Whats happened to SE Qld events ????

[JBJ]

Hi All,

Well I guess I will probably upset the majority as always, because I see this Forum & its (originally) enthusiastic members in SE Qld has totally died in the participation content
Somehow its become a non event unless you are tied to the group up in the Sunshine Coast.

Fine if you are, but thats not what we had fun doing a few years back.

Sure geography affects us, cause its about 7 hours from my end in northern NSW to the Sunshine Coast. Same distance as me going to Newcastle. Or you guys coming to NSW

However, we had a lot of good events in the early days, & didnt keep going back to same place ad infinitum.

When Canungra first happened, the general consensus was that it would be our annual function, & that still seems to be OK with most.

So my suggestion is that we start aiming back were we were before it died.

Lets organise things in the centre of our group, at different parks each time, aim at parks with good facilities & camp kitchens, stay away from the pubs & clubs & enjoy caravanning in one of the best parts of Australia.

Something needs to be done, or we are only fooling ourselves that we are still a group. No one should be allowed to dominate & organise totally, & we all should consider & put up our suggestions.

The lack of participation & visible interest from most of our longer term members is evidence to me of dissatisfaction with how things are going.

So how about some input from all you newer members??

Shoot me down if you like for my thoughts ( but in polite terms thank you)

How about some of you vocal newer members actually do something other than comment on your choice of caravans & decor??

Remember we all have the same interests at heart, but sometimes it takes a stir to get things back on track.

JBJ ( the eternal optimist)

[retro64]

Hi JBJ,

Firstly thanks for your comments.

We can only speak for ourselves as people located in S.E.Q. ,we do not consider ourselves tied to any single group on the Sunshine coast or any particular area, but rather part of an Australia wide Forum, and a pretty darn good one in our opinion.

Since joining Vintage Caravans .com we have had the opportunity to meet great people, like you and Boots, among others and not just people from our area.

The beggining of the year saw us of line for 6 months, whats changed? It does feel different, but hard to say exactly how.
We've noticed a lack of photos and commentary on events in S.E.Q.( though afew thoughtfull people do post).
It could be argued that we could have posted photos re: Maidenwell ourselves, as we did attend however, we have had technical difficulties with our computer and the bucket.

Also, we dont need to be fully organised and amused every second of the weekend to enjoy it, infact its pretty nice to relax as well as enjoy the company of other V.V.ers.
Neither do we mind being part of smaller more intimate group outings, looking at new places, meeting new faces.

Mr retro64 has had a year of ill health, alot of time off work and more to come. This has stopped us from attending alot that we would like to, Kin Kin just past for example. Not attending is bad enough, but no photos or comments, thats just sad.

As to disscussing preffered vans, we preffer the whole darn lot, and we love our decor, cant underestimate a good bit of fabric.
Whilst grounded so to speak we will content ourselves with the minor issues. As to the bigger question, " whats happened to SE Qld events, we just dont know, but thanks JBJ for asking, hopefully you'll get the answer your looking for.

We look forward to seeing you again, tripping around this great country somewhere.

Cheers,
Elona and Lionel,
retro64

Still enthusiastic ;D

[Jellybean]

Hi Dennis. In my opinion the whole vintage van thing has grown so big ,so fast up here and has nothing to do with whatever forum you look at . Nearly every show of any type up here invites caravans now. The public like checking out our vans and it is fun promoting the lifestyle but I agree that we have sort of drifted away from the proper camp weekends that got us started in the first place.
We have always gone to hot rod /car shows etc but we really looked forward to van events to mix with different people and have a relaxing weekend out in the country.There are often too many things to go to. Hopefully once our business sells we will have more time to find somewhere to go. We normally try to support any event another vanner organises if it doesn't clash with others.
So much to do with so little time !
Cheers. John

[cruisindoug]

G'day Dennis

Why not put up some suggestions for the style of event in the location you like? I know there was some discussion last year I think with Rodnet about doing a Northern NSW run, also recently a run to Tenterfeild was discussed and both times they were supported as being a Good Idea, but nothing came of the discussions in terms of dates / parks ....

Not sure what "the group up in the Sunshine Coast" actually is other than members (for the most part) of this forum ... I guess we would be included in that as we have attended as many events as we can this year as we usually do. But we don't see ourselves as seperate.

Seems that quite a few of our events we are going to are events organised by others (Coolys, Millmeran, Kin KIn etc), but in my opinion there is nothing inherently wrong with that. People go along and have a good time which is what its all about isn't it?

We have also organised some of our own (Bagara - washed out !, Crows Nest, Girls Only etc) which is fine as well.

We just love getting out in our van and even managed a weekend away for "us time" recently - only took 18 months of ownership. ;D

Maybe this year has been a little quieter as many went to the nationals which was a fair chunk of time (away from w%&^k) and funds.

Not sure where we fit in as far as newer members / long term members but thats our two bobs

[Miss Molly]

YEAH! More trips! Now....if I could just find that elusive V.V.A.N....

[JBJ]

Hi All,

One thing that keeps coming up in discussions about events up here in SE Qld, is the volume of events that are available in the various car related events.

As a hotrodder of several years, I have been to a lot of events. I find less interest in them as time goes on, but I dont expect anyone else to think the same as I do. Also I live in northern NSW, where not a lot happens, against the busy Brisbane/Sunshine Coast area. I also have developed a preference for vintage caravan events over car related events

So what will appeal to some will not appeal to others, I guess

So I guess we will end up having functions on the same weekends in different parts in our group no matter how we try to avoid it.

It hurts me to think of that happening, but I see no other way to allow those with different interests to all enjoy what little time we have left.

