And so it begins… a new era of adventure! Meet ‘JV‘ (stands for John and Violet, my folks), without whom this latest addition to the family would not have been possible!
We land in Brisbane and the next day we are at Australian Adventure Vehicle 4×4 (AAV4x4) to pick up JV. Its been a year since we made our first downpayment for the rig… so we are very excited that its finally ready.
We get a good rundown from Kym Bolton, friend and owner of the business, and a few hours later we’re driving away…
…..we can’t stop grinning at each other.
We first head off to see fellow Mercy Shippers Luke and Michelle who live in Brisbane. We have a great evening and morning with them, then head to our nephews’ place and spend a few nights parked out front of their place (thanks Luke and Madi!!). Although we had already left a few bags of ‘stuff’ stored at AAV, there are quite a few things we still need to get so we spend a bit of time organising ourselves.
Before heading further north, we pay a visit to our friends Lou & Ian; then we catch up with Phil and Karen Binns and stay a night parked up outside where they are housesitting. Phil and Karen are a fountain of knowledge about all things camping and Australia so we pick their brains and get some great ideas – thanks U2!
We’re told that we should give JV a good ‘shakedown’ before we go too far afield so we head to Teewah Beach, a fabulous area for testing our 4WD and driving in sand etc. Teewah Beach can only be reached by 4WD and getting there means travelling north to Noosa, then crossing the Noosa River ferry from Tewantin. Once on the beach, 4WD vehicles can use it as a highway, provided the tides are right.
We camp a few nights in Teewah township and drive up Rainbow beach stopping for a looksee at the Double Island Point lighthouse.
We find a couple of things that need to be sorted before we go any further, so we return for a quick visit to AAV (where we bought the rig from) and they spend the day fixing us up and before too long, we’re heading out for dinner with Kym and Lyn, and staying the night.
We have booked ourselves into our first campervan rally through the Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia (CMCA). We hope we will gain some useful information and it just so happened that they were having their annual rally at Dalby, Qld. so we stopped in Dalby for the week before we start our journey towards Birdsville.
We meet some great ‘neighbours’ who share their travel tips with us (and the rumbo.. thanks Tony!!)
Next up – The Outback and on our way to Birdsville
Did you Guys make it to Big Red
We cant seem to follow your adventures
Brilliant; looking forward to following your new adventures. JV looks amazing!! (And you two don’t look too shabby!! Have fun!!
Hope you guys make it over West. Marcelle and I are now based in Esperance, so much for you to do there!
Dude! That’s quite the rig!! VERY NICE!
Another adventure awaits you.
All the best from the PNW.
Steve
Oooh! I love this new adventure! Travel safely in JV… can’t wait to see this journey unfold.
Excellent! Enjoy!