Hail @ Byron vs. The DavLin Rig (Sunland - Longreach)

Before looking at the hail we came head to head with at Byron Bay I think it best I clarify a few points on our relationship with Sunland/Queensland Caravan Centre. This is being done following several discussions held with fellow travellers and as we all like to do check each others vans out, not as nosey parkers but more so to look at designs and van layouts, it is always good to pick up some new ideas. Caravan parks seem to be a better proposition for viewing vans and talking direct to the owners rather than caravan shows talking to a sales guy from a caravan manufacturer/supplier; the opinions you get from us the owners are or should be unbiased.

On our web site we are totally honest and provide comments and our opinion on parks we have been in along with what we think on the area concerned. I must emphasise OUR OPINION as this is what it is; all of us have an opinion and just because we provide ours yours may be totally different. You may thoroughly enjoy a park and township that in our opinion was pretty ordinary; this is your opinion and also warrants comment.

Our caravan was completed in July 07 after over 9 months of design considerations and the the standard build time. It was important to Linda & I to customise the van to some extent as we are looking at a long term adventure. During this time we got to know the team at Sunland quite well as we went through the wants and don’t wants and several design modifications. Sunland are very accommodating in most changes but unlike some other manufacturers Sunland will only make these changes as long as it does not affect the safety and towing dynamics of the van.

On completion all was well but we did have an electrical fault at the batteries and some minor problems with a stereo system, water pump and some air bubbles on our floor. The water pump was a pain as it was intermittent and hard to track down but this has now been resolved, the stereo was also replaced with a better unit (in our opinion), the battery system was replaced and the floor fixed. It was frustrating for both parties however Sunland were committed to fixing the problems and did so without confrontation and to our satisfaction.

Our first hail storm was at Bribie Island in November 07; APIA approved the repairs and we opted to get these fixed after our Christmas holidays. We booked our van well in advance with Sunland and the whole roof, hatches and some side panel were replaced and the van ready for us to collect 2 weeks later. The repairs which totalled $9800 were first class and done in quick time considering how busy they were.

In summary, we are not paid, sponsored or subsidised on our travels by Sunland / Queensland Caravan Centre. When we discuss our caravan and experiences with other travellers these are our thoughts and opinions, we do blow the Sunland trumpet as we are very pleased with our Longreach and the service we have received, however we do also discuss the problems we have had. We are pleased to show others and our home as we are very happy with our lot; we do this because we want to not because we have to.

Now onto the Byron Bay hail. The duration was 3 – 4 minutes with stones up to slightly larger than golf balls; it was probably not the size but the force and sharpness factor. In the van it sounded like canon fire.

Above is under the awning about 5 minutes after the storm; the wind and force was strong enough to bring the hail well inside the awning.

Above is the ground cover sometime later; the motorhome you see next to us (Terry’s) ended up with a severely damaged awning and all of the plastic covers on the roof were holed. 

Above is our awning; we had 18 places where you could see daylight, the awning did not have holes the skin had been stretched which de-laminated the colour. 

Above shows the main size of these stones; note the spikes which in the main caused most of the damage. 

Above is one of the hatches in the bathroom, both suffered the same fate; you can see the split that opened up about 25mm.  during the night half of this hatch blew off onto the grass; fortunately we had no further rain after the storm had passed through.

Fellow travellers now ask us which way we are heading and usually go the opposite way; seems we have a reputation of hail going where we go.

Hoping this is the last we see of hail although we are now getting belted with high winds and rain at Scarborough just north of Brisbane. The Scarborough hotel lost part of its roof and several windows 2 nights ago (20th) and there has been major damage to houses in the area, we are about 1km from where this happened. This story along with pictures will be in the next post.

Will post again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Byron (Bloody Expensive) Bay - Oct 08

We thought Nimbin was an eye opener but Byron takes first prize thus far for entertainment and life in general; if we did see any locals it would have been by pure accident as I am sure they stay well out of town given what goes on here.

Byron thrives on the tourist and backpacker fraternity and every day here is like a Saturday and/or Sunday; the streets are awash with people no matter what time or day you venture out.

Firstly lets get the normal stuff out the way. We stayed at the First Sun Holiday Park which is right in the heart of Byron Bay, 20mt walk and you are amongst it all. The photo below is taken from our site and shows the beach-front sites on the right; these are the best sites as on the other side of the cabins are where most of the overnight wicked type campers stay (zip bangers), zip the sliding door opening and bang the door closing.

Not cheap here at $37 per night but quite good and no need to use the car. Beach access is by way of 2 gates along the back of the vans you see; the good part is the park is fully fenced, secure and the beach gates are padlocked at 7.00pm.

