Our Touring Past

Strugglebrooks , fully booked.

All good
,.....and thanks Strugglebrook and Jenno.
Was talking to the Sutcacs the other day on the phone.
Apparently "Brendon and Stacey"are signing up again .
Will be good to see their smiley dials along for another tour...
Tell Stacey i wont be taking them along any snowy mountains fire trails this tour !!!

I vividly remember the spray i got when we finally got back on the tar after driving from Omeo to Colac Colac over the mountains on the goat track
Stacey was ready to murder me until she mellowed when i pointed out the name of the rest area we stopped at "Stacey Creek"... if it wasnt for some explorer giving the site that name i reckon my tombstone would be marking the spot today.


Reddo

Hi Reddo

we're Lucky that friendly fellow vanners alerted us to the booking offices being opened for the Tour cos sites are going like hot cakes!

So were booked & almost ready to go!

Tumult has us on site 63
Yarrawonga put us on site 11

Cheers
Cathie, Rob & Scud

Hi Cath
and thanks for your message.

The 12 "Hotcakes" are on the tray..
In order they where baked..

Reddo
Kaybees
Strugglebrook
Philmac
Sutcac
Brendon and Stacey
Sunny62
The Hoopers..??
Jennison
Trodler
Smiles
Ray Roehm

Those that had expressed interest in coming along..
Chippy Dave , Aquamum , The Bluebirds ,and i think Humpty2 sent me a message at one stage??

Thanks to those that have either emailed. Phoned, text or even harder still replied here on the forum to me.
I appreciate just how difficult it can be to get on the forum sometimes. I went through it a few times a while back.

Anyway.. on with the tour info...
It looks like i better talk to the parks and see if i can nail on another 3 sites.
Was hoping to keep a lid on the oven at 12 vans.... but how can i say no to anyone ... more to the point.. who am i to stop em from wantin to come along??

As you would appreciate the more people coming along the logistics of getting everybody booked in at the parks becomes a problem.
People ring the parks and arent just happy booking a site.. some want to be next to their mates... and set about pestering the park manager to move others so they can achieve their wants and needs.
Others ring the parks and cancel due to work committments that come up. Then forget to let me know that the site is vacant. I appreciate that life happens .. but it would be nice to get a message re the changes.
In the end i have to smooth the waters with the managers and assure them we are not a bunch of nutters .

Then there is the mangement issues..
When i initially make contact with the parks i stress that we would all like to stay as a group .. vintage vans. Some managers are all over it.. fully understand. go out of their way to make sure we have a pleasant stay...Tooraweenah jam and scones .. Murrurundi Christmas in July cake and decorations.. supplied by enthusiastic park managers.

then there are others who decide it would be nice to bung a 30 foot white box in amongst us..
This was evident at SWR,,, I had a spare site beside me for 4 days and when "Sugarshack "turned up with their beautifull old purdon the managers put em down the opposite end of the park. The site beside me satyed vacant the whole time we where there??
I had 3 different vans on 3 different days come and go on the other side of me.. no of which where vintage... Go figure.

So... you see it aint all beer and skittles..

Here is a couple of things that might make your holdiay a bit more pleasant.

We are going to be driving through some mountainous country..
So... Leave all the vintage display stuff at home .. this is not a vintage display day where you set up all the nick nacs around the outside of the van. The tours are about getting around the countryside and enjoying our vans ... so lighten the load and just take whats relevant to camping .

Get your car serviced..
Radiator... things have gotta stay cool when lugging the van up hills
Transmission they work hard both uphill and down
,.... and good brakes are a must , That goes without saying anymore.

Join your sates motoring association roadside service.. in NSW its the NRMA. I am pretty sure each state has an agreement with the other to attend roadside problems no matter which association you belong to... its cheap insurance when you consider you can be charged up to $10 a kilometre after the first 20 Ks for towing if you havent got premium cover. .

