Hooray! The Grey Nomads forum has just passed another major milestone, and now has more than 10,000 members.
All of the credit for the ongoing vitality and strength of the forum, of course, belongs to our wonderful membership. We are very lucky that our ‘forumites’ are such a friendly and welcoming bunch, and the encouragement and friendship to be found there has certainly made a positive difference to the Big Lap experience of many, many grey nomads.
We hope that the forum will continue to be a place where grey nomads and wannabe grey nomads can make new friends, give and receive advice, and have a lot of fun along the way.
Thanks to all of you who have visited and contributed over the years. Even as the forum grows, it has managed to maintain its reputation as one of the friendliest and most welcoming around … and that is a tribute to you, our wonderful members.
So, onwards and upwards. Next stop … 20,000!
Thanks to all at GreyNomads.com.au for giving we travellers a great site. Look forward to all the stories about our great country and do like to give my two bobs worth every now and again.
20,000 sounds good to me regards Rob J
Any hints for making the most of a Tasmanian winter? heading over 13 April for three months – first timers from Cairns.
Hi, I intend to travel to the big rock in my Transit and with my 2 dogs. Has anyone any ideas for me, I am from Perth . Anyone else going that way, my trip will start end of March mid April. Any ideas will be welcome. Johana
Cindy, that milestone is testimony to your ability to run a great ship. Thank you for the many hours it must take to keep it ticking over in spite of the occasional hic up. My special thanks for help in the past.
Two new starters. I looked up some caravans-for-sale websites and we bought ($8000) a little 1993 Millard Mirage (640kg tare, 950ATM). Plan was to pull it with our 1996 Commodore (the old girl has 325,000km on the odo yet is still running like a dream). But our auto electrician looked at the towbar rating, then looked me in the eye and said “when loaded you’ll be right on the upper limit of 1250kg. There’s been cases of the whole back end being pulled out of these. Do you still want me to put in the electric brakes switch?” Good on him. Decision made (actually I had just been repairing rust damage near the towbar anchorages in the boot too!).
So I went to a used car yard and put a deposit on a 2.5 litre 2001 Nissan Xtrail.($7000). Then had second thoughts about its pulling power. Would we be the typical snail holding up all the traffic? So I did what I should have done and looked up the car sales websites and began talking to knowledgeable friends. Dealer kindly gave me back the deposit. Finally found not too far away a beautiful 2008 Toyota RAV4 SX6 (3.3 litre V6 – a fairly rare bird) with 90,000 clicks and in showroom condition. Towbar and wiring to be fitted.
Then I had second thoughts about the van (could we now pull something bigger and more comfortable??). I did the websites again and made a snap decision to buy ($22400) the last unsold imported English used van (2003 model) at a local yard (beautifully finished, with a toilet and enclosed shower recess, double glazing, ducted heating, hot water system, etc). No more long 2am cold walks in the dark to the loo… Put the little van up for sale on Gumtree and quickly got three enquiries and two inspections (one of them told me about this website).
But that night my wife and I wrestled with whether an inbuilt loo justified all that extra money. Wouldn’t just a porta-pottie do? We went out into the little van on the front lawn, turned the lights on, lay on the bed and looked and talked and thought. Realised that the English van’s two single beds/convertible to double bed arrangement with no dinette would be a hassle. Also a lot of wind resistance for towing as well as the extra weight (would also be interested to hear any comments about how these vans go under Aussie conditions?)
So this morning I rang the van yard guy who also kindly agreed to refund my deposit, and I took down the Gumtree ad.
This diary of two beginners is just to maybe give some encouragement and guidance (and perhaps some sympathy and comfort!) to other new starters in making these big decisions when joining the grey nomad tribe. I wish I had found this website before starting the whole process.
We’ll see how we go on the road… Looking forward to meeting new friends!
Hi. Can anyone tell me about how much does it cost to have aircon installed in my caravan. Just a rough estimate?
Hi Sandy, depending on which aircon unit you choose and if van had air con before or not air cons can cost upto $2600 plus wiring and support frame and circuit breaker if not allready fitted. Costs could be around $4000 fitted
I’ have a new izuzi d max x terrain and have just completed its first caravan trip from Canberra to aulbury then Griffith Wagga then back to Canberra problem I have is fuel consumption it was 18.1ltr /100 I am wondering if anyone has had a similar problem the van weighs 2.5 ton fully loaded