June Volume 11 Issue 4, 2018 Hi One and All Well the dreaded cold has got me. What a great weekend was had by all at Denny. Cool at night and sunny in spots during the day. Our new members Rolf and Veronika are a great couple and got along with all members at the rally. We have a slow couple of months ahead with no rallies until September when we meet in Wagga with the NSW Coromal club, unless someone organizes one in August. That s all for now, safe travels. Lynne Marshall To hose having birthdays in June, congratulations, another year older. John BOOTH Geoff PEEL Visiting our website as a guest? Own a Coromal or a Windsor caravan? Want to join our Club? Now you can. Complete the "Contact Us" form on the Club's website and let your desire known to our Committee or email Secretary Neville directly on secretary@cccov.net. Rallies : Hello from John and Linda: A list of monthly rallies is available by using the "Rally Schedule" menu link. The list of 2018 rally destinations is listed from Jan. to May. Booking your attendance EARLY is GOOD. Letting us know you are attending a rally allowing us to organise social events to suit the number of members attending is VERY GOOD.
Combined VIC & NSW Clubs Rally September 14-17: Wagga Wagga Anniversary Rally Note: THIRD weekend Rally is part of NSW club Tag-a-long. Contact: Richard & Teresa Griffith Horseshoe Tourist Park 23 Horseshoe Road (off Olympic Highway) Cartwrights Hill NSW 2650 Phone: 02 6921 6033 Mobile: 0400 620 854 Email: stay@horseshoetouristpark.com.au Website: http://www.horseshoetouristpark.com.au Pet friendly. October 19-21 : Caruso's Free Camp John & Veronica's Place Email Event Manager John Gilson [ gilo5@bigpond.com ], or ring him on 0409 762 972 and let him know if you are going to the rally and/or any of the organised outings. John needs to know numbers each month. Presidents Report As we head into the winter months it's hard to believe that we have five rallies under our belt already. The first rally for the year was a scorcher of 42 degrees at Euroa but we still managed to get 7 vans turn up with everyone chasing the shade. Nagambie was next, and we had 10 vans with the temperature a bit cooler in the mid 30 s but still had members looking for shade in the afternoon. Unfortunately, we only had 4 vans arrive at Cape Paterson, a disappointing turn up, and with the weather turning a bit nasty by the end of the weekend, not the best supported club rally we have had. Things picked up at the Elmore free camp with 11 vans arriving including past club members Daryl & Jenny Williams who were down on holidays from Tin Can Bay in QLD. While down here they ordered a new Coromal van which they will come back down in 10 weeks to pick up. They spent the weekend at Elmore with us before heading home. With the temperatures still in the high 20s, had people seeking the shade into the late afternoon. On Saturday night we had the traditional long table dinner with the spit roast, followed by gathering around the camp fire as this time of the year the nights start to be quite cool. The last rally before the winter break was at Deniliquin with 9 vans in attendance. The winter weather started to show us what was in store for in the coming months, with cold mornings and very little warm sunshine during the day. At Deniliquin we welcomed new members Rolfe & Veronika Tesmer into the Club and hope they have an enjoyable time with us. Also, Doug & Heather turned up in their new Olympic pop top van, another member deciding to trade up to a different brand of van. Brett & Glenda have stayed true and have updated to a new Coromal van, so congratulations to them both and I hope they get much enjoyment out of their new vans. There has been two further inquiries of joining the club, but as we are not having any rallies over the winter months, I will ask our Secretary to email them and hopefully they will remain interested until they can make it to a rally that suits them. As most of you know Marilyn & I have a new addition to our family, his name is Max, he is a Golden Retriever pup, 11 weeks old, and keeping us very busy as well as entertained.
