Sydneys Alive!!

Its been absolutely flat chat this week but I'm loving it, and Rachel is catching up with some of here work too. Wednesday was a day off before the big set up. Rachel and I tidied up some around the van and did some shopping but the highlight was that night when we went and saw a musical grand opeining night at the Capitol Theatre in the heart of Sydney, having never experiencing such a wonderful event it was eye opening to see the talent we have in Australia. We were fortunate enough to get tickets to "Billy Elliott" some of you may have seen the movie but seeing it at the theatre was tremendous. Rachel, who loves ballet was able to really relax and enjoy this whole experience too. Thursday came with a rush and we were all frantic to get al the vans into place at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse as soon as possible. By the end of Thursday we had 4 left to go in and Friday was spent setting the stand up. We were all under the pump with a bigger crew than Perth. By 11:30pm it was over for me at least with just the new release "Mypod" to come onto the stand which happened at around 12:30am Saturday morning.
Saturday launched with huge numbers of people surging through the stand. It was a great day with some more Geist owners walking away at the end of it. Sunday was a surprise day when we learned that we had won the best stand at the show for 2008. This was a fantastic effort by all involved. Again, more Geist owners walked away from the show and some special people who will sure to be owners soon were Barry & Barbara and Kerry & Joy. Congrats to Fritz and Christa who bought their XK595 finally!!! Got to get ready for Monday and travel the peak hour traffic.

Perth to Sydney in 5 days

It sounds crazy I know, 3,900 kms in 5 days isn't a healthy way to spend Easter but when you break those 5 days up with a stop at Perlubie beach in the middle for two days, its not that bad. We set off from Perth on Wednesday after a hectic Tuesday appointing a new service agent for our WA owners, Care-a-van, in Canning Vale, Perth (let me know if you can't find them, they open up officially in April). This is another great moment for Geist as we improve on our service points around the country to make it easier for your 12 monthly service(this is needed to keep your 5 year warranty on water leakage into the van). On Wednesday we headed East for around 1000 kms to the west end of Australia's longest straight road (90 miles long), number 20 in the camps book under the WA section. There we had around 9 vans around us, one of the most crowded rest stops we had been to until Thursday when we travelled 1065kms to one of our favourite rest stops near Streaky Bay called Perlubie beach. At Perlubie beach we arrived on dark and could just make out a cleared section amongst the 20-30 odd vans down around to our left. I quickly turned the Touareg and Geist round and slowly went down the sandy beach track towards the last space. Sensing the soft sand I popped the Touareg into 4wd or so I thought and kept going to quickly find myself spinning in the sand, what I failed to do was stop and place the transmission into neutral to enact 4wd and the diff lockers which would have been fine but now I had lost momentum and was sitting on the sand spinning. No worries I thought, time to test my knowledge and my retrieval skills. I quickly stopped the spinning and proceeded to reduce the air pressure in the tyres but I could feel the eyes staring at me from within the dark and soon had a crowd of 10 or so campers offering their support and making some jovial comments about the lack of clearance on the vehicle,van and so on, blah,blah,blah. Well after dropping the pressure I moved backwards and forwards but it was evident that I was going to have to move on to the next step of the air jack to bring me up so I could stack timber under the tyres, but before moving onto that step two gentleman stepped forward and presented themselves as saviours by offering a snatchem strap and tow out with a rodeo ute. Now I knew that the next day Rachel and I would be remembering another saviour who died for our sins on a cross and I was hoping by excepting the tow from these guys I would not be placing these guys in a position of their vehicle breaking or any unfortunate mishap occuring. So we set up the strap and my nervous thoughts were dispersed quickly when the Touareg effortlessly followed the Rodeo with very little grunt required from the tow vehicle. Derek, our tow vehicle driver moved us onto some solid sand and from there I popped the Touareg into 4wd and we moved the van into its new position for 2 days and quickly retired for the night.
The next day gave way to the enormity of the sand bog we went through and found out that many had been pulled out before us. We quickly made friends with Derek and his wife Katie and Katie's parents Brian and Pat. They are traveling around the country for an indefinite period (probably 3 years) with their 2 children, but I think a third isn't too far off their minds and Derek, a civil engineer and Katie a teacher have the right attitude to put their minds to whatever they like and are obviously enjoying teaching their two young children about the outdoors. Brian, a builder and Pat a wonderful knitter and good hearted person are living the Grey nomad life, seeking to be around family and enjoying the no pressure lifestyle.
Derek and I decide to test out his new tinnie that afternoon and after sometime getting the 3ohp Merc to fire we finally went out and caught a few Tommies and about 12 Razor fish that evening. I met a few others at happy hour (turning into evening) Friday night. Kerry and Andrew hosted the evening with many varieties of cooked Razor Fish being served up. Unfortunately I missed that and enjoyed a feed of Tommies that Rachel cooked up before going over for a few drinks into the night. Saturday was a small sleep in and a chance to catch up a little but I was soon out with the metal detector combing the beach when Rachel and I came accross a local who suggested searching for some coin around the old bar for the Picnic races. We went over to the spot and proceeded to find the normal pull tabs when Rachel came across a faint but definite signal which I thought could have been an old coin and sure enough it was, a Florin was brought up which later turned out to be around 1912 and two threepences and 2 sixpences. we also found a $2 coin but the Florin was our big find. We cleaned them up the best we could and went back down to the beach and showed the locals. We couldn't explore the whole site so we will be back in the future to find the rest. That afternoon was going to be a kayak cruise and fish but the wind came up so it turned into a siesta for me. That evening we spent with Derek and Brian and their family having a few drinks before retiring for another big drive on Sunday.
Sunday morning came and we were greeted by a couple of easter eggs on some cotton wool outside our door, a wonderful gesture made by our new friends to all in the camp area. We said our goodbyes and with video cameras aimed squarely on us we ascended out of the sand basin to solid ground without a chance of any wheel spin or anything, this was the harder approach too! The Touareg redeemed itself and I have to admit to my slopiness when going in there in the first place, not putting her in 4wd first but I do call on my long day at the wheel in my defence. Anyway we got away finally at about 10:00am and made tracks to Broken hill where we arrived at about 7:00pm local time, another 800kms. We arrived just after a downpour in the city and quickly crawled into bed. By this time I was getting pretty weary on it and Rachel had a drive for an hour to give me a rest. On Easter Monday we left Broken Hill and headed for Dubbo and by Cobar I was getting pretty tired, after lunch there I had a kip for 25 mins before jumping into the seat for the rest of the trip through. The Mitchell Highway between Cobar and Dubbo is very ordinary and it was a fight with the rolling bumps and poor road all the way but of course the Geist was fine and we arrived solid at about 4:00pm. This was our shortest day so far on the stretch from Perth to Sydney at just 750kms. Today I meet with another potential service agent in Dubbo before heading onto Sydney this afternoon, just 400kms. We will be staying at the Lane Cove National Park for a couple of weeks. The Sydney show starts on Saturday but the setup starts on Thursday, tomorrow I have off. If in Sydney, pop into the show and say hello.

