It’s time to talk about the new Camper Trailer

4 September
This trip pivots on the new rig, in large measure. Last year we purchased a Tvan without any research really, except that the word going around was that they are “up there”. We bought it from an architect and he seemed suitably reluctant to part with it, so it must be good, yes? Well it was good. Until we reached the Clare Valley and in three nights we experienced a wholly different side of the travelling routine; we froze. You can’t do this touring thing and get it all right first off, but we got close. The story of our finding the VistaRV Crossover has been touched on at the front end of this blog, and I have been holding off making any comment until we have really experienced how we get along with it.

OK, we haven’t had rain yet, apart from a few millimetres on our first night at Hay, and nor have we had very cold weather, because we are travelling three months later than last year, but we both know that the Crossover has addressed our main concerns. Canvas for us is a pain, and there is none to worry about. OK, when the Tvan was opened right up there was a little living room, but as with all the hard floor camper trailers that space costs you half an hour every day and with the Tvan, for us anyway, barked knuckles and irritation. There was so much moving of containers from here to there we found it very boring.

The pleasure of cooking and living outside is the big attraction, and this is the difference between a camper trailer and a caravan. At the moment we are at a fantastic caravan park called Seawinds, on the beach at North MacKay. People here have been repeating their bookings for twenty years, and there are a lot of Victorians. They are mostly into fishing, and 9kg fish are landed here regularly. Where do they all go after 8pm? Helen and I are out here blogging away or reading a book in cooling fresh breezes and the place may as well be a morgue! Take a turn around the park and you will see the flicker of Kerry O’Brien or his commercial equivalent gathering each soul into the bosom of his or her Franklin, Viscount, Jayco Expanda, or if you are of that bent, Wild Tiger (in which case you will not appear at happy hour but will be found polishing the wheel nuts of the Ford 200 wide track tow-all). Caravanning is a different thing all together. But they are great when it rains or it’s blowing a gale, they just can’t go off the black top.

Most of the attractions for us are to be found in the National Parks and that often means rough roads. We want something that takes the minimum amount of time to set up, will keep us warm and dry. And go where the Tvan would go. The Crossover does that very well. You do have to experiment with the storage because some of it is under the benches that the bed sits on. We have found making up the bed every day a chore so we have had to rearrange our kitchen utensils and place little used items under the bed, which is fine. We now have all the utensils in a plastic tough box that slides out of a side locker. When we cook the whole lot comes out and whatever you want for food prep is there in front of you. There is a bit of dust getting in, but with some careful play with the sealant gun that will easily be minimised.

There are minor things that we will talk to the manufacturer about, and hopefully he will help us out with some of that, but all in all we are really pleased with the purchase. This morning a lady came over to us and said that the Crossover had been featured on TV. Paul Hogan Crocodile Dundee and his wife have been given one to take up to Cape York. Or so the lady would have it. Wouldn’t it be nice to be showered with largesse like that! Perhaps he could call me and I can tell him where to put his utensils.

Preparations

Jacqui in Mitre 10(5.5 to the locals) said “so when are youse off then?”
This said in a tone making it plain we were already at least a month late, whenever we were to go. Making excuses and admitting we were not REAL grey nomads, I told Jacqui we had made changes to our rig that had caused us to be very much late departing in 2009 but Lake Eyre looks interesting.

“Yer’ll be the sixth couple from Woodend that’s up there that I know of” J replied. A keen sense of approaching departure from one’s community comes with the foreknowledge that isolation and remoteness is why you go otherwise just meet at the market next Sunday! Going to see Lake Eyre somehow doesn’t qualify especially if there’s a queue at the bar of the Marree pub and most of them are from around here.

But we are not deterred! Of course everyone with a 4WD (and probably more than a few 2WD ers too) wants to look across L. Eyre. Those who know are telling us the lake last filled properly in ’74, has only filled 3 times in the past 150 years or so, but I remember Lance Lessels taking off in his Falcon from Williamstown back in about ’88 having heard the call. Any way you look at it is an event of such scale, and in these drought years one of such importance for the deserts, that the possibility of seeing those spaces carpeted in flowers and birds is not to be missed. Where there was one tour operator last year, there were 34 at the last count.

Our minds were made up for us really because Bill & Jill Johnson who we met amongst so much hilarity on the last trip called to tell us they would be in the Marree pub on 13th August and would we be there? We’ll meet up with them and then head north together to Muloorina Station, an oasis of greenery on the Frome River that flows north into the south end of the Lake. And that is the extent of the planning really. Unlike last year, when we had lots of time and lots of goals, this year will be very different. We’ll part company with the Johnsons too soon as they continue south on a clockwise return to Fremantle, and we’ll possibly flirt with the Simpson Desert (very much depending on local advice), head northwards on the back tracks as far as Mt Isa, or more likely incline eastwards towards Longreach. Reading James Woodford’s book The Dog Fence is a good way to get in the mood.

Six weeks, leaving 3rd August, takes us to the middle of September. Our first thought was to go as far as Ravenshoe, west of Cairns, to meet with young friends who used to run a Bush Heritage property “Eurardy” north of Geraldton in WA but that is very ambitious. We’ll just go where we go and see what we find along the way.

When we finished up last trip I had a list of things I wanted to change on the Tvan, but could not get the manufacturers to take any interest. Experience of the cold and wet when we reached the Clare Valley was miserable and we realised that dealing with a lot of canvas (essential when it’s wet) to make a decent living space on a daily basis of set up/knock down is too much. I had ideas of having a reduced canvas shelter made that would better suit the way we preferred to use the Tvan, so I called into the Caravan & Camping show out at Caulfield where the canvas and pole manufacturers could be found. Katie came along with me and we whisked along with no time to spare, through the aisles of jerry cans and every imaginable bit of trailer craft you could poke a stick at. And there it was. A burst of appreciative recognition and a statement of the obvious all in one. The VistaRV Crossover winked at me seductively and within seconds I was on board and in love. Katie assured me Mum would buy the idea – and she was right!

The provenance is recognisable if you’ve been a Tvan owner because there is a similarity in approach to both layout and construction, but this is a mini caravan with a thirty second set up time, and easy in bad weather. I think a Mk 2 Tvan should have been out by now, because a gap in the market has appeared, and VistaRV owner Louie Cretella has slotted his product in very nicely.

Louie who owns Prompt Sheet Metal in Bayswater, has supplied laser cut sheet metal parts for the camper trailer industry for many years. With some help from a well known designer Lou has produced the next generation – a van that would make the cross between the Tvan that relies on canvas when the weather’s no good, to a caravan that can still go everywhere but has a table for four inside, and a fast set up time. The quality is not to be beaten and production is up to 2 a month now and rising. Take a look at http://www.vistarv.com.au/

Sometimes, especially if you are a designer, you might see a product evolve for all the right reasons, and this is one that is worth spreading around – a bit like the smile on Lou’s face! He was remarkable in getting ours finished in half the scheduled time, including changes I had asked for, all done without a complaint. So Jacqui we did have a real reason to be leaving so late!

We’ll probably re-visit Arkaroola at the north end of the Flinders Ranges before propping up the bar in Marree, waiting for the Johnson’s. Other than that we invite anyone of a mind to (and who like me might be utterly fed up with our TV diet of detective dramas), to tune in on a weekly sort of basis, to enjoy some of the travels to come.

Game anyone?