On the 25th of June Marilyn, I & Max will be heading off to Queensland until early September, arriving back at Wagga Wagga in time for our combined rally with the NSW Coromal club. If you are like us and are heading north chasing the sun and the warmth we wish you safe travels and a safe return home. If you are going to be stuck down here for the winter, we hope you stay well and keep warm. Looking forward to catching up with you all in September at Wagga Wagga. With only two more definite rallies before the Xmas breakup and the clubs AGM it's time for you to consider taking a position on the committee for the ensuring year. All positions will become vacant at this time and must be filled if the club is to survive. John Bedggood CCOCV President. Members Articles: Alan Andrews Solving a Pain in the Neck Problem It appears that not many in the Coromal repair world know, but I found out on purpose! Seemingly the seats in our Lifestyle 615 are screwed to the wall from the inside. Guess what I was told? The L shaped seating arrangement provides a certain rigidity to the caravan structure. Not the chassis, of course, but to the integrity and strength of the shell on the chassis. I have it on good authority that swapping it out for two free-standing swivel chairs reduces that integrity. So, what should I do to give me a comfortable seating position to watch TV? Constantly looking to the left at the door-end of the seat, sitting, of necessity, perpendicular to the side wall gives me a pain in the neck. Also, swapping removes the useful cupboards under the seat where to put the shoes and, more importantly, the wine? As Joan and I won t be going away in the caravan for a while, I m going to investigate putting either a permanent or temporary padded back on the door-end of the seat. Perhaps that will allow me to sit around more perpendicular to the TV! Another idea for investigation is to remove my half of the seat and one cupboard giving just enough room for one swivel chair. Joan says she is quite comfortable at her end as she props herself in the corner, resting her feet on the short end on the L. Just one seat for me then! I ll let you know what I do, if anything, in another Newsletter instalment. On other matters, did you know that if you have any gas-fitting work done on your caravan it is law that it be Certified? Also, the EcoTherm caravan heater, which works using the existing hot water supply, can be supplied and fitted for under $1000, while other heaters, diesel and gas, could cost more than twice that amount? To heat, or not to heat, that is the question. Alan Andrews
Lynette Buckley The Buckley s Tasmanian Caravan Trip Autumn 2018 For our annual trip across to Tasmania this year, we decided to take our new Ranger caravan across on day time crossings on the Spirit of Tasmania and stay for a period of five weeks, the longest we had stayed. Arriving on the Labour Day weekend very late on the Sunday night, we booked into the very comfortable Big 4 Caravan Park at Ulverstone for four nights, taking an excellent site with a view of Bass Strait from our rear kitchen window. The days passed oh so quickly, pleasantly spent catching up with relatives and friends along the coast. This year we had decided to embark on a few tours we hadn t done in years, so from Ulverstone we travelled along the North West coast back to Smithton, staying at the newish caravan park we had stayed the previous year. What a difference a year makes. The owner had done such a lot of work, with extra showers and toilets and putting in more sites. We were pleased to be back. The next morning, we set off even further west along the coast passing Montague, a place where cattle are taken across the water at low tide once a year to graze on Robbins Island. About an hour later we reached the gates at Woolnorth, the old Van Diemen s Land property established in 1825. To go into Woolnorth it requires booking on a 12 seater bus tour, which was excellent, driving for a couple of hours around the gigantic wind farm on the west coast, inspecting the old property with lots of stone buildings and then out to Cape Grim, with its excellent views of the Doughboys. Also there is the Cape Grim Meteorological Station reputed to have the freshest air in the world. From Smithton, we travelled back to Wynyard and went to the Wynyard Agriculture Show, indeed a special day, weather perfect, with everything that one could wish for, just like a show should be. We were fortunate as the weather decided to take a turn for the worse that night, our van rocking and rolling in the gale force winds and torrential rain pelting down. Not a very good start for travelling down the west coast, but off we went into the driving rain, reaching the tiny town of Zeehan late in the afternoon. Despite the weather, we found the caravan park at Zeehan an excellent stop, and in between rain and wind still managed to spend a couple of interesting days there. From Zeehan to Strahan, the Gods decided to smile down on us, and on staying at Strahan for a couple of days, we were blessed with warm sunshine and no wind. What a difference. We had a marvellous day out on the Gordon River Cruise, an experience we hadn t done in a lot of years, and out to the heads of Macquarie Harbour and exploring the convict ruins of Sarah Island made the day even more special. From Strahan we headed across the picturesque winding Hobart road and ventured into Lake St Clair, where we learnt there were ten powered sites set in a bush settling, including water as well. We had fun and games backing in between trees but managed somehow with the view from our van proving well worthwhile. The lodge and caravan sites are situated on the shores of the lake, with people coming in from all parts of the world after completing the rigorous overland trek from Cradle Mountain. Indeed a great couple of days, meeting up with lots of interesting people, so were lucky to get a powered site as they are very popular.
