Digital Nomads

This weekend was all about Betsy and Milton and family. We hit the road on Friday afternoon. After a flat battery in the work car held us up a bit. We headed to Elimbah to stay at my brother’s house; well, to camp out on his front lawn! Saturday was the very important Towing Course. My towing experience was a whole one hour of towing and the one time I jack-knifed Dad’s Mustang on his work trailer when I was 18 (oops!). So, I was very much looking forward to learning how to properly do things. Brett was a little more knowledgeable but very keen to see what gaps he had in his knowledge and confirm what he did know.

Our trainer Jeff was from Tow-Ed and was an excellent trainer. We paid for a group lesson but were the only ones booked in so we got a private lesson for the same price. This allowed him to spend more time with us. Here are some of the things that we really got out of the experience.

Braking

Our setup has the RedArc Tow Elite electric braking system. We tried out the car and van brakes in different combinations of 0 setting on the RedArc, RedArc on 2 and then RedArc higher at different speeds. It was a good learning experience to see how the brakes react in different circumstances and what we can do to assist to get out of swaying situations.  

90 Degree Reverse Parking

I thought this would be a tough one, but Jeff broke it down into mathematical, logical steps that made sense. It all seemed so easy when we knew exactly where we needed to turn and to what degree. However, out in the wild will be a different story. So, some practice is definitely required. But it was fantastic to see that it isn’t actually as hard as we thought.

Push/Pull system

Right down, left down, turn right, turn left, this way, that way. There are so many ways the guide can instruct the driver on where to go. Jeff gave us the Push/Pull system which made sense to my logical brain. Think of it like this: Anti-Clockwise on the steering wheel is like pulling someone holding the steering wheel into the car. Clockwise is like pushing them out. So the guide can say push or pull and you know which way to turn the steering wheel. Also, if you need the van to go a certain way, are you wanting to push it from the driver’s side end of the van or pull it? Then match your steering wheel and what do you know? The van goes where you want it to go!

Weights

My plan was to become an expert on weights and write an awesome blog explaining it simply to people and everyone would love me for helping them understand it. Uh, nope, that didn’t happen! I have learnt a bit more, but I need to do more research. I know what the car and trailer manufacturers recommend and I know our current payload is 400kg so that was good to know. However, I would like to understand it a lot better so I am going to go back to the theory section of the course and review this and most of the other information as a refresher.

Manoeuvring course

Jeff set up the witches hats for us to practice manoeuvring around with different bends and corners. Brett had a bit more confidence towing, and cruised around the course without hitting anything. I put money on me hitting 3 cones the first time around. How many did I hit? I’d like to say none but yep it was 3! But I did get better.

Tyre Pressure

I thought this was a set-and-forget thing but the trainer gave some really good tips on how to monitor and change tyre pressure as required. This was something that we hadn’t considered before.

The Course

The course we did was a Tow-Ed course that included pre-learning online theory and assessment followed by a full day of practical training and assessment. It is an AQF-accredited “AURTGA001 Drive and Manoeuvre Trailers” course. I highly recommend that anyone new (or even experienced) to towing and caravanning do a towing course.

And then there was more!

Today, we visited the Moreton Bay Caravanning and Camping Expo as well as the Adventure Kings Super Store. Now, I do love to buy second-hand where I can, however, we did get some new things that we needed for Milton. We purchased a 2-way camping fridge for the car, a dual-zone thermometer, a shockloc clothesline, some hats, an ice tray and some stabiliser feet. A nice little haul without going too crazy.

Family

We also caught up with my brother and his fiance and some of my nephews and their partners who we haven’t seen for many months. The dogs took us for a walk to the dam and we visited their gorgeous chickens. As much as we are loving spending time with each other, you can’t beat a weekend with family.

I drove home from Gympie and didn’t do too bad and managed a perfect reverse park back into the lawn. For now, Milton is going back into storage for a couple of weeks before his next adventure to Cooloola Cove.