The photo below is of Byron Bay from Cape Byron lighthouse; the views from here are nothing short of spectacular, it did not mater which way you turned the views were awesome.

As the sign says Cape Byron is the most easterly point in Australia; it is also the most windy so hang on to your hat. The photo was taken courtesy of a young couple on holiday; they were blown out to sea just after this shot but I was fortunate enough to grab the strap of the camera so we avoided a major loss of funds in a replacement (they were young and looked like good swimmers). 

The track below is a climb you can make to Cape Byron; there are quite a few lunatics around that run up this and then do several push ups at the top. This is not for me and apparently not for the paramedics who seem to be kept quite busy taking them to the local hospital suffering cardiac arrest.

Byron Bay mmmmmmm Byron Bay. This little temple was on the beach about 2km from the caravan park; on one of Linda’s beach walks she spotted this gem complete with a little lady sitting cross legged wearing a green pointed hat and praying to the moon god, sun god, demy god or maybe just plain oh god.

The Balcony below is on of the must visit eating places in Byron; the side you see in the photo is where we sat, as it is on a corner the side running down the left hand side is the same but has couches where you can indulge in a 3 hour coffee if you wish. The food is very good (BLT for me and a Tapas for Lin); about $20 for this pair and they do have cocktails at $14 each (we both had water for free).

The photo below is taken from the beach and directly behind these characters is the Beach Hotel where all the Thursday through to Sunday entertainment comes from. The early hours start with this group affectionately known as “The Bongo Trio”, they are accompanied by slide guitar (might as well slide it as he couldn't play it) and Phil the flute player. As far as flute playing I could fart a better tune.

Now this may seem amusing seeing them humming, bongoing, smoking, drinking and scribbling peace signs on the footpath until you realise the whole concert is sponsored by Centerlink. Following the early start here the pub rolls into action around 9.30pm until 1.00am; to be expected on a weekend and accepted by most residents of Byron. It is only when the crew below believe they should not be out-done and kick off again at around 1.30am.

The pub revellers seem to think it is a great idea as there is nothing like a six pack and 2 kebabs to keep all entertained until 5.00am. If you do stay in the heart of Byron I would suggest the weekend evening meal should consist of 250ml scotch, 2 x Cerapax and a pair of ear plugs; waking up at lunch time is not so bad after all.

Had to take a picture of this little beauty that pulled in a few days before we left; not sure of the age but it certainly is a classic.

Whilst we were at Byron Bay our pride joy the The DavLin Rig (Sunland Caravan) was hit yet again by hail; this is the second time in 12 months and the next post will have all the details so stay tuned.

Will be posting again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

 

Lismore & (Lets Have a Puff) Nimbin

Moved out of Yamba and in to Lismore for a week away from the coast; this was a good location to travel without the van to Nimbin, The Channon, Nightcap National Park, Casino and other surrounding areas.

The Caravan parks in Lismore are not really for the tourist set as they are 90% plus permanent residents. The park we stayed at was Roadrunner which was about 5km out of town near the airport but well back from the main Bruxner highway so relatively quiet.

Our site as shown above was one of only 9 sites available for the tourist or overnight stopover; these are at least at one end of the park away from the permanent dwellings (approx 85). One section of the park the homes were quite good but in the main it was old vans converted with the addition of solid wall extensions. Park cost was $132 for the week; it does have a pool, is fairly quiet and the casual sites do have a good country outlook.

The amenities whilst in fairly good condition were a strange set up with the male and female blocks running off the same corridor; hard to explain but 2 male and 2 female facilities were located in a common hallway, on alternate days they opened one of each and closed the other. This has been the only park where Lin used the van shower for the entire stay after some bloke was supposedly checking the female door for security reasons.

On to the good stuff. Lismore does have all you need some very good shops and a main city block which is quite extensive. Plenty of pubs, clubs, eateries and the regular markets.

The picture above is of Lismore’s famous pie cart which is a permanent fixture in the main part of town and the pies are to die for; they have tables and chairs to eat in or you can take-away, my recommendation is sit down with a pie, peas, mash and gravy, knife and fork and a few dribble cloths (napkins). DO NOT MISS THESE PIES IF YOU ARE AROUND LISMORE; DISMISS AT YOUR OWN PERIL. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

Well lets move on to blissfully beautiful, off the planet, organically minded and totally spaced capital of NSW, if not Australia. Some of the characters we came across here are beyond belief; it was hard to comprehend how some of the locals could be in our opinion comatose but still move around, cross roads and be in the main oblivious to reality.  

Good on em I say; as long as they do not make this lifestyle compulsory. Lin and I did have quite a few good hours in the town and it is somewhere that you should visit if you are nearby.

