue line on the Apple Maps 🙄🤔 and the Nelyambo Bridge Road turned into dirt, or more like stone and rocks .. this continued for 50/70klms and we came upon an intersection with the road to Tilpa having a ROAD CLOSED sign 😳 We had a choice of turning left to Cobar or continuing on .. another 250k of dirt road. We came across a Mazda BT50 looking very sad as it had rolled over and sat on its roof, it looked a recent crash so we stopped to check no one was inside, fortunately for them they weren’t but the amount of damage and squashed roof it didn’t look good for the occupants.

Driving on the dirt road was quite good but the fine powder grey dust kicked up for hundreds of metres behind us, we had turned the 12v Dust ‘blower’ on in the van and all was good inside when we stopped. Eventually the dirt turned to bitumen and we arrived at Willcania, fueled up and moved on. We have stopped the night at Peterborough and a sunny afternoon certainly changed to a cold night, it was zero degrees outside and 1.1 degrees by the time we got out of bed. Glad we have the Truma Gas Heater, it works a treat. The Horse is heading for home so it’s another drive, we expect to reach Kimba this afternoon.

Bingara - Walgett - Again

2025-05-27T09:37:00.004+08:00

We left Bingara this morning after 3 nights stay, the rain was falling consistently during the night and looked to be settling in for the day so a decision was made to move on.

It rained until we got to Moree and the sun started to break through the clouds. We have stopped for the night at Walgett, this is the 3rd time we have stayed here and it’s the busiest we’ve seen, luckily for us we moved into a site that had just recently been vacated. Tomorrow we head further South West to Broken Hill if we get that far.

Inverell - Bingara AGAIN

2025-05-24T21:55:00.000+08:00

We had good reason to call in at Inverell again as our new Honda Generator woukd mot start, the mob we bought it off 'Motor Mecca' spun us the story that the carburettor was dirty, which it could well have been as it had not been used once since we bought it off them last July. $90 to 'clean" the Carby and when i phoned them a few days later to tell them it still wouldnt stsrt they gave me another story the fuel pump is faulty and they had no parts and gave it back to me as we 'needed it' what a load of BS !!! It wasnt until we got home and had it looked at by another Honda dealer who took photos and showed me proof that Motor Mecca did NOT clean the carby, also an O ring was missing and the float bowl was bent ANOTHER $173 to get it working. A call to Honda Customer Care has produced no results ... Anyhow here we are back at Bingara and life surely can’t get any better than this now 😁😁 … we are again at the Gwydir River after a hectic few days getting the Smart Cap canopy and Decked Drawers fitted around the Gold Coast. ( ORI Electric Tub Cover & a set of ARB drawers for sale ) DECKED Australia RSi SmartCap Australia

Kilcoy - Burleigh Heads

2025-05-23T21:35:00.011+08:00

We left our mates at Nanango and the ‘plan’ was to base ourselves at Woodford Showground so I could take the Chev into PID diesel Engineering at Kunda Park but a phone call to the Showgrounds told us they were closed due to flooding. So our next choice was Kilcoy Showground, this was open and at $19 per night for power & water it is good value, only criticism at all was the lush green grass was long and needed a good mow, but we understood its not the easiest when everything is wet.

We chilled for a few days, drove to Woodford for some shopping and on Monday I took the Chev into Heath at PID. Jodi drove me to the Sunshine Plaza where I had a riveting exciting time walking around the many glitzy shops … Goord I dislike Shopping centres 🙄😣

3 Hours later Jodi picked me up and the Chev was ready to go, everything done and checked over for a very reasonable price. I would not hesitate to use PID again. Back to Kilcoy and the next day it was a move to Burleigh Heads where ‘SHOCK HORROR’ we were booked in at the BH Tourist Park. Have I mentioned I dislike Van Parks !!! To be fair the location was perfect, directly opposite the Beach with some surfers enjoying the waves but the sites are cramped and not the easiest to reverse the van and Chev into our site. But we succeeded and we were only there for two nights so we could get some DECKED Drawers installed and a RSI Smart Cap Canopy fitted. Both companies were excellent to deal with and were fitted on the Wednesday and apart from the huge effort on my part in removing the electric tub cover, and everything else we had in the Ute and then having to put it all back in my spine had given up and was giving me extreme grief … even the ‘good’ drugs didn’t help … worse when laying down so keep moving and it’s tolerable.

