In 2010 we decided to purchase a caravan and travel the length and breadth of this massive land of ours. What van should we choose, definitely secondhand but in good condition....cost, $45k to $50k, that would be heaps.
Friends of ours, Des and Bernie ( Bernadette ) had been doing the hard yards, googling and searching for the best van. This was over a period of about 18 months. They finally made a decision on a new van and the wait was three months and a cost of $63k. We couldn't believe it, " you're mad waiting that long, we're going to Brissy and pick up a second handy for $45k".
Six months after they received their pride and joy, and it is a beautiful van, we were off to Brisbane to see what we could get. Des and Bernie had done alot of research, so we knew what to look out for plus I had been doing some research of my own. We were looking for something that would be able to do a bit of off road stuff........not too much.
Burpengary was our first stop..........nah.......too long of a wait, and not quite what we wanted. By this time we were thinking of a new van. Right, check out these Kedron vans. Really nice, but the sales lady said that our Prado could not handle the weight. Well we are definitely not buying a new fourby. By this time we were thinking that the idea of getting a van was not going to come to fruition. Last ditch attempt.......there's some mob on the Sunny Coast making vans, we'll go and have a look.
Bushtracker at Kunda Park. Rocked up, no appointment and asked what the go was. Told them we had a Prado and they said "no worries, we've got just what you want". Did the factory tour and we were sold. Yep, we'll have one of those thanks. Not so easy. We spent most of the day choosing the layout and colours of the leather seats, curtains and flooring. Remember what we said about Des and Bernie....waiting time and cost. Our waiting time, five months, and cost.............I'm not telling. Des and Bernie couldn't believe us, they laughed and laughed, so did we. Worth the wait............my bloody oath it was.
The story gets even better. The next five months consisted of buying gear for the van, you know the stuff, genny, Weber, linen, cups and plates and all that. Several thousand dollars later it was "D" day. Spent the whole day at Bushtracker getting tuition on the van, how it works, what to do, what not to do, thank god Fay videoed the whole lot. After spending two days loading the van we headed south of the border and caught up with Des and Bernie for a week to run the van in before we headed back to Bushtracker to get the 1000 km service. The van went fine..............the Prado...........well...not so good, not so powerful. On the hills we were loosing alot, running out of gears. Cut to the chase...........in four weeks we were heading off for six months to the west via the Plenty and Great Central Hwys. We needed a new car.........200 series TTD.
I can still hear Des and Bernie laughing.
So, there you have it, this is how we got into caravaning............and we love it.
Chris.
This Prado really was a nice 4 x 4 , I was sorry to see it go.
And this is the final result, 100% off road and fully equipped to go anywhere.
.............................and in the rough.
Ah............do you want me to tell you about the shed we had to build to store the van in.....................nah, tell ya later, a whole new story.
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