Friday 3 June 2011
We arrived late to pick our Caravan, around 3:50pm.
The van was as ready as it was going to be, still a few issues that couldn’t be resolved before we picked it up, but we have been assured they will be fixed when we get back from our Big Holiday.
We had a really helpful handover guy look after us, Andy, and we eventually got away around 5:45pm (just after dark).
We arrived at Brownhill Creek caravan Park at 6:15 (was a slow trip as I didn’t want to take out any cars or “Stobbie” poles (power poles for those not from SA) on the way.
After checking in, and finding out that I would have to reverse park our new 23’+ caravan in the dark!!!, we drove down to our site.
“Luckily” for us, Mark, “from the Majestic” down the road” came out to help us park. Apparently his wife, Liz, suggested we may need help, 🙂 (she was right!)
Well, after a little coaching and very good directions we had the van in place and then with the help of Mark and his torch (We had forgotten such a humble, but very useful, device), we soon had the van hitched, levelled and all connected up to the services . After a quick tour through our van, Mark said his goodnights and we were left to our own devices.
First things first, we made a quick dash home to pat and feed Aiko (our dog), before ordering pizza and heading back to the caravan park ( 5 mins from home) via the pizza shop.
We sat and ate Pizza with a bottle of red wine, as we started unpacking the car and stowing away all the bits and pieces we had accumulated in preparation for this time. It wasn’t until everything was packed away that we realised we had forgotten food, coffee and the makings for breakfast!!! Not to worry, we were sure Aiko would love to see us in the morning anyway!
I wound up the aerial and tuned the TV, and it wasn’t long before it was time to call it a night.
It poured rain through the night, waking us both briefly. ( But then it woke most people we know, so no problems) and the van didn’t leak!
Saturday 4 June
It was 11 C when we woke this morning, so we turned the A/C on and didn’t get out of bed until it was at least 19C and 7am.
Since we didn’t have the makings for breakfast we decided to head home and have it there, so we locked the van and headed home, more pats and cuddles for Aiko, 🙂
Dante was playing football at 9:45am down at Hackham, so we rang Carly and invited her and Ella and Ethan, out for the morning with us. They got to our place around 8:45 and we took them around to the caravan park to show them through the van, before heading down to see Dante play.
Ethan was very impressed that the drawing he had given us for the van was hanging off the fridge. He felt very special, 🙂 After a quick look through we headed down south and watched Dante play, and win his game. Brian and Eileen , and Ben were there as well. It was good to catch up with everyone down there and watch our oldest grandson play the game he loves so much.
After the game we took Carly and E & E back to our place, went shopping for general and caravan supplies. We restored the provisions at home, fed Aiko, and then headed back to our van.
We washed and dried and packed away all the new things for the van, put non-slip linings in most of the cupboards, to try and help prevent too many breakages as we travel. After that we settled in a little.
Our neighbours pointed out a Koala sound asleep in the tree next to our van. We knew there was a Koala colony in this area, but didn’t see this guy when we moved in!! We went for a walk around the park, taking note of how others had their vans set up and thinking about what we could do.
Later we had had just sat down to a bit of cheese and red wine when Mark from last night rocked up with Liz, his wife. They brought in the bottle of “Red” Deb had left on their doorstep as a thank you for last night. We invited them in and sat and chatted with them for a while (almost a bottle and a half!) before they headed off to the local for dinner. We learnt a fair bit about life on the road in a caravan and picked up quite a few hints.
After they left we sat back, put on some music and relaxed a bit.
I think we have already settled into the lifestyle, and we both can’t wait to give the van a few more tests before our 8 week pilgrimage around the West Coast.
Number of Views :3819
maybe you could have a real adventure next time and camp 10km from your house.