There are plenty of local artworks & crafts for purchase providing they are open when you want to buy, note below this joint opens at Noon; doors of business premises seem to open and close for siestas throughout the day, as they say “a puff a day keeps the customers away”.

We visited a small town called “The Channon” and the photo below is the view on our way in; this is the road into the Nightcap National park. The town for it’s size has a beautiful hotel (pub), well worth calling in for a quiet one.

Below are the “Nimbin Rocks”; this photo was taken on the way in to Nimbin.

On leaving Nimbin after a coffee, several home made biscuits and a few breaths of the townships fresh air they looked much more spectacular on the way out of town (don’t know why????).

We had a ball and please visit if you are near here; Nimbin does have a caravan park but I did not check it out. If anyone has stayed maybe add a comment to the comments section at the end of this post.

Will post again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Yamba / Maclean - October 08

We arrived at Yamba on Monday 6th October for a week to check out the local area; we stayed at Yamba Waters Holiday Park based on information we received when in Coffs Harbour; the information was good and the park is excellent.

Yamba does have a small shopping centre with a Bi-Lo and small Target; there are eateries, cafes a pub and clubs so no shortage of supplies.

Yamba Waters Holiday Park is a Big 4; although this was the second week of the NSW school holidays, however the park had plenty of sites available as it is mainly Queenslander’s that pack the park out. With the discount the park cost $215 for the week, not bad given the time of year.

All the sites are large and have no shortage of room; as you can see by the below photo plenty of shade in the warmer months is of great benefit. The park has 3 amenities blocks (Kept spotless), 2 laundries, 2 pools (in separate areas), a good playground for the kids, games room, indoor camp kitchen and very well kept free barbecues. Linda and I were very pleased with the park; it is located approximately 2km west of the Yamba township so it is an easy walk or bike by very good bike tracks. We did have a look at the Calypso park in town; it is just about on the beach but the sites are a little cramped. There is another park called the Blue Dolphin Resort which is a similar distance from town as Yamba Waters but they wanted $420 for a powered site for the week; Linda & I decided we were not paying that unless it included 3 meals a day, 2 cartons of grog and tickets to the movies.

Met up with one big happy family enjoying the same week we were in the park; their setup had one huge tent, one camper trailer and a pop-top caravan. They are all Lismorians which is where we are heading next so we will be catching up whilst we are in town (thanks guys for all your friendship during our stay at Yamba).

Below is a shot of the Yamba lighthouse.

Within a couple of hundred meters of the town Yamba is fortunate to have 2 deferent types of beach areas; the first shot below shows the beach at the breakwater giving an opportunity for body boarding and the like.

The second photo shows the beach on the inlet side of the breakwater giving calm waters for smaller kids and those that want to relax in calm water. Yamba does have many more beaches on offer but these 2 shown are very close to all the amenities in town.

Whilst in Yamba we drove to the “Scottish town in Australia”; Maclean, which sits approximately 20km west of Yamba and sits right on the Clarence River. This place is very nice indeed and house prices here are very good; it is only a small town but has all you would need. The photo below was taken in the middle of town at a small boat ramp onto the Clarence river.

All Macleans telephone/light poles are painted in different Scottish clan tartans; the town also has a Scottish information centre run by volunteers. Should you be mad enough the local butcher's still make and sell haggis and lorne sausages (no meat in these just horses hoofs, pigs ears and arseholes).

We drove up to the lookout and below shows the Pinnacle Rocks with the Clarence river in the background.

Below is a shot of the Maclean township as we drove down from the lookout (could certainly live here).

Linda fell in love with Maclean; she was so pleased to see they had a street which recognised the vertically challenged (wee Scott people and others).

Hope you are all well and will post again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig.

Minnie Water/Wooli - Oct 08

Rolled into Minnie Water on Friday 3rd October for a 3 night stay; Dad asked if we could check out a small town called Wooli and send some pictures to him, Dad wanted to see if the place had changed much in recent years.

In checking with some other travellers it was decided it would be better to stay at Minnie Water and visit Wooli for the day as it was only 15km from Minnie and supposedly Minnie would be the better place to stay (NOT SO).

If you do want to see Minnie Water and Wooli do yourself a favour and stay at Wooli as it has 2 van parks, a pub,a couple of shops, ATM and mobile service. Minnie Water has 1 van park (not the best), 1 shop and no mobile service.

The park at Minnie was $23 per night or $138 per week; the amenities are small and not the cleanest. The van park is really only for campers (tents, camper trailers etc) and has only half a dozen powered sites for vans, the rest of the park is permanent residents.

During our stay the park held a fish auction to raise money for the Minnie Water/Wooli surf life saving club; all the fish were donated and in the main were large snapper as shown above(3kg plus), this particular fish went for $30, a very good buy considering they normally sell in fish markets for $30 – $35 per kg.