Again Mother Nature decided to turn on us as we made our way south, so ventured off the main road and set up camp at a very old town of Bothwell and stayed there for three days while the weather turned nasty. We filled in our time by watching a local football match, going to the very old Castle Inn for an evening meal, sampling whisky at a nearby distillery, exploring and mixing with the very friendly locals. Before reaching Hobart we planned on going out to Lake Pedder for a visit, so drove across to Mount Field National Park, stopping at a very unique caravan park, called Left of Field. For showers, the owner had installed Porta-Loos, converted into showers and had a horse float to convert into a laundry. A very eccentric owner, but very hospitable, with a large fire lit each evening for happy hour, the gardens were excellent and would certainly stay here again. The autumn leaves were a picture in the Derwent Valley with hops being picked by machinery at the
nearby hop fields. We did do our drive out to Lake Pedder for the day, a very long drive, but well worth the mileage, with magnificent scenery all the way and seeing the Gordon Dam which was indeed a building feat in itself. We then had a week at our favourite caravan park opposite Bruny Island at Snug, spending Easter there with our family, so lots of eating out at good pubs and restaurants, which Hobart seems to have in abundance. This year we decided to have a look down south, so set off down through the Huon valley, through Geeveston down to a small town of Dover on again another large inlet with views of south Bruny Island. The local RSL picked us up in a courtesy bus and David was lucky enough to win a meat tray that evening, which had been donated by a butcher from Geeveston, who we found out was a second cousin. Small world, but his meat was excellent. We did a day trip down to Cockle Creek the most southern road in Tasmania. The last twenty kms being bone shattering, but well worth the pain. We passed through Ida Bay, which has an unique small railway, and went into Hastings Caves, but the old heated pool which we swam in years ago, is now indoors, not out in the open like it was years ago. That s progress for you. We returned to Snug for a further few days, and on a day we decided to travel across to Bruny Island the wind came up in a gale. David unfortunately had left the back window a fraction open and on returning to van found out the whole window had come out, luckily in one piece, where a kind neighbour had placed on our outside table. With the help of a few caravanners with ladders, we got the window back in, a feat in itself with the usual angle slide into overhead sleeve. We left Hobart and travelled up to Launceston, where we accidently ran into the Andrews in the main street of Campbell Town you never know whom you will bump into, any place, anywhere. From Launceston we travelled up to the coast east of Devonport and stayed at Bakers Beach in the Asbestos Ranges (I think it has an Aboriginal name now, but cannot remember it). This was delightful, camping in the National Park, full of wallabies and Pademelons, but unfortunately on a long walk one evening, trying to hurry back to the van just on dusk, David twisted his knee, trying to hurry across rough grass, probably a rabbit hole, but one would never know. A short distance away on the other side of Bakers Beach of the Rubicon river was Port Sorell, so stopped a couple of nights here. The caravan park was enormous, enabling us to pick a site on our own, complete with our own shower and toilet, with just rabbits for company. I think it would be another matter in the summer. From Devonport we sailed back to Melbourne on our daytime crossing, this year for the first time in I cannot remember, it was rough sailing, so luckily, we had the convenience of our own cabin for the day. We were three hours getting into Melbourne, so it was just on 11pm when we drove into our driveway, directing David with a torch to back the van onto the front lawn. A late finish for a long day s travel. Short articles wanted for this e-newsletter. Put pen to paper (or keyboard presses to monitor screen) and get your views, ideas, comments, etc. in print. Email them to Newsletter Editor