Let’s start with a bit of context:

1. Lately, I’ve noticed some strange quirks with the instrument panel on the MU-X. The most alarming incident happened Friday—just as I pulled up at the traffic lights, the dash lit up with warnings, and the car promptly shut itself down. I barely had time to read the errors before the guy behind me lent on his horn. Panic set in as the MU-X wouldn’t restart; it wasn’t in park, so I couldn’t cycle the ignition. After some wrangling, I got it into park and restarted. Damn modern tech!
2. On the health front, we’d been hit hard. Joel had taken a sick day from school with cold symptoms. Then Edie, Rebekah, and I all went down with similar symptoms. We figured Joel had kindly shared his germs with the family.

Saturday: Battery Blues and False Starts
With everything packed and the camper hooked up, I ran a final check—confirmed the camper battery was charging from the car. All good. I ducked inside, rounded up the family, and went to start the car. Nothing.
The dash lit up like a Christmas tree: system malfunction, key error, and a bunch of other warnings. The manual helpfully advised, “See dealer.” My heart sank—weekend plans to Young looked dead in the water.
I disconnected the trailer: lights, brakes, and charging circuits. Still no luck. Then it hit me—maybe it’s the battery? Grabbed jumper leads and hooked the MU-X up to the Triton. It gave a half-hearted crank. That was enough to convince me the battery was toast. After leaving the Triton running for a bit, I tried again. Third time lucky—it started!
Straight to Mitchell to get the battery tested. Turns out it had dropped 200CCA. I didn’t muck around and asked for the biggest replacement they had. Unfortunately, they were out of the SS75TX, so I went with the next best: an SS66TX 4WD battery, boasting 920CCA (up 320 from the original). $300 later, we were finally on our way. Well, to the servo and McDonalds!

Heading to Young
The drive was uneventful, aside from on-and-off rain and icy winds. We stopped briefly at Boorowa to stretch our legs and visit the old courthouse (now the info centre). Picked up a few brochures and pressed on.
We made a quick detour in Murringo to photograph the beautiful Christ Church (built in 1866, designed by Alberto Dias Soares). I have added the photo of the church to Flickr, and have added a historic newspaper article about the laying of the foundation stone. Additionally, I have added the newspaper article, which is the closest I could find to the opening of the church.
​The town is dotted with historic buildings—we’ll definitely return for a proper explore.
Young is just 25 km from Murringo, so before long, we were pulling into the caravan park. Since the camper had been out of action for over a year, we didn’t want to risk off-grid camping again  just yet. Staying at a powered ensuite site gave us a soft reintroduction and some much-needed creature comforts. The camper’s electrics behaved, but the electric 240v heater was vital—nights were bitter. A diesel heater is now on our “must buy” list.

Settling In (Sort Of)
After setting up, we popped into town for a few supplies, then stopped at the old railway station so I could snap a photo of the Welcome to Young sign. Dinner followed, then an early night—sort of.
It was freezing, so the electric heater kept us cosy until bedtime. After that, it was doonas, blankets… and Edie. She flat-out refused her bunk and wedged herself between us. Score: Edie 1, Parents 0.
Around 2:00 AM, Joel appeared, wide awake and unable to sleep. Our bed was already at capacity with two adults, a child, and a Chihuahua. I convinced him to head back to bed with a book or his tablet. Thankfully, he did. Joel 0, Parents 1.

Sunday: COVID Curveball
At 3:00 AM, Edie’s constant wriggling finally drove me out of bed. I ended up watching a couple of episodes of Clarkson’s Farm and Welcome to Wrexham. The rest of the family slowly surfaced by morning, all of us feeling fairly average.
First stop: the chemist. Edie was full of snot and needed something to ease her symptoms. We just managed to get there during the one hour it was open (yes—just one hour!). Rebekah grabbed Benadryl and, for good measure, a couple of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs).
While I popped into the information centre to grab a Young Heritage Walk guide, Rebekah did a test. Positive. She suggested I take one too. Sure enough—positive. That would explain the “cold” symptoms. We decided to test the kids next. Back to the chemist for more RATs. Edie—positive. Joel—negative (somehow).
​Three Out of Four—That’s Not Too Bad, Right?

