Volume 5 Issue 2 February 2012
http://vicnet.net.au/~coromal

February Newsletter

Did you hear that Jayco, down Geelong way, donated the use of one of their motorhomes to Father Brian for six months? What a wonderful gesture! Maybe we'll see him 'on the wallaby'. I hope he does get out and about as he deserves a holiday as relaxing as motor-homing can provide. I wonder how well his dog travels?

>Friends of ours, not in CCOCV, had friends return recently from visiting family in Albury. Unfortunately every caravan park was full so they parked on the street outside said family member's house the first night and were taken to a free-camp five kilometers or so out of town. My source wasn't sure of the exact details. Do you know where it may have been? If so, email it around members. Maybe its suitable for one of our monthly excapades.

Floods again in inland NSW and Queensland. That's three years runing in my reckoning. We were planning going through St. George and distrct this year sometime in June/July as we've never been. TV reported local comment about midges and mosquitos after the inevitable cleanup doesn't sound very enticing. Has anyone been in flooded areas two or three months after the event to deliver informed comment on its suitabililty as a tourist destination? Write to me for next Newsletter publication - anonymous, if you like.

I followed up on Vanessa's piece last month about RACV Total Care Emergency Roadside Assistnce program. There's a brochure available from RACV offices with full details, but I'll extract a table which may be interesting:

Emergency Roadside Assistance is not available for Vehicles, caravans and trailers outside these limitations. Towing service can be arranged for Vehicles outside these limits at commercial rates.

Mention also is made of eligible vehicles, unroadworthy vehicles, vandalism and theft, maximum benefits, hazardous locations, and so on. There's plenty of conditions to check up on! Cheery stuff indeed. Get the brochure.

Enjoy yourselves at Creswick. See you at Cowes.

Well, that's it for this month.
Travel safe, tow steady.
Alan A

President's News:

Ken writes:
Our Glenrowan rally has been and gone, the kids are all back at school and the roads are busy morning and afternoon once again. Welcome to February.

We took the opportunity to do a little "bush camping" after the rally. A trip up the Melba Highway to Yea (after a nice cuppa and cake in Yarra Glen on the way) then onto a little place called Twelve Mile Reserve - 21k south of Jamieson on the way down to Wood Point. What a wonderful little spot. Some dirt road and hills to reach our destination but the trip was worth it. A great big open area that was no trouble to get our 6.6 van into. There were even brand new drop loos. Nice access to the Goulburn River for a refreshing paddle and a dip. Saw a few fish casually swimming around (not where we were swimming) but they just would not touch any baits or lures put out in front of them. The wild blackberries were thick on the bush and we must have eaten about a kilo of them - delicious. Really we just spent most of the time relaxing and doing nothing more strenuous than reading a book and having a snooze.

I will say that one of the larger groups that were camping there were rather selfish with the way they monopolized the available space. Each camp/tent/caravan/trailer they had set up took enough room for two, right around the circular track, leaving a lovely grassy area (must have been at least 30 meters across) in the middle that they plonked 2 very small "pup tents" and 2 small swags, making it clear that they did not want anyone else to use the space or be too close to them. They used the space to have a small cooking fire - right in the middle. I am sure we would be way more considerate of others if we found ourselves in a similar situation. (It is a spot that might be worth thinking about for a club "bush camp" rally sometime.

Looking forward to Creswick and catching up with others who were unable to make it to Glenrowan. We had a great time at Glenrowan, spending most of the time in the pool keeping one of our granddaughters entertained and cool. (She also did a bit of keeping us entertained as well) Just a little sad note for those that knew "Boof" the little Jack Russell that Gary and Jill had at the park. He was biten by a snake a few months back and died from the bite. Happy to report that "Buddy" his predecessor, is ready, willing and able to fill his shoes - when he grows more than 6 inches tall that is.

Don't forget about the special requirements for our rally in May to Echuca. Linda has been requested by the park operators to ask us all to be booked and a $50 per site deposit paid, by the end of February - no sites will be held for the club after then. Check your diaries and get in early if you don't want to miss out - or are willing to take pot luck with getting a site for the weekend. The refund policy for the park is 28 days notice for a full refund less a $10 administration fee. If less than 28 days - refund depends on the site being rebooked for the same period for a full refund less the $10 administration fee. If you are not sure and you won't know for while if you can make it or not - you have until the weekend of our rally at Rutherglen to "cancel your spot" and get most of your deposit back - $10 to reserve a spot from now until April 20^th.

Have you had a read of the information from Vanessa re the National Rally in Rockhampton - September 2013. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun. If you have the opportunity - the trip up there and back will be just as much fun, if not more, than the rally itself. Well worth considering and thanks for keeping us in the loop Vanessa.

While you have your diaries out - a reminder about the Caravan and Camping Show at Caulfield Racecourse, Thursday March 8^th through to Tuesday March 13^th.

Took the opportunity to have a look through the new "Kingston Bell" caravans at the yard in Springvale last week. Rather impressive and if you are passing by I would recommend you stop for a squizz. Watch this space for more details in the future. May I also wish all you "Dragons" out there, a very happy, healthy and prosperous Chinese New Year for Feb 4^th.

Well that's about all the rambling I can do for this month. I hope to have a few more interesting bits of news for you next time. Catch up with you all at a rally sometime soon.
Safe travels and Happy Roving.
Ken & Beverley