Our Touring Past

Howdy ...
Well its still 5 months away .... but...
We now have 10 vans coming to Stockton in July.
That's a great effort guys and thanks for getting on to making your bookings early .
I have only booked 11 sites .. so I might ring the park today and see if I can reserve the row of sites that I mentioned in my last post ... or maybe the 2 adjacent to site 82 .

All good folks
Reddo

Ok then...
It appears that I am panicking for nothing...... I rang the park and checked on how the bookings are going??
All is good... there is only 4 of the 10 who have stated that they are going that have actually parted with the hard earned.
Sites 76, 81,82,85 are taken. All of the ensuite sites are still available.... but these will be the first released if the vintage van crew haven't secured them by the end of May.

So... all is good... but those that have said they are going and waiting on someone else to pay for their site better realize there is no fairy godmother ... ya gunna have to flash your plastic at the manager.

Cheers
Reddo

Looking forward to it, all booked in
Jenno

How does that old Beatles song go..??
"I'll get by with a little help from my friends"

It appears a few of the members of other forum may have been a little reluctant to sign up for the Christmas in July weekend at Stockton van park...
??
Not sure if it was fear of being charged with "Guilty by association " or "liasing with the enemy"
But our good friends Geoff and Jude have been helping convince the recouncitrents that they will not be lined up and shot if they sign up for a good time in July.

So..... it appears that just about all of the 11 sites that I had the park set aside for us are now taken up.... Happy bums on seats so to speak.
I will give the park a call later today and see if we can reserve the street behind the sites I intitially booked as well as the sites opposite "Griffin" across the road in front of the amenities.

As the event date gets closer I might get in touch with a couple of the local newspapers and possibly the local TV station.. NBN 3 and see if the might like to drop in on us over the "festive weekend??...might have to get em to call in around lunchtime.. things an get a bit wobbly after 3.00pm around the camp...

Just like to thank everyone who has booked early, and a big thanks to Geoff and Jude for "Booking by correspondence" with those from the other site that have "come out of the closet"....
There is nothing wrong with "Dual citizenship"...
Cheerio
Reddo

Well done Master,
All booked and paid.

Hi Mark

That's funny..
3500..... .. wow... I have heard it more than once ...from more than one source that the numbers don't stack up.
Once you weed out the defunct members who have posted once... or not at all , those that have joined simply to advertise a van they want to sell.....those that post once looking for a "hook up.. tow away" van....etc.. etc..the numbers are more like 350.

When you can look at the numbers at the other sites nationals.. 120....or thereabouts ( oooowaaaa I just realized I "stole" 7 for a tour last year )..allow another 10 % for those that couldn't make it for work or financial reasons

That number is more indicative of the true interest in vintage vanning..

Joint ventures ... isn't an issue for me.... I go on van runs and events to meet up with mates and enjoy the company and their vans.....no matter who their favourite website .... or website owner is...!!!
Last thing on my mind is what website they found about the event on...

I organize the weekends to see people out and about enjoying themselves and their vans.. Have been doing so since 2005.
The only flag that needs to be on a stick at those weekends is the Australian flag.

Meanwhile the van park is filling up nicely and we are all looking forward to another great vintage van weekend.
Williamtown airport is only 15 mins from Stockton.....why not jump on a plane and come over for the weekend. I can pick you up ..there is plenty of cabins on site.

Cheers
Reddo

Update.. Update .. Update
Dateline.. Sunday 22/2/205 ... 15.30 hours EDST..
Latitude.. ummm... longitude... umm... Stockton
Have spoken with the nice receptionist at "Ground Zero Christmas in July Command Post."

Happy to say that at the 3rd stroke it will be vaguely 3.36pm and we have 17 happy campers entrenched on their sites for the festivities. Wont be long before there will be talk of

Who's cooking what for the Saturday night nosh up in the camp kitchen.....
Whos wearing what..If anything at all... ???
Will Cliffy manage to blow the bum out of his Santa suit again...??
Will MrFJ55 Maurie the disco queen make the scene with his portable record player and Dean Martin album???
Will he and Kate turn up and make the surfie scene with Kates Kombi ???
Who keeps ringing from Williamtown Airport.. Mystery Santa ...
..
So many unanswered questions????

The only sites left out of the original sites set aside are...E4. 69 ( prime real estate /handy to camp kitchen and crappers) and maybe site 75.... someone has it on hold???

So..... while nattering to the generals on the front line I asked if we could also make sites 34, 35, and 36 available??
No probs.. but at the rate the park is filing up they will be camping in the bowling club carpa.......arrrrr... that's not such a bad idea...
Hmmmmmm.... i'll get back to ya shortly.

Reddo

Hi Reddo.
Great work on the Xmas in July OTP weekend. Since this is the very first ourtouringpast.com weekend away I should really get my butt into gear and book a site, but Iam not sure what we are doing next week let alone July, but if I leave it too long the park will be booked out.
The dilemma what to do.
Cheers.

Hi Richard

Time poor.... family commitments...yup.. we understand .

I wouldn't stress too much about weather to book in for the weekend.
You could always book an onsite cabin / fly up for the weekend. and have at least one night with the gang
Its been done by ... others before.
The 1964 presidential limousine ( times are tough ) can be dispatched to the airport....

Ummmmmm..... ....Might have to squish up a bit and share a EH Panno bench seat with the driver and a "mystery Santa from the far side"
hmmmmmm... the OTP flight No: GR-195 limousine Williamstown to Stockton black box flight recording would make for interesting playback

No matter what... don't stress.... we'll see ya the next time we are looking at you !!

In closing....
Just like to thank Geoff and Jude for their assistance in relaying the site availabilities to others that may be interested in coming along for the weekend.

Reddo

For those people still contemplating weather or not to go, I have attached a Park map showing the sites taken in the red dots, and the sites available as of today in the yellow arrows.
More sites may come available if these sites are taken up.