So I guess things will just have to continue as they are, with (hopefully) extra events being proposed as we want to do them.

So if you have a place you would like to propose as a vintage van event, & you have researched it a bit to see if it could work, put it up as a possibility. Who knows what will happen. A lot of us dont want to repeat events in the same places, but a lot do.

So it could eventuate that duplication of weekends in different areas has to happen on the same weekends, & so be it. We are a big diverse group.

Get out & think about what we can do over a widespread area, not just going back to the same place time & again.


It still is fun

JBJ

[smiles]

Hi all

Recently we went and had a look at the caravan park at South Ballina. www.ballinabeachvillage.com.au

It’s a nice grassy park set in bushland near the river with walking tracks through to the beach. Fishing in river or ocean, & there’s a pool & a large camp kitchen. There are cabins for vanless people.

Amenities blocks are clean and modern. There’s Saturday night entertainment in the small restaurant. We can have a fire in a brazier, they hire them for $10/night or bring your own. They sell firewood or BYO. Kiosk with ice etc.

Not a problem with bringing dogs. Powered sites are $38.00per night but the owners Rikki & Bernard would give us a good group booking fee. They would love to have us.

It certainly looked like a place we could enjoy ourselves. Back to the good old days, hey JBJ?

Two ways to get there…
Turn off the freeway at the 2nd entrance into Ballina, couple of kms to Burns Point Ferry, then across the river to South Ballina, beautiful scenery. The manager says it’s better to take ferry at high tide, especially with larger vans.
OR
Stay on the freeway & go another 30kms through Wardell & over the bridge to South Ballina (no ferry). I’ll get tide times later…

So I’m suggesting 26, 27,28 October. Doesn’t seem to clash with anything else, couple of weeks after Imbil & 3 weeks before Canungra.

smiles

[JBJ]

Hi Cathie,

We are with you on this one.

So I reckon book it & see who is interested.

It really is a nice area, remote from the terrorists(tourists in local speak) in Ballina, but accessible if you want to go there.

I personally wouldnt use the ferry towing Deejay behind my Statesman, but smaller vans are OK on the higher tides. The road from Wardell is the old Pacific Highway that everyone travelled up till the seventies, so its a good level road.

The south side of the Richmond River has great rock wall breakwater fishing, good beach fishing & 4wd access, good quiet parts of the river for canoing or fishing, & as you said, its a nice laid back clean spot. Its pooch friendly (on leads)

JBJ & Boots

[cruisindoug]

Sounds good Cathie, we are possibles at the moment ...

Did you want to start a new topic and I'll add it to the calender

Cheers
Doug.

[Geoff & Jude]

Aug 15, 2012 8:08:47 GMT 10 JBJ said:

I personally wouldnt use the ferry towing Deejay behind my Statesman.

so dennis, when did you get a statesman?

geoff 'n jude

[JBJ]

Hi Geoff,

I picked up a reasonably good ( & cheap) low mileage VS V6 a couple of days back. Something about towing in comfort appeals to me as I get older.
Just about to fit a decent 2000KG towbar, & we should bbe right I hope

JBJ

[Geoff & Jude]

that'll be a bit of a change for you.

thinking of doing the same sort of thing to replace the ute, except i'll be looking at a fairlane if i go that way.

geoff

[Deleted]

Aug 15, 2012 8:35:45 GMT 10 JBJ said:

Hi Geoff,

I picked up a reasonably good ( & cheap) low mileage VS V6 a couple of days back. Something about towing in comfort appeals to me as I get older.
Just about to fit a decent 2000KG towbar, & we should bbe right I hope

JBJ

Hi Dennis

From the useless information files.
I was "getting the hots"about buying a very nice VE SS commodore ute at all Holden Day. Got yarning with the owner... The VE ute is only legal to tow 1600KG. sedans are rated to tow 2000KG.
I asked if he had considered fitting a strengthening kit of some sort??
His reply was .. that it is illegal to fit such a kit to a ute.
So...... the sedan is a better work truck than the posure ute

Regards
Reddo

[Jennison]

Same with the fords. The ute and sedan are 1600 and 1800kg respectively while the wagon is 2300kg tow rated.....auto only, manual is 1800kg. Must be the unladen weight that sets the rating
jenno

[JBJ]

Hi Reddo,

The guy I bought the VS from was the third owner, & had a towbar fitted to tow his boat with.

So to save $200 he had a 600 kg bar installed. Cost him $610 installed. For $800 he could have had a 2000 kg installed.

Now I have to remove the crappy toy one, but I only paid $440 delivered from Towbars Australia for the 2000 kg kit & delivery, etc.

Probably will take a few hours for my mate to put on with my help in his workshop I guess.

But the VS has only 150K on it, no serious damage, & is real nice to drive.

I'm looking forward now to getting rid of my hot rod, & finally having comfort. I get it re registered next month, then on Ebay with 12 months rego.

Anyone interested its cheap. Old age is sneaking up on me REAL quickly unfortunately, & I'm losing my mobility quicker than I ever thought would happen.

Boots & I still want to get out on the big trip soon, but we need to dispose of a few things first. My hot rod is the First.

JBJ

[dave01]

Hi Dennis, welcome to the wonderful world of vs commodores as tow cars. When Lil and i joined the v vans we began with my vs bought new 17 yrs ago, it has never let us down Lil loves the comfort so it will always remain OUR tow car.....despite owning a hr holden and r series valiant. We prefer comfort and reliability over looks. cheers Dave

[jeanandkev]

hi cath kev and i think it sounds great we will be in that as well jean

[smiles]

Hi all
glad to hear people are interested in this event.

I've put details in a separate thread called South Ballina about cost, booking etc

cheers

Cathie