Back with New ID

Submitted: Saturday, Aug 20, 2005 at 06:35
ThreadID: 122191 Views:6562 Replies:3 FollowUps:6
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Hi All, We have returned,(Ex Caveman of Townsville), we were here as pre BT owners.
Now we are BT owners having acquired Clive & Evelyns 20ft from them 6 mths ago.
And we are very happy with our Purchase.
We've sold up in Townsville and this is now home, Full time.
We are towing it with a 2001 Troopy (a/m turbo'd)
Presently we're camped at the Coochin Crk Nat. Parks camp ground outside Beerwah while I learn the art of strawberry picking.
Had 1 BT since we've been here.
This is a very nice spot, $-per night per person for up to 3 weeks.
No water or shwrs only toilets but good fishing.
It's on Roy's Rd. Coast side of the H'way.
The little wood bridge just off the h'way is Ok (for our 7 tonne)

We now have to cath up on the mails.
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Reply By: TroopyTracker - Sunday, Aug 21, 2005 at 03:26

Sunday, Aug 21, 2005 at 03:26
G'day Gypsies,
We are fellow BT towing troopy owners (not to many around), not only that we're camped on the sunshine coast picking strawberrys!!!- at Beerwah!! Our BT is also our full time home. Which farm are you working at? We are working on a farm on Burys Rd which is at the western end of Roys Rd.

We worked here last year and meet another couple picking strawberrys who were also towing a BT with a Troopy! Must be something about this area. I've only meet one other on the road towing BT with same vehicle.

Heard some nasty stories afew weeks back re the Coogchin Crk campground, bad group staying there at the time I reckon.

Matt
AnswerID: 567019

Follow Up By: Burt & Mary - Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 00:58

Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 00:58
matt how hard is it picking strawberries
what sort of you make on average day
our friends need to supplement their income and saw lots of jobs on sunshine cost for strawberry pickers
thanks
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FollowupID: 844903

Follow Up By: TroopyTracker - Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 02:36

Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 02:36
G'day Burt and Mary,

The difficulty of picking strawberries varies depending on who you work for and what you consider hard work. Some farms make you bend over and walk all day-we don't work at these places. Good farms have trolleys that you sit in, under cover and this makes for some very easy work. Mostly wages work around the Sunshine Coast region, afew contract. Jobs advertised are usually the worst farms. I'd suggest looking up the local farms numbers and go from there.

Matt
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FollowupID: 844904

Follow Up By: Burt & Mary - Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 05:55

Monday, Aug 22, 2005 at 05:55
thanks matt wil pass that onto our friends
they found website informative on the basics what do do and what to look out for on work
http://members.dodo.net.au/~landline/casualemploy.htm
overall the website has some great information for vanners
saved a fortune on drink water safe hose and ordered some solar gear
compared to the dickwits in bne was great to find an honest dealer that would talk to you at our level
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FollowupID: 844905

Follow Up By: TroopyTracker - Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 06:09

Tuesday, Aug 23, 2005 at 06:09
Burt & Mary,
Just bought an inverter from same fella- great product/value/advise/service. Hard to find in the caravanning/travel industry. I had to ask whether or not his solar prices were a typo or not!!
Cheers
Matt
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FollowupID: 844906

Follow Up By: Burt & Mary - Friday, Aug 26, 2005 at 04:24

Friday, Aug 26, 2005 at 04:24
matt the new solar panels and battery arrived today
if the look of the panels is anything to go by they will be terrific
the quality looks better than my existing bp panels
$795 for 115 watt panels shows what a ripoff the bne solar shops charging
will have them up and working tomorrow
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FollowupID: 844907

Reply By: Mobi Condo - Sunday, Aug 21, 2005 at 05:41

Sunday, Aug 21, 2005 at 05:41
Hello there,
Sounds good - but I wonder about our backs when strawberry picking!
Wondering how you get on with the a/m turbo on the 2001 troopy. I gather the motor is the stock 4.2L 1HZ? Would be interested in any details you are happy to publish - like economy, turbo details, age of engine when turbo fitted etc etc - NOSY aren't I!
But then being toward the age-ing side of life this "old dog" is having to learn soooo many new tricks to keep employed and understand stuff like High Tech vans! Guess the brain won't atriphy(sp?).
Cheers Ian.
AnswerID: 567020

Reply By: Spirit Gypsys - Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 07:02

Thursday, Aug 25, 2005 at 07:02
G'Day Matt,
How 'bout that!!!!!!!
I'm working for Coolhaven .That's right on Roy's Rd, 3 klms east of the Coochin Crk camp area.
Yeah we do get a few local noisy groups here on weekends but none have been "bad"
Coolhaven have 3 wheel carts, pay $14, per hour with bonus over 300 kg per 10 hour day. No bonus for me, I'm averaging around 200kg which is upper average.
They have about 30 pickers, aren't too bad to work for if you do the job properly.
Av. pay so far is $500 + and is getting better as we'l go into 6 or even 7 days for 2-3 weeks of "the Flush" then ease of til end Sept.

I'm far from fit and can handle it if I get my beauty sleep.
There does seem to be a bit of a turn-over in pickers.
Their ph. no. is o7- 5494 6274
We should get together, My ph. no. 0427038129, pm is best time to ring.
Mobi Condo,
Our turbo was fitted by Halls in Cairns at 60K and is now 130K with no probs. Have heard of them on same motor going to 300k+
I get 7k-l without van but with 800kg + permanent load (and roof rack)and 5 k-l with the van.
That's total 7 T on road and travel aournd 90-95kph on good roads.. in the tropic summer but 2 big spotties & winch control in front doesn,t help.
If I had the $ I'd have an intercooler fitted.

Im happy with the rig as the Troopy gives me the load capacity Plus the real off road ability when we leave the van and camp it.
I've fitted Airman Airbags, even tho it has new rear leaf springs and level it all out with them rather than load levellers.
Troopy has 2 aux. batteries and a solar panel which I can hook to the van thru Anderson to give me xtra power if I can't run the gennie. They also run my Engel for camping.
Am happy to answer any more ????
Regards S.Gypysy.
Have to watch engine temp
AnswerID: 567021

Follow Up By: TroopyTracker - Friday, Aug 26, 2005 at 06:54

Friday, Aug 26, 2005 at 06:54
G'day S Gypsies,
Our bloke's pretty good to work for and he's paying $15.37perhr. If you're interested let me know (member message). Really picked up over the last week or so. He told me today we'll be working 7 days for a while now-unless you ask for day off. Pretty busy even aside to the strawbs but if we could catch up that'd be great.

Worry about your airbags replacing WDH. Mine sat level without WDH and I did the first 10 000ks without any WDH. Since having one I still can't believe the difference they make-especially on undulating roads. So much more relaxing and stable. Having said that I'm interested in adding airbags myself-recently added roller draws and managed to stuff even more in the back and starting to look a little saggy.

You say 7 T all up, think thats about 500kgs illegal! Just went through the motions of getting our setup legal the GCM's GVM's are fresh in my mind. I think the insurance companys are going to crack down on this sort of thing with the amount of people rolling their rigs these days.

Anyway, might catch up with you soon,
Regards
Matt
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FollowupID: 844908

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