2017 Autumn Tour - Gold Fever

[reddo]

Welcome aboard Pete N Denise.
Will be interesting to see what Towcar /van combination you bring along next year.
See You in a few weeks at Shellharbour.

Regards
Reddo

[humpty]

Working hard on the Autumn Tour van.....nearly got the interior done (from scratch).
It will definately be fibreglass!

[reddo]

Onya Pete... Go you good thing !!

Working from scratch aye...
Thats understandable working with fobbergross... its bound to make you scratch...

Reddo

[dazzahd1947]

Hi MR reddo booked for your run next year Darrell and Elaine from Edgeworth

[Richard]

Hey Darrell
Great to see you on the forum, and we'll look forward to seeing you on the Autumn tour.
Cheers.

[reddo]

G'Day Smiffy... Welcome Darrel and Elaine to the ever growing list of 2017 Tourists... You guys make the total 14.
When you say you are booked... i take it you have rang the paks and booked a site with us??.. correct yes/no??
I would really like to close the gate now at 14 ...
Reason being...???

Picture this... Joe Average going to work or simply toodling along a country road and coming up behind a slow moving congo line of 14 old caravans..
Can you imagine the frustration of trying to leap frog around them and get to where he is going??

Not happy Jan.

So... what i am considering doing is splitting the crew into 2 groups for the run from Tumut to Jingellic.
travel up to Tumbarumba in 2 seperate groups about an hour apart..
Meet up again there... have a look around the Snowy scheme museum and have lunch there.. then split up again ... 1 group go via the more scenic route trough Tooma, down to Tintaldra.. along the Murray through Walwa to Jingellic

Other group go via Mannus and Munderoo to Jingellic


For the run around to Yackandandah the next day we use Murray River Road. Probably look at splitting up again ...2 groups.... 1st group would be the early risers... up and gone by 8 to 8:30am. Second group .. those that like to sleep in and get the most out of their 10.00am check out.

History tells me that it doesnt take long for the vans to get strung out across the countryside... coffee stops.. shortly followed by wee stops ... scenic roadside stops...antique and junk shops...fuel.... running repairs on car or van...
Add to that the roads tend to get wider with more overtaking opportunitys than up in the mountains ....so the rolling road block situation isnt quite so bad.

I havent done anything yet about phoning Cowra to book a group of sites for those heading home up north from Grong Grong free camp.

Not sure who is keen on heading home via Cowra and would like to stay the night. So... i figure we would just get our heads together at Yarrawong and sort that out before we leave there . Phone ahead and book X amount of sites for the night after Grong Grong..

Just go with the flow i say.

Reddo

[dazzahd1947]

hi reddo yes have booked all caravan site the SMITHS from Edgy

[reddo]

Thanks Dazza.
And .. yes.... i know its SMITH .....Not Smiffy...
Do you want me to pack that swearing Parrot for your bird cage??
Or have you managed to find a real live bird to stick in there??

Reddo

[reddo]

Hi All.... its me... No i didnt Ö.D"over christmas ... but came very close on exploding due to being full of Christmas pudding and ham etc...
Thought i better dust of the "2017 Autumn Gold Fever Tour" folder...

Just a subtle reminder that....THE TOUR IS ONLY ABOUT 11 WEEKS AWAY NOW

I have sorta lost track of exactly how many are coming along ??
I think its something like 14 or 15.
If you havent already done so you need to go back over the previuos posts and check on the parks that need to be contacted .. and phone them and book your site with the vintage van group.
Obviuosly at this late stage ya cant be too choosey about what site you get allocated .
So dont get stroppy with the park managers... they have done a great job keeping us all in the same area at their parks.. The last thing they need is someone blowing up because they arent camped in or very close to their best mates annexe.
Ya have to remember that we are all your best mates .. if not so at the start of the rally .. definitely by the end of it.

I recievd a text message last night from a very well respected.. dare i say famous on the vintage van scene ..... "Richard".. who has asked if it would be OK if he and his wife Glynis drop in for a few days with us at Yackandandah.
I goes without saying that i replied to Don aaaaaaaaahhh.. uuuuuuummm... no names mentioned stating that we are all looking forward to catching up with him and his lovely wife at The Yack van park.

As usual i will be putting together a bit of tour info for each person/couple coming along.
Basic stuff like what parks / free camps we are staying at each night and a rough guide on how to get there. Contact numbers for the parks etc...

I would like to ask each of you that have indicated that you are coming on the tour to forward the following to my email address ( not here on the forum ... 2 reasons . privacy and the second being the difficulty some people have actually logging on here)

1. Names .. first name and surname
2. Forum name
3. Contact number - mobile . This is handy if someone is missing at the end or the day or the "missing party" has broken down and trying to contact us.
4. What tow car and type of van you are bringing??.....If you have just asked yourself the same question then you probably arent very well organised at this stage of you preperations

Obviuosly if you choose not to send me the above info , i fully understand... but by doing so you may ifnd yourself at risk and in difficulties if we cant contact you.
The info will not be used anywhere else but the Tour info sheets.
my email address is reddo952@bigpond.net.au.

I will be phoning around the parks in the next few days to get a better handle on numbers and see if i can haggle a cheaper group booking rate for our stays....
It wont be as cheap as free camping , but every buck saved is a buck that can be spent in their town.

Only other thing that we still havent discussed is who would be interested in staying at Cowra van park after Grong Grong free camp on the way home. Some may have had enough of the road trip by then and want to gallop off home.??? some may want to extend the touring pleasure and have a nice shower at Cowra ( after free camping the night before in Grong Grong ) and then a night out at the el cheapo meal pub across the road from the van park??

Your thoughts?
Dont forget to get that info to me so i can start nailing the tour info sheets together. !!

Regards
Reddo... did i mention 11 weeks to go???

[reddo]

Howdy again..

Have just rang around the parks..
Numbers are as follows...
Tumut has 15 sites booked
Yackandandah has 18 booked
Yarrawonga has 14 ... but 2 of these people have booked 2 sites??
This park does not require a deposit.
So i dont know if we have 16 vans at Yarrawonga or just the 14 with Dempseys and Dowtons booking double sites???.. they may have done the same at other parks as well.

So there ya go .. 3 different parks with 3 different totals..

Doesnt matter a rats to me... i guess i will just count heads at Gunning and make sure that is what swings into the parks at the end of the days. If there is more ... well ... thats a bonus.. if there is less.. Well thats cause for concern.

I have told the parks that due to uncertainty about work / family committments there may be a few dropping in .. or out.... as we get closer to launch day... It always happens.

The parks are doing their best to keep us as a group....but as usual we may have a few "long term" vans sprinkled in between our vans. Fair enough.. ya cant expect em to pull up stumps and move just for the one night.


OK... ya wont hear any more from me for a while now. Its all up to you.

Meanwhile..
Panelvan has radiator out.. getting a power flush
Dual throat carb getting remanufactured.
Rocker gear off .. chasing a lazy rocker nut that always manages to unwind itself after a long run at high speed.

None of the above are getting any attention today due to 43 degrees in doorway of the shed of invention.

Cheers
Reddo