Touring While Crook
Despite the weather and COVID revelation, we decided to do a bit more sightseeing—by car. We admired old homes and buildings, then headed out to the Chinese Tribute Gardens. A quick comfort break and a couple of rushed photos between squalls, then it was back to the caravan to huddle under blankets and feel sorry for ourselves.
That night, Joel crashed early with a fever. I took over Edie’s bunk (she still refused it—Edie 2, Parents 0). Joel woke at 6:00 AM, disoriented and thinking it was evening. He’d slept 12 hours straight but had sweated through the bed.

Monday: Homeward Bound
We dragged ourselves through breakfast, packed up slowly, and were mostly done by 10:00 AM—right when the manager came knocking. He wanted the ensuite cleaned immediately, despite no cleaner being in sight for the next 45 minutes. A bit rigid, but we moved along anyway, using the ensuite as a dry packing spot due to the rain.
Joel dozed off again in the car and barely stirred on the drive home. Quick stops in Boorowa (for drinks) and Yass (for fuel), and we were home by 1:00 PM. We unpacked, aired out the camper, hung up wet gear, and I made a trip to collect the cats from the cattery—another hour round trip.

Final Thoughts
Despite the cold, the wet, the dodgy battery, and catching COVID—we really liked Young. It’s a charming country town with a lot of history and character. We’ll definitely be back… preferably when it’s warm, dry, and we’re not all sick!

Today, I managed to get my battery fully charged and connected once again to my battery app on my phone.
Only one stp to go, and that is to install a 240V GPO, so I can connect it to the 240V input plug on the side of the camper. Then when plugged into 240V, I can elect to utilise the Victron 240V, MPPT solar, or DCDC charger, to replenish the battery.

​About a year ago, as I was getting the camper ready for a trip, I noticed the fridge wasn’t working. Odd, I thought. I dug a little deeper and realised that none of the original wiring installed by CUB Campers was functioning. Strangely enough, all the wiring I’d added myself—specifically for the battery and charging system—was working just fine.
At the time, we didn’t have the time or budget to chase the issue down. Life got in the way, as it does, and the camper sat unused with its mystery electrical problem for the next 12 months.
Fast-forward to the present, and I finally had both the time and the resources to sort it out. I gave the auto electrician a call—the same guy who installed my battery and charging system—and he asked me to bring the camper down to his workshop. Within an hour, he had diagnosed the issue: a bad earth on the original wiring. He added a new earthing point, and just like that, things were back online. Or so I thought.
A week later, while getting the camper ready for a rego inspection, I decided to double-check that everything was still working. And—nothing. No power at all. I was ropeable. What now?
Back on the phone to the auto sparky. He was a bit puzzled, but I had a theory: maybe the Battery Management System (BMS) had shut the battery down due to low voltage. He agreed that it was a likely cause and said the BMS would need to be kick-started—but I didn’t have the gear to do it myself. So, off I went to the workshop again.
Once there, we opened up the power system for a closer look. He quickly spotted that the inverter had been left on, which had likely drained the battery. He kick-started the BMS, and the system sprang back to life.

​He explained that I’d need to recharge the battery until it hit at least 13.4V (if memory serves). That would require a charger capable of properly charging lithium batteries. I didn’t have one at the time, but I’d always planned to add one to the setup eventually.
In the meantime, I kept the car running all the way home to feed some charge into the system, and once back, I connected the solar setup. Thankfully, I’d installed a household-grade panel, which produces higher voltage more reliably. This gave the MPPT charger enough overhead to push a decent current into the battery, even across a few cloudy days.

​Not wanting to risk another flat battery, I ordered a Victron lithium charger and temporarily hooked it up to make sure the battery reached the absorption phase—basically confirming it was fully topped up.

​Lessons Learned:

• Always double-check what’s been left switched on (I’m looking at you, inverter).
  
• Don’t underestimate the value of good earthing.
  
• If you're running lithium batteries, having a compatible charger on hand is a must.
  

Next time, hopefully I catch these issues before they become a 12-month mystery!

It was a tough day yesterday, so I rode the shortest route back home.

​We all started together, but we soon all went our own way, depending on fatigue, time, or destination.

Ride Map.

Another bikepacking trip into the Adelaide hills.

Ride Map.