During the auction several seafood trays were raffled off and Linda scored a good one; the tray had about 1kg of prawns, 1 dozen oysters and 4 bugs. Total investment by us was $10.

The above shot is the Minnie Water general store which sells a bit of everything; it also the local servo and take away. Prices her were quite high for food items (All Bran $9 a box) so if you do go into Minnie or Wooli for a few days best stocking up as the neares majors are at Grafton which is about 60km away.

The above is the Minnie Water SLC; reading the local paper tells how they have just approved $340’000 to build a proper building to house the club volunteers, you can just see the beach to the left.

Close up of the sign showing when the patrols operate.

The above is the Minnie Water community hall which sits opposite the shop and adjacent to the SLC; it was all locked during our stay but they do have some local club meetings here.

The sign shows the hire cost should you be interested in having a wedding for any of your family or maybe that special birthday or anniversary.

Above is the Wooli breakwater; Wooli sits between the open ocean and the clarence river so you get the best of both worlds.

The beaches here are really good but unless you like just beaches and fishing a week may be a bit long to stay. Of the caravan parks our pick would be Solitary Island Caravan Park at Wooli, from Wooli you can visit Minnie Water.

Post again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

Coffs Harbour - Sept/Oct 08

Arrived at Coffs late September for a week stay and used the Park Beach Holiday Park; the week we were in was the 26th Sept to 3rd October which was end of the Qld 1st week school holidays and the start of the NSW first week so it was quite busy. This is a family park with plenty for kids to do (pool, games room etc, etc) and the location is very good being close to the beach and central shopping. The park has quite strict rules and regulations (no skateboard's, no scooters, no roller blades etc), all of which were never enforced, given it was school holidays the park management did not seem to worry about it.

Price was not too bad considering it was a school holiday period at $215.00 for the week after the normal Top Tourist discount.

Two major events were on in Coffs Harbour during the week we were in town, one being the Coffs Harbour Air Show on the Saturday & Sunday and the other was the International Buskers Week. The air show was $20 for either day but we took the free option as most of the planes took a flight-path over the caravan park; the buskers were a little different in being able to fleece anyone and everyone at most parks and street corners (they were good and worth the gold coin donations).

The busker above has a steel helmet on with a small frying pan and burner welded to the top; he set the thing on fire and tossed an egg in the air and caught and cooked it in the small pan. You cannot see it but he is standing on a balance board and also juggling a flaming torch, egg and knife at the same time.

Linda’s Birthday was on Wednesday (1st Oct) so as requested lunch was a seafood platter (for one as I hate the stuff); we went to the Coffs Harbour Deep Sea Fishing Club which has some spectacular views of the ocean and surrounding beaches. The only draw back on the day we went was the winds; but seafood for Lin, meat for Dave and champagne for us both made it a great day.

Yummy – best keeping your fingers clear whilst Linda is eating seafood; beautiful views of the back beach at Coffs.

Both of us a bit wind blown before heading in for lunch.

Will post again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig.

Woolgoolga Beach - N.S.W. September 08

We arrived at this beautiful spot on the 19th September for a week of sun and fun but it turned out to be quite windy. We had north east winds for part of the week followed by south west winds later in the week. We stayed at Woolgoolga Beach caravan park which is absolute beach front and is part of the Coffs Coast Parks; the other local park which is part of the same group is Woolgoolga Lakeside and this park is only a couple of hundred meters off the beach. Given the high winds the Lakeside park may have been a better option.

The park is good with very clean amenities; some of the park sites are slabs with others being grass so if you have a preference best specifying on booking. Price during our stay was $160 for the week (low season). Not much to do here but it is very relaxing; the town has a couple of pubs, bowling club, RSL and has 2 large supermarkets (Spa & IGA); the usual take-alway joints and a couple of restaurants are also in town.

 

Our site set back about 30m from the beach. 

 

The view from the front of our van. 

Woolgoolga lookout. The view is south to Coffs Harbour across Woolgoolga Back Beach (hang on to your hat). 

Woolgoolga lookout. The view is looking north onto the main Woolgoolga Beach. 

 

The lighthouse at the lookout; not that you can make it out but the windows of the lighthouse are only painted on for appearance sake. 

This is the bloody hill we walked up to get to the lookout from the Woolgoolga township (should have took the car). 

Linda’s herb garden; every time we park up this gets put out in the sun, water added and a few leaves munched off. Just in case you are wondering the plants are basil, parsley, mint and oregano; just thought I would clarify that for the dope smokers (their herbs not hooch). 

Some baby ducks we had at the van site; they went down well with an infused orange sauce and a bottle of yellowtail chardonnay. 

Wishing you all well and will post again soon – David & Linda – The DavLin Rig