Perth Show

It has been a great but exhausting week here in Perth. There are yet more Geist owners who have bought vans this week and the trend continues. We had 8 vans and a motorhome on the stand with an attendance of well over 40,ooo people the crowds should have been huge. The crowds on the stand were constant but not too crowded due to the wide expanse of the venue. I was privelaged to meet so many Geist owners who have traveled this country in their Geist and enjoyed every moment. I even had two sets of owners telling potential owners that they would be crazy not to buy one. Thank you everyone who had so many great things to say to me about their Geist. Tomorrow we head back to the east coast with two long days before a 2 day rest at one of our favourite places "Perlubie Beach" on the Eyre peninsula in SA. We then head through to Broken Hill, Dubbo and then Sydney. The Sydney show starts on the 29th March - 6 April so we need to be getting ready by the 27th, a little over a week away! We are heading for a point East of Norseman tomorrow. I'll put some photos on the blog from the Perth show soon. At the moment I need to get some sleep for the big drive tomorrow.

Perth Caravan & Camping Show

Well I have been a little quiet this week, the usual drill of setting up under pressure arrived on time. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was setting up the now famous Geist arches and bringing the last of the vans in. These arrived from Sydney, Tuesday and Wednesday and quickly went on the stand for cleaning. Thankfully in Perth we had professional cleaners come in (at least they seemed professional) and clean all the vans which took a lot of pressure off this show for me personally. This year the show is at Claremont showgrounds which is a lovely looking venue in the old classic suburb oval layout with lovely old grandstands and cloud billowing trees that shade the other side of the ground(darn it). Working in 36 degree heat for a couple of days makes you want to pick everything up and head for those trees. We do have a marque though which covers a quarter of the stand. All set by mid afternoon Wednesday it was time for me to wash the Touareg and kayak ready for Thursdays start. That was fine but I had to find the car wash clean it and return back to the caravan park, detail it and then start on the kayak whilst promising to be on the other side of town for tea with Rachel's cousin at 6:30pm. All fine except I didn't find the car wash until 4:00pm. Anyway all went well and with a little help from Rachel with detailing, we had it done ready to go out that night.
Today was a flying start with a motorhome on the stand this time and discounted dramatically to make way for new ones later on in the year (see website for pricing). Doug and I showed the motorhome to many people and we hope to have it sold tomorrow or Saturday. Overall it was a very positive day and we are pushed on by the great from exsisting owners who come and visit us on the stand. If you are in Perth this week, make sure you drop in and say hello.
We are also happy to announce that we hope to finalise arrangements to be at the East Gippsland field days in Bairnsdale,Victoria on the weekend prior to Melbourne show, I think the 18th and 19th April. This will be a rare opportunity to see in our van. Hope to see you there.

New video

There is now a short video on the Crossing the Nullarbor post. Please be gentle, it is our first, there was no script, it was from the hip. Working on voiceover audio Paul, used a lapel mic with an Edirol to get rid of wind noise, redubbed the video audio with that file and used a snowball in the caravan for voiceover, might need some effects to dampen it a little, and yes, my grammar isn't quite right mum. Next one will be better.