I will start this post with we made a hasty retreat from Merimbula, as the country was going up in flames. More so the fact that there was a chance of us being cut off from getting to Canberra. This wikipedia article, shows the bushfires and especially the fires on the South Coast which had the potential to affect us.
Subsequently a number of places we visited just days before were engulfed. None more than Cobargo. Here are the photos from a few days ago, when we were at Cobargo.

We made it up to Canberra, only to face incredible temperatures and more smoke from the bushfires. We ended up leaving the caravan park and moving into Rebekah's parents house, so we did not have to suffer the heat and smoke.

Even though it was still stoopid hot and smokey, I was still determined to go for a ride or three.
Smoke on the Ridge
Smoky, dusty, humid ride around Bruce Ridge.
Map of ride.

Returning tools
Always good when you can ride dirt to visit a friend.
Map of Ride.

Hot, hot, hot
Channeling the Cure for the ride title.
The tunnel was sweet bliss.
Had to ride Bruce Ridge trails again.
Map of Ride.

The aborted group ride. :-(
We were meant to do a 50km meander, but the fire ban has closed nearly every place that I was going to take people.
So we went to the pub, as it is better to be safe than sorry.
Map of ride.

Tathra

This route called enduro felt like it was a cross between downhill and xc. 😉
Evil Tom is!
Some wicked gullies to negotiate.
Would be interesting to see how silly it could be on a dual suspension bike.
Map of ride.

Ben Boyd National Park
We went for a bit of a look around the park and checked out some of the whaling history.

Mandeni Mountain Bike Track (Merimbula)
My hands are rooted and so is my cassette. 
Let me say that I recommend a dualie for this ride. So many roots, ergo why my hands are rooted.
Lots of bridges on the back half and a number of things to keep the shore kiddies interested. Then the rocks appeared and some deep crossings.
At some stage my cassette suffered a catastrophic failure.
Then my GPS died (lost satellites due to low battery).

Map of ride.

I then had to ride 6km's with a busted cassette to get back out.

Photos from a road trip from South Australia to Merimbula. This section is From Deniliquin, via Blighty, Finley and eventually camping overnight at Tumut.

Deni
What a great place. Rode the best pump track that I've ever ridden, even if you mulched it, you could still pump back up to speed.
Found some MTB trails, visited a pub and the Ute on a stick.
Fun was had.
Map of ride.

Willoughby National Park MTB trails
I rode the Crater and Echidna trails this morning and although it is flat floodplain area, it was a bit of fun. Would've liked to have explored some of the other trails, but that will have to be another time maybe.
The Echidna trail was the better of the two as it had berms.
Map of ride.

Tumut MTB sampler
What a great bunch of trails. Unfortunately time was once again, against me.
These trails remind me of Jetta trails. Twisty and a few rocks scattered around to make it interesting.
Would be great to have had suspension.
Map of ride.

I had a cunning plan and that plan was to ride from Melrose to Adelaide. It was a great plan. 6 days roughly 90kms per day and I was home and hosed. But not all plans work out the way that they were planned.

Day 1. Melrose to Curnow Hut - 105Kms

After catching the bus North to Melrose, I dropped into the bikeshop/cafe for a quick bite to eat for heading south. I caught up with two other riders that had ridden all the way from Blinman.

I rode with them for the first few kilometres on and off, but as they were travelling lighter and were obviously fitter, I slowly disappeared off the back of a grinding climb. I did warn them, that I would fade off into the distance at some stage.

I once again met up with them in Wirrabara forest when they had stopped to have a conversation with a guy riding North with his wife in the support vehicle. I stopped to talk as well. We left at different times, so I did not see Bill and his mate until the Pub in Laura.

As you can see I passed a few abandoned homesteads and buildings on my way to Laura including White Park which I thought was interesting and find a photo of it in its heyday, was great. Apparently the forestry in this region was the first commercial forestry in South Australia.

Coming into Laura was easy as there is a rail trail to take you the last few kilometres. As I came into town I spotted a pub and two familiar bikes. That was a good enough excuse for me to stop and have a break. Apparently Bill said that I was one pint behind them, so I was pretty pleased. It was there they were devising a new plan as they were going to stay at Spalding, but there was no accommodation. 