A quick visit to Vickie’s Brother Frapper and Curls at Banora Point that night and Thursday we were thankfully back on the road getting away from the Gold Coast …Yuk !!!! With a destination of Bingara again we headed up through Grafton and Glenn Innes, the road took us up into the Gibraltar Range, a very steep, windy road with spectacular views, some of the rivers we either went over or saw were flowing very wide and fast due to all the recent floods closer to the NSW Coast. We came the closest to running out of fuel on this drive, we made it to Inverell and filled the 130lt tank with 132 litres, fuel consumption was 19lph which is excellent considering the Hills we had just driven up plus the extra weight of the drawers and canopy plus all the stuff we were also carrying. We have stopped a couple of nights at the Inverell Showgrounds, mainly to get the Honda Generator we bought from here last year checked over as it won’t start, the mechanic tells me the carb and fuel bowl is dirty, it’s never been used apart from the initial start when sold to us. 🤷‍♂️🤷‍♂️ ORI Electric Roller Shutter to be sold along with a set of Outback Accessories Roller drawers when we get home. 😁

Nanango

2025-05-14T21:31:00.002+08:00

Visited friends at Nanango QLD for a couple of nights, Rob & Marg we have known for an eternity and it’s always lovely to catch up. They have a gorgeous 5 acre property with a lovely home and a massive shed Rob has built. Lots of trees, green grass & natural gardens along with dozens of different varieties of birds. It also gave me time to remove the electric tub cover from the Ute in preparation for having a RSI Smart Cap canopy fitted, something I should have done from the beginning.

Texas

2025-05-10T21:29:00.004+08:00

I’m in need of a little manscaping 😂 This is what you get when you try to get an escaped cow back into its paddock.

It’s called Farmer's Friend," also known as Cobbler's Pegs or Bidens pilosa, is a common weed in gardens, parks, and roadsides. It's identifiable by its small, yellow flowers, and the spiky, hooked seed heads that readily stick to clothing. The weed is a herbaceous plant that can grow up to 1.8 meters tall, with square stems and toothed leaves.

Grenfell - Bingara

2025-05-03T21:23:00.011+08:00

Catch up time : After leaving Grenfell we made our way to Forbes and then onto Tottenham and Nyngan where we saw more painted silos though Nyngan wasn’t finished it would be lovely when completed.

We stayed a night at Walgett at the free camp, dump point and water tap provided, thanks Walgett. Lightning Ridge was on the visitor list, we have been there before but it’s always worth revisiting places. Vickie bought two opal pieces from a pop up stall at a good price compared to what some shops were asking. With many Northern roads closed we decided to drive back to Walgett and stay another night.

We had thoughts of going to Moree but the lure of Bingara won out. We have been here many times before and love the town and the camping along the Gwydir River. The river camps were all full when we arrived but after two nights a lot of vans had left, we think the voting kept them here until today as we managed to get our favourite place beside the river. Water levels are down compared to other visits but the bird life is still prolific.

A drive up to the Batterham Lookout for Sunset drink for my Mother whose Birthday is today and where her ashes are scattered at the top along with her husband Neil.

Blowering Dam - Grenfell

2025-04-26T21:16:00.014+08:00

What stunning Countryside Victoria & NSW have! I grew up in Victoria but I haven’t visited many of the places we have recently seen and those that I have, well it’s been over 50 years ago … Corryong, Tumut, The Blowering Dam were all lovely recent places we have visited. We stayed at Blowering Dam for two nights the 2nd was our 49th Wedding Anniversary and we celebrated it with a camp oven roast which was superb. We even had a Kangaroo bound past us as we were watching the Sunset.

We stopped at Coonabarabran for morning tea next to a park that had the Captains Walk, im not a lover of Cricket but its a lovely park with all the bronze busts of the Australian Cricket Captains, Sir Don Bradman was born in Cootamundra and also lived at Bowral as a young boy.

We stayed a night at Stockinbingal at their local reserve, here they have power & water for a Donation. To say we were surprised is an understatement, camping was basically anywhere around the oval but if you wanted water and power it was mainly at one side. With no one else here we had the pick of choices, our Lithium batteries were getting down to around 45% in the mornings and with very little sun about they were only getting to around 70% late afternoon so it was great we could charge them up fully plus Vickie did a load of washing.

We are purposely finding the quieter back roads so we can visit the smaller older townsites along the way. We stopped at a parking bay at Milvale where there was some metal art statues plus a Koala up a tree, we are loving seeing the very old houses and buildings along the way.

Presently camped at Grenfell NSW thanks to the RV Friendly town .. they have some beautiful painted silos plus a very interesting town centre we will check out tomorrow.