Bribie Island - Hard to Take.

Almost away from the hustle and bustle of Brisbane only approximately 1 hour north; cross the bridge and you are in a great close to Brisbane holiday place.

Bribie has a choice of calm and surf as the bridge crossing gives you the inlet side and the far point gives you the surf side.

Three caravan parks are on show and our experience at the Bongaree Caravan Park (Welsby Pde) was most enjoyable; overlooking the calm side waters with good security and lighting and well maintained amenities. The park has no pool or other over the top not required items for regular travelers. The park is located next to the bowls club (50m) which offers great bistro and coffee shop meals.

The price for us staying for 6 weeks including Easter was $132 per week and in our opinion was without doubt the best value for the location and park facilities (Les will help out with van parking if required).

Great place, great park, and without doubt great value and location.

David & Linda

The DavLin Rig

 

Van Repaired And Ready To Go

No pictures as nothing really to show; from hail damage we got at Bribie APIA cleared the claim for the van to be repaired. APIA could not been better in their assessment and approval of the claim; we held back on the repairs owing to our Christmas holiday, with the damage being only superficial it could wait.

The repairs were done at Sunland Caravans which is where we purchased the van and all went well and to a set time line which was vitally important given our future plans.

We did require a few modifications undertaken while the van was with them which were all completed to our satisfaction.

We did have some issues with the DVD/Radio/CD player and our Dometic fridge (the fridge only turned out to be a fuse problem). As with all builds some minor problems may evaluate over time; with Sunland offering a 3 year warranty it adds to peace of mind in being able to get these things rectified.

Sunland could not be more helpful in getting the CD unit replaced and Dometic involved to track the fault with the fridge.

I would like to thank Richard and Roy at Sunland for the modifications, repairs and getting the radio and fridge problems sorted. Thanks also to all the crew working with Richard and to the guys in sales (John especially)

David & Linda Stevens

The DavLin Rig

Hope to be posting again soon.

Christmas 2007 (Wet, Wet, Wet)

Not the best of holidays thus far; we spent the first week at Maroochy Palms Caravan Park at Maroochydore (22nd to 29th Dec) and had at least 3 days of rain. At least we were able to do a few walks and scenic bike rides; once the rain set in with scuds off and on it was pretty hard to do much in the great outdoors.

The worst was yet to come when we moved to Tewantin; the weather turned quite bad with 2 lows and expected cyclones. The cyclones never eventuated but the lows gave us some very high winds (90km/hr) and bucket loads of rain.

This being the 4th Jan we still have a week to go; the lows have passed and the prediction for clearer skies is encouraging so we are hopeful of a better week ahead.

The photos are of Alex beach which as you can see is empty of the usual influx of holiday makers; over past years it is hard to find some spare beach space. The other photos are of Lin and I at Mt Tinbeerwah with brollies in hand; normaly you would have fantastic views over Noosa and surounds but all we had was mist and rain.

Post again soon

David & Linda
The DavLin Rig

Where There's Smoke There's !!!

Hervey Bay & Alexandra Headlands August 10th – 27th 2007 

Yep; you guessed it. Our trip to Hervey Bay was not all plain sailing owing to a short in the boot of the van at the battery terminals. It seems some wiring on the positive side rubbed through on the negative terminal on the dual battery system.

 

Fortunately this occurred just as we arrived and started setting up; any other time and it could have been a lot worse. At least I became very familiar on the workings of a small but very useful fire extinguisher.

Sunland organised an electrician for us and we were fully operational within a couple of hours; Sunland then followed this up by driving from Brisbane to Hervey Bay to replace the damaged battery and re-wire back to the junction box.

On to the good stuff and the time we had at Hervey Bay; we happened to be in town for the official start of the whale watching season which kicked of with a street parade and fireworks on the Saturday evening.

On Sunday there was a wine tasting with jazz bands followed by the “Blessing of the Fleet” this involves all of the whale watching vessels coming into the harbour one by one and being blessed for the whale watching season; quite an emotional event especially after several reds.

Hervey Bay is a very nice are with beautiful beaches; it has many eateries and pubs on the esplanade but if you are not into this there are plenty quiet areas and beaches to read and unwind; Linda and I are certainly looking forward to a longer stay when next we visit the area.

We did do a whale watching trip on Wednesday 15th; it was aboard a boat called “Whalesong” and I must admit it was a great trip; not only did we get to see the wales close up but a rare event happened where the wales actually stay with the boat. It is called “Mugging” and the skipper is not allowed to depart until the wales leave otherwise they may get injured. We did get away about 90 minutes late but the pictures and the sunset on the return trip was spectacular.

If you are in Hervey Bay during the season it is highly recommended and the boat we went on was first class in presentation and service. The Whalesong web site is HERE ; there is a choice of a morning trip (breakfast and morning tea supplied) or a lunchtime trip (lunch and afternoon tea supplied), the boat is also fully licensed.