As we rolled out of town, they stopped at a chemist and it would be the last that I see of them, as they were skipping straight to Jamestown, then on to Hallett, where I was sticking to the trail.

Passed an abandoned school (Manatoo, which operated from 1920 until 1927).

From there it was more of the back roads (dirt) until the Campbell Range. It was in the range that my first nights accommodation was at Curnow's Hut. This hut was ruins and the Friends of the Heysen Trail, restored the hut for use by Heysen Trail walkers and Mawson Trail riders. The only thing that was annoying was that after riding 105kms and it was coming on to sunset, I found that I had to lift the bike over the fence which was quite hard due to fatigue and weight with all my gear (probably close to 25kgs). A small gate with a cypher lock keyed to the same as the door on the hut would be nice, but for the price of accommodation (free), I really shouldn't complain.

The hut was empty, which was nice, as it meant I could bring my bike inside and spread my stuff around and not interfere with anyopne else. It was a great hut with sleeping platforms in one room, two fireplaces, a sink and a couple of tables and chairs.

Melrose to Curnow map.

Day 2. Curnow to Hallett - 80Kms

I slept like a log overnight and it was time to pack up, clean up and hit the trails again. The day started with climbing over the Campbell Range. Not overly hard, but periods of constant climbing. Oh and gates. Gates will be a theme for today, as there is lots of them.

You can see the topography of Campbell Ranges in the photos below. Typically South Australian steep gradient rolling hills. The descent was fun though, albeit a little bouncy.

There was a nice dirt road descent through fields of wheat until you went under a disused rail bridge, which there was a turn-off to Bundaleer Campsite (Heysen Trail). Continuing on from here I soon came to the start of the Bundaleer Channel Trail. The Bundaleer Channel scheme comprises a series of channels collecting water from nearby hills, and a large Reservoir of water collected for ultimate re-distribution. It was started in 1898 or completion in 1902 and operations continuing until 1944. There is a great wealth of information and historic photos on this page if you want to read about it some more. 

The Bundaleer Channel trail was reasonable flat, so not to hard to ride, but the number of gates was ridiculous. Everytime there was a bridge over the channel linking a paddock to another there was two gates to open and close. I can't even remember how many there was on the 15kms to Spalding.

Around 0930 I made it into Spalding, where I found a shop to stop for refreshments. 1 Chicken Caeser roll, 1 Solo Lemon drink and a powerade later, I was ready to find some fresh water. Across the road was a park and there were some locals maintaining the park. I asked them about water and a lady said I could have the water from the Murray from the tap in the toilets or she would walk 3 doors up to her house and supply me some fresh water from her tank. I chose the latter and was very grateful of her offer.

Once refreshed it was back out of town and once again on the Bundaleer channel trail for a bit longer. It was good to see the engineering solution for the channel to overpass one of the creeks (you can see the photo below). 

Then once again it was another steady climb through the hills. Not sure what this range was called, but there were points that I had to get off and walk. There were multiple reasons for this, Fatigue, Heat, Dehydration and the realisation that I was getting some chaffing in places that I haven't had chaffing before. Eventually I made it to the top, where all the wind turbines were located. The Heysen trail ran along the ridge and crossed at this point. There was a turn-off to the Whistling Trig Point campsite, but would have to lift my bike over the fence again and push it up the ridge for 1.5kms if I wanted water. There was also one tree at this junction. A lovely shady tree, where I collapsed for a good 45 minutes or more as I was shagged. I contemplated my options to get to Hallett, or whether I should ditch my bike and go for a 3km return trip to see if I could get water as I had 1 litre left to get 22kms to the next nights accommodation. Did I mention it was hot and 1L of water was running it a bit thin? As I laid there, I enjoyed the views, had something to eat and communicated with my wife as to what my options were.

Eventually I got my butt into gear and enjoyed a fast descent down off the ridge. Once I got to the bottom it was open paddocks with a hot dry headwind or crosswind. It was a tough final 12 or so kilometres and a few times I was tempted to knock on the door of a farmhouse and ask for water. There was one stage I actually saw a farmhouse close to the road and decided that it was time to ask for water, but as I got closer, I saw it was empty and not totally convinced that it was inhabitted. So onwards I trudged. By this stage I was doing a couple of kilometres and when I found a tree, laid under it a while. I pretty much did this all the way to Hallett. There was one tree at the corner of Tiver Rd and Tin Hut Corner Road, that had a beautiful Eucalyptus where the root made a wonderful seat that allowed me to lean against the cool tree trunk. It was very blissful.