What the hell, lets go to Perth!

As we were heading out towards our next camp of Bunbury we started chatting to the owner of Bremer Bay Beaches Resort & Caravan Park (as you do). He of course wanted a photo of the van (as you do) and asked which direction we were heading, "well we were thinking of Bunbury" was the immediate reply. He suggested a route and then mentioned the "why go that way". Well that just stuffs you right up, why indeed you ask yourself. The shorter and better way is straight through to Perth, there's not much at Bunbury (well we know Bunbury is beautiful but he has a point). I shrugged and said well if that gives my birthday a softer load on Friday, why not. So we made a phone call and got into the Karrinyup (yeah an "up" suburb) Waters Caravan Park a day earlier. Off we went and marked Bremer Bay as a definite return point (you can even go 4wd beach driving, awesome!!). We proceeded through a multitude of "up" towns and on to Perth, getting in at a comfortable 4.30pm. The park is a lovely 4 star tourist park and matches its rating. We have a large concrete pad big enough to put the car, van and annex on comfortably. There is a lake (big dam) in the middle with willows (oh no chop them down) around them which offer lovely shade.
Friday came and Rachel treated me with a lovely dinner that evening but I had work to do before hand which took much of the day tripping around town. We went to Attivos at North beach and enjoyed a lovely meal and got wonderful phone calls and emails from family for my birthday. Later that night I texted Andy, our Horsham dealer who was born on the exact day as me, 7 March 1970 but in England, we discovered this when I visited back on the 22nd of Feb. Unfortunately his wife Sue wrote their Landrover Discovery off and they were a little down in the dumps but I am sure it will all work out fine for them.
Today Rachel and I went shopping for my birthday present and I got spoilt. A new pair of sunglasses that cost more money than I would normally ever spend on sunglasses but seeing I wear them all the time, especially when driving I needed a very good pair. I also was fortunate enough to score some more pants and shirt for Geist embroidering and a new cross for my necklace. The other thing we got which means nothing to most people but it means a lot to Rachel and I . That is, we finally found some polka dot sweetcorn that came from my parents farm, in Woolworths. We have been looking for so long, and finally we found it on the other side of the country to my parents. We will enjoy that very much, I am sure.
I have a few photos to post but will do it later on and I am putting a video together which I hope to post real soon. Talking of real soon, the website will be up on Monday, it has been approved and needs uploading, make sure you check it out at www.geistdirect.com.au

Bremer Bay

If their was a place I could recommend for total seclusion in a caravan park environment, it would have to be the Bremer Bay Beaches Resort & Caravan Park. This sleepy little area is absolutely spectacular, it is cooler than most parts of the state and boasts beautiful white beaches and crystal clear seas. We arrived on the Labor Day holiday in WA and were lucky that the afternoon was clearing out of tourists. We are staying here until Thursday, one to recharge the batteries before getting into Perth and two, catch up on uploading for the website which by the way has been sent through to the IT department to be uploaded. We hope it will be up Friday.

This morning I did some metal detecting and caught a King George whiting before catching up on emails and sorting some work out, this afternoon was spent watching the cricket. Tomorrow will be more work on the computer, but at least we will be doing it in a beautiful environment. I promise some photos to prove it.

Photos as promised (8 March 08)

Crossing the Nullarbor

We left Streaky Bay on Saturday for a long haul across the Nullarbor and settled in to a cruise speed of 110km per hour with a slight cross wind. We had a dream run really with not much to report other than the beautiful way the Geist tows still astounds me. The Touareg got a litre of oil at Streaky Bay before we left to bring it up to level and since we have been pulling the whole time, that's pretty good. We got into our favourite free camp site, no. 670 in your Camps 4 book at a comfortable 2.30pm local time. After about 700kms, that was enough and we got some great footage on video that I will post here as soon as I can. We fell asleep while watching the stars through the huge euro hatch over our bed in the Geist but not before making aquaintances with the new neighbours, an older couple were on their way to Miriam Vale in QLD to see family, living in their car on the way and another Argentinian couple who have been traveling since 2004 in their Winnebago. We were tricked the next morning getting up at 5:30 for an early start it was still dark and at after 7:00 am we finally got away for what turned out to be the longest stretch yet for us. We originally wanted to get into a spot about 70km short of Norseman but with everything traveling so well, and me feeling in the mood to drive we pushed on another 290kms to make an even 1000kms when arriving in Esperance, at a little after 5:00pm local time this worked out to be over 11 hours of travel with stops. You would think then we would be able to relax but no, we had a lovely couple chase us down the road in Esperance and visit us once we were set up to go through our Geist. It turns out they have been very keen to purchase a Geist and seeing ours I think has helped make their minds up. Hopefully Rhonda and Ron will be Geist owners very soon. Two more groups toured the Geist before we settled down for some dinner at 9:00pm local time. Oh well, it was a long day but worth it as yesterday was only about 500kms to our break point of Bremer Bay.