If you think anything is a bit dodgey and may need attention on the car or van.. get in and get it done well before we leave,,,
Dont wanna be phoning ahead chasing parts so that you can do "In the park" repairs at our next stop.

Having said all that shit can "Just happen".... the unexpected...Lets hope not.


Regards
Reddo

Howdy...
Well it appears that everyone who said they are coming on the tour have put thier money where their mouth is and booked sites at the respective parks.
Great work guys..
Now ..
Back to the tour..
What to do after Yarrawonga ??
Was considering the following.

If we like Yarrawonga .....we could probably ask the Managers for an extra night as it will be early in the week and they would probably be glad to have us taking up a few sites...
But what If we have itchy feet and want to move on....

The last time we where in the Murray area was at Howlong a few years ago.. we left Howlong and went to Junee via Culcairn. Then on up to Ryleston.

After looking at the map and ... not wanting to cover the same ground twice may i suggest the following..
Leave Yarrawonga on the Tuesday ( May 2nd)... Head on up to Narrandera district for an overnighter...184klms - 2hrs 10 mins driving time.
Back when i use to attend Narrandera Hot Rod Nats in the 70s we use to camp on the banks of the Murrumbidgee .. a bewt campsite... Not sure if it has been closed off nowadays but would make an ideal free camp for a night or 2.
Otherwise we could book into one of the parks. The one i stayed at a few years ago for the FB/EK nats seemed to be out on the outskirts of town...
The other is Narrandera van park on the southj side of town... Near the main hwy ( trucks at night?? )

Anyway ... we can fine tune where we are gunna stay if people are happy with staying in this area??

From Narrandera .. Head north to Cowra van park where the vint van nats where held in 2012 ?
Nice park. Via Temora and Young ??

These stops are all on the route heading North and would suit those heading back to Sydney, Newcastle and all points North.

So there ya go.... i havent stopped planning... just had a breather and a bit of a think about not letting the tour run into a " dead end " at Yarrawonga.
Keep in mind that you will have been on the tour for 7 days by the Tuesday 1/5/2017..
and maybe had enough and just want to shoot home??..Straight up / down the Hume Hwy??

Then you are better off jumping off the tour at Yarrawonga than heading inland

But if ya cant get enough of the vintage vanning lifestyle and want to see some pretty countryside on the way home??.. well then let me know your thoughts.


Reddo

Another option for the naranderra area reddo is the grong grong hotel.
Free camp outback or power for a few bucks. Showers, toilets, pub grub, great publican and wife and a tiny pub only 15/20 k out of naranderra in the right direction
Stopped there for a beer for years when naranderra bound and overnited there in the pathfinder on the way home from mildura vv nats
Rated as a top stop for freecamp vanners in one of those grey nomad magazines
Jenno

Excellent.!!!
http://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/co ... rong-grong
I remember the pub near the railway crossing was shut down with red stripey tape around it when i went through there years ago....other one is a bit further along on the right.

Somewhere near here on the road towards Junee is one of the best antique shops i have ever been through..No reproduction shit.
Might even be at Grong Grong.. all i remember is the railway silos are on the left and shop is on the right heading east.

Thanks for the heads up Jenno... looks good.

Reddo

That antique shop is in Ganmain or Matong enroute to Junee from Grongy reddo, can't remember which but its choccas with lots of old stuff and big too. Come into town nthbound, hook right(pie shop on left then hook left with pub then antique shop on right.) They had a genuine penny farthing in there last time I looked in.But most of those towns have them. Wallandbeen, the other side of Cootamundra has a beauty as well but only open on weekends though. Great pies at Matong too!
Yep, the royal hotel grong grong. Coming from naranderra you hook right over the railway xing and then hook left immediately, pubs on your right. Great caravanning road its flat as for the most parts all the way to Junee.
Jenno

By the way i'm all booked in at the parks too
Jenno

Humpty's booked in at all parks