Finally I made it to Hallett with a slight diversion off the Mawson trail as it looked slightly shorter and less hilly. I guess I will never know if it was. It was straight to the pub after sighting my accommodation in the distance. I needed water, I needed a comfy seat and I needed a beer. Apparently I also needed a pizza!

I spent a couple of hours (at least) in the pub, talking to the publican, a farmer and watching very cheezy Star Trek (jeez that show is crap). Eventually it was time to head back to my accommodation for the night. Another great free accommodation setup by the friends of the Heysen Trail. This time it is the disused Hallett Railway Station. This place is flash!

Not bad for a freebie, ay? It even had a solar powered light! The weird thing that I couldn't work out was there was a second room behind the sleeping quarters behind me, set up for more sleeping quarters, but couldn't work out how to access them. Maybe it was purely for Friends of the Heysen Trail.

Like the last place they said the water was not fit for consumption without treatment. I think it may be an ass covering thing, as the water looked good when I got it from the tank outside, but boiled it just in case. As it takes time to boil and cool water, I mosied across the road and asked one of the locals if they wouldn't mind filling up my water storage bladder. She was kind enough to do this, but thought it was weird as it came from a rain tank, just like at the station.

It was a warmer night and to be lazy, I took the cushions from the left behind the bike and the blanket from the right and set it up on the sleeping shelf to bed down for the night. Weirdly I woke up at 0200, so ate a piece of leftover pizza then started boiling another pot of water to carry with me. I let that cool down and packed most of my stuff up ready to leave at first light. After that I sat down on the lounge chair and fell asleep, whilst sitting up. I woke up at one stage feeling cold, so wrapped myself in the blanket and fell asleep again.

Curnow to Hallet map.

Day 3. Hallet to Burra - 37Kms

I awoke at approx 0600 and started to get changed to ride again. It was there that I noticed some bad chaffing on my nether regions and it was weeping! That would explain the discomfort. It was this and my numb finger that was enough for me to pull the plug. The hotter day was just another bonus to not have to deal with as well and ended up being a 38 degree day in Adelaide, so probably a similar temperature out that way.

Anyway with a bit of to and froing with my wife it was decided that she would pick me up at Burra. So there was nothing left but to dump my garbage at the local Country Fire Services bins, then turn back around and ride the highway to Burra.

On the highway, as per the experiences I had in the Northern Territory, the truck drivers were the best and gave the greatest amount of room. Generally the car drivers were pretty good, with only one person determined to get past to save themselves 5 seconds by squeezing through with an oncoming car.

On the way to Burra, I stopped at Mt. Bryan to check out the massive fan blade from the wid turbine (see below). I was a bit apprehensive as Donald Trump told me that I can get windmill cancer from these things. A couple of nice old buildingsin the tiny speck on the map.

Finally I rode into Burra, well I thought it was Burra until I saw a sign that said 2 kilometres to go. On the way in I visited the historic copper mine and then ventured into town. I can recommend the bakery in town for their baked goods. After feeding my face, I road around town to check out the historic buildings. I was very impressed on how nice Burra is and will definitely be back. Oh and they apparently have a brewery, Unicorn Brewery. Not sure if it still is up and running or not!

Finally I found a shaded spot by the Burra creek and laid around for a while and was visited by a duck! Eventually I had to find another shady spot to wait for my wife to pick me.

​All in all it was a great ride let down by a numb finger and some chaffing. I will plan for my next trip along the Mawson Trail.

Hallett to Burra Map.

Lots of climbing in a short ride. It started as two at the Train station, then 3 at Craigmore and 5 at Mt. Gawler.
Everyone had to walk one climb, as that was the rangers instructions and I can confidently say that none of us would've been able to climb it anyway. I walked a couple of others as my calves were twinging and on the verge of cramping up.
A massive thanks to Darren Williams for organising and leading and thanks to Neil and the 2 Peter's for coming along.

Ride Map.

Return trip by the easier way to Craigmore.

Ride Map.

Craigmore to home.

Ride Map.