Well, I thought I should start a thread where I could just write about where things are up to at our end. . Probably not always exciting but just me to "blog" onto 
Black Family Expanda!
- Thread starter blacky
- Start date
Anyway I won't go into too much detail, but here's a basic history!
Been camping before I can remember. My dad is (now) ex military, and he used to take me roughing it as a young fella. I spent a helluva lotta time camping in an 11'x11' army tent. (As a matter of fact my dad still only ever camps in his old 11x11, only now is he considering a caravan. Mind you, he's freakishly fast at putting that old army tent up!)
Swags were my style until I met my wife and her beautiful daughter We bought a tent and explored all up the east coast together, camping our way all over the joint! I even proposed out camping, and our love for the bush and being outdoors was half of our wedding vows!
In 2010 I started my own business (in the mean time we had got married and had a daughter of our own) and bought a bluetongue off-road deluxe in 2011 (at dubbo camping show) which was a big investment back then! (Still would be now I suppose, $10k cash in my hand!). We loved that camper apart from wet weather. I swore I'd not go camping again until we had a caravan, after a particularly bad Christmas where we got SMASHED by bad weather in 2012.
Mid 2013 we went back to the Dubbo camping show and found our baby
Been camping before I can remember. My dad is (now) ex military, and he used to take me roughing it as a young fella. I spent a helluva lotta time camping in an 11'x11' army tent. (As a matter of fact my dad still only ever camps in his old 11x11, only now is he considering a caravan. Mind you, he's freakishly fast at putting that old army tent up!)
Swags were my style until I met my wife and her beautiful daughter
We bought a tent and explored all up the east coast together, camping our way all over the joint! I even proposed out camping, and our love for the bush and being outdoors was half of our wedding vows!In 2010 I started my own business (in the mean time we had got married and had a daughter of our own) and bought a bluetongue off-road deluxe in 2011 (at dubbo camping show) which was a big investment back then! (Still would be now I suppose, $10k cash in my hand!). We loved that camper apart from wet weather. I swore I'd not go camping again until we had a caravan, after a particularly bad Christmas where we got SMASHED by bad weather in 2012.
Mid 2013 we went back to the Dubbo camping show and found our baby
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So far we've spent only 14 nights in our 17.56-2 OB. My dad has since quit his job with newcrest mining in orange and started his new job with tomingley gold. He moved out of orange and he and my mother are staying in our expanda til their tenants vacate their Parkes property. So as it stands we are up to 14 nights, mum n dad 6 nights :-/
That's almost as much time in there as me!
That's almost as much time in there as me!
Sold it this year for $200 less than we paid for it! ($500)
Nice one!
Mind you I clicked on the link thinking I would see a shiny black expanda!
Mind you I clicked on the link thinking I would see a shiny black expanda!
Looks good Peter, you'll notice the Panda behind you in the Prado, do you have a diesel or petrol, either way the car will be fine. hope the family enjoy the van
Top story Pete.
I love the idea of getting the kids in the tent!
I'm the same, after finally working my way up to the expanda, all I can think about is taking the kids bush in the 4x4 with a swag! I reckon my girls would love it! (seriously)
It's a great tradition and culture we have in Australia. It's awesome how dads (and mums) get out there and spend time with the kids on the great outdoors. Doesn't matter if it is bush or caravan parks, it's fantastic family time and something that the kids will never forget.
I love the idea of getting the kids in the tent!
I'm the same, after finally working my way up to the expanda, all I can think about is taking the kids bush in the 4x4 with a swag! I reckon my girls would love it! (seriously)
It's a great tradition and culture we have in Australia. It's awesome how dads (and mums) get out there and spend time with the kids on the great outdoors. Doesn't matter if it is bush or caravan parks, it's fantastic family time and something that the kids will never forget.
Nice Story Mate! great to know a little more about the people we spend so much time yakking to on the great site
Great thread @Peter Black thanks for sharing your memories mate and it looks like plenty more new ones to be made
Yeah too right @relgate i overheard my 10yr old daughter telling her friend about how one of the boys in her class went "swaggering or something out in the bush, and all they had was their swags and thats it"... well, didnt that get me thinking! I guess i was a bit shocked, because its something that i had done a lot with my dad, and by myself too, and kind of pride myself on my ability to "rough it." I had not really put much thought into the fact that our kids weren't really getting that education.
So, i think next christmas she might get her first swag, and i will start taking her out on hunting/fishing trips in the ute with me, to make sure my kids dont miss out on those experiences.
I love the comfort of the expanda, and no way will i be going back to a tent, but its definately important for the kids to learn to appreciate what we have, and what you actually need.
- rant over
haha i was just talking to my dad about the above issue.
He reminded me of a great experience we had back in the early 2000's . We were living up the cape york at Weipa. Dad was the boss of the RAAF base Scherger for 3 years, and we had loads of cool stuff at our disposal. The base backs onto the Mission river, waaay upstream, and there was some awesome fishing and mud-crabbing down there. the only problem was, on high tide, the river would break the bank at the boat ramp, and we'd seen crocs a good 500m back from the waters edge.
So, to get around this problem, we used to take the Isuzu tilt tray down there, which we had gates that ran around the tray. We used to roll canvas tarps over the top of the truck tray gates to make a giant tent. Then, we used to camp up there right at the boat ramp, where the crocs couldn't get us!
We used to have a ball up there, before we worked out the truck idea, we used to just swag it around the fire, one night a bloody mob of pigs came through camp! That was hectic. Someone got chased by a scrub bull on a dunny run one night too, that old bull must have came in to see what the racket was about, and this poor bugger literally had the don't be rude scared out of him.
Good times! Has its perks, living up the cape in your late teenage years. Soooo many good stories!
He reminded me of a great experience we had back in the early 2000's . We were living up the cape york at Weipa. Dad was the boss of the RAAF base Scherger for 3 years, and we had loads of cool stuff at our disposal. The base backs onto the Mission river, waaay upstream, and there was some awesome fishing and mud-crabbing down there. the only problem was, on high tide, the river would break the bank at the boat ramp, and we'd seen crocs a good 500m back from the waters edge.
So, to get around this problem, we used to take the Isuzu tilt tray down there, which we had gates that ran around the tray. We used to roll canvas tarps over the top of the truck tray gates to make a giant tent. Then, we used to camp up there right at the boat ramp, where the crocs couldn't get us!
We used to have a ball up there, before we worked out the truck idea, we used to just swag it around the fire, one night a bloody mob of pigs came through camp! That was hectic. Someone got chased by a scrub bull on a dunny run one night too, that old bull must have came in to see what the racket was about, and this poor bugger literally had the don't be rude scared out of him.
Good times! Has its perks, living up the cape in your late teenage years. Soooo many good stories!
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There was an Army excercise on up there one time, and Dad was meeting with some of the officers who were running the excercise, at the mess/camp.
Out of bloody nowhere, a big mob of pigs bursts through the scrub, right into the mess area where all these army fellas had set up their tents. Hotly in pursuit were me and my brother, on motorbikes chasing these bloody pigs, right through the middle of camp........ whoops!
Needless to say; we copped a bit of a dressing down over that one!
Out of bloody nowhere, a big mob of pigs bursts through the scrub, right into the mess area where all these army fellas had set up their tents. Hotly in pursuit were me and my brother, on motorbikes chasing these bloody pigs, right through the middle of camp........ whoops!
Needless to say; we copped a bit of a dressing down over that one!