Lloyd Junor owned and operated outback tour company Aussie Outback Tours for over 20 years. In our new series "Lloyd's Outback", he shares with us snapshots of life on the road...

"We were two-thirds of the way through the Broome to Cairns trip across the top. We’d handled the Gibb River Road, a station visit, and even the Darwin traffic and come out pretty much unscathed – although the midges at Lee Point inflicted some serious agony. With Wollogorang and the Calvert River crossing behind us things looked good. But trouble struck near Burketown. Sparky’s once-new van broke a leaf spring.

Bookings for Barrier Reef tours meant we had a schedule to meet. It would take a week to get a replacement spring. I scoured the tip, found that the FE rear leaf was exactly the same. While standing under a Remove no items, Penalty $300 sign I asked the council blokes to haul the FE out from under rubbish. They obliged. The once-new van is still running on that spring years later, and Sparky often talks of that event. - Lloyd Junor.

• Caravan World columnist Lloyd Junor owns Aussie Outback Publishing, which produces outback-themed titles including his own, comprehensive The Australian RV and Caravanner's Guide.