Our trip back down the coast to Alex was uneventful (thankfully); we arrived on Friday afternoon (17th) and the storms and 100km per hour winds arrived on Monday afternoon. Not a good end to the 2 week break as we were van bound for almost 4 days. We had to drop the awning as we were concerned the winds may cause damage; glad we did do so before the storms arrived as a few people in the van park got caught short and had to make 2.00am dashes to get the awnings down. The van did suffer a leak in the boot but non internally; the van is due in for its 1000km service on Monday 27th so Sunland will be making some repairs and doing some minor fixes during that week.

All in all we survived this trip but not without what seems like a common saying with me “it’s a bloody nightmare”; an over exaggeration on my part and Linda keeps reminding me by saying “stop being such a drama queen”.

Well we have had the wind; fire and rain so lets hope we have a bit better run next time; we look to be doing a 2 nighter in October and then we have 3 weeks planned over Christmas (Maroochydore and Noosa – Tewantin) so will post up after the first of these. In the meantime more photos of Hervey Bay and the Alex trip can be found by clicking HERE 

Look forward to posting again soon

David & Linda – The DavLin Rig

The First Trip - Caloundra

Well we had to start somewhere and what better place than Caloundra for the Davlin Rig’s maiden voyage.

Once set up the couple of days we had were very relaxing and it gave us the oportunity to test all the equipment; given we were not to far from home if anything was wrong it was no major drama but I must say all of the appliances worked faultlessly.

Very good friends of of ours, Pat and Trish, also joined us for a little rest & relaxation; the van they have is 23’ so a little longer than ours. The whole weekend was sunny with temps in the mid 20’s so very pleasant indeed.

By clicking HERE you will be able to view some pictures of the interior and I must say it is very comfortable and has all the the stuff we have at home; just that it is in a much smaller area.

Once again thanks to Ozzie Off-Road and Sunland caravans for bringing our plans and expectations to fuition.

Until the next post it’s by from us.

The DavLin Rig - David & Linda

The Van - Not Pretty Yet (But Getting Close)

A long time in the making but it is now very close; this is the Sunland Longreach Series III Semi Custom Build.

It should be completed in the next 2 weeks and ready for the road; notice the full insulation on the walls (not just the roof). The inside timber-work (real timber) is all but done and it will be soon off to the finishing section of the factory for the fit out.

Our first trip is planned for August (2 weeks) for her maiden voyage; a few trips following that before the great escape for a few years.

Sunland Caravans (Roy Wyss) and his team of designers and builders have done a magnificent job to date on the custom features we required. We were somewhat of a pain but Roy and his crew came in with flying colors with all the design changes and additions we threw at them.

Ozzie Off-Road assisted Linda and I in the selection of a camper trailer a few yeas ago; we needed information on what to buy; do you want galvanized, zinc annealed, painted, electric brakes, type of canvas materials etc, etc (the list goes on). Their information and guidance made for an easy selection.

Having decided to travel Australia by Caravan our first point of contact was with Ozzie for some advice on caravans; they in turn introduced us to Sunland Caravans for this build and have helped us all the way. Both Kerry and Cameron from Ozzie Off-Road have been tremendous with their patience in this whole process; honesty, integrity and sincerity seem to be the key with Ozzie’s business practice.

Ozzie Off-Road apart from their extensive range of on and off road campers are also distributing “The Blue Healer” off road caravan. The Blue Heeler is the result of countless hours from the Ozzie team as well as Roy and his crew at Sunland who build the Heeler exclusively for them.

Over the last 12+ months Roy (Sunland), Cameron & Kerry (Ozzie) have certainly showed Linda & I “That A Caravan Ain't necessarily A Caravan”.

SUNLAND CARAVANS – ROY WYSS:
Phone: (07) 5499 2250 or Mobile 0410 574127
Email: roy@sunlandcaravans.com.au
Web: www.sunlandcaravans.com.au

OZZIE OFF-ROAD – KERRY & CAMERON WHITING
Phone: (07) 5495 5333 or Mobile 0427 084680 (Cameron)
Email: sales@ozzieoffroad.com.au
Web: www.ozzieoffroad.com.au

Be back with more pictures and news as things progress.

The DavLin Rig

David & Linda

The Early Days

Well it is time to set up a blog spot so we can keep all our family and friends informed on how well or badly we are doing on our travels.

Over the next month or so we will post up some photos of the new mobile home (caravan) and let you know where we are at on our plan vs. actual; things do change but we needed to get this page up and running for future events.

Keep an eye out periodically for any new postings we make; also feel free to post your news back to us, the link is below; it will always be good to hear from friends as we travel which is some time away yet but we will post up or email replies as time and internet facilities are available.

Until the next posting keep well

David & Linda (The DavLin Rig)