Friday, 16th August 2019

I went back to my ute for my umbrella, as when I arrived the rain hadn't started and the rain radar seemed to suggest the rain had either passed or was going to miss the Melbourne Showgrounds. However I wasn't going to risk it.

It did rain, more a constant drizzle than big droplets of rain. This shouldn't be a problem for the weekend visitors however looking at the forecast it was only Friday that copped the rain.

There is a shuttle bus from the Flemington Racecourse car park, which I wasn't going to bother utilising, the walk from the car park to where the expo is held isn't that long. But the bus was waiting just after I went back for my umbrella, and it's free.

The bus they were utilising on Friday has a 2 by 1 seat arrangement it was around a 20 seater, and it goes through Flemington Racecourse out the back and up Leonard Crescent and Langs Road. The bus is quite cramped (at least in single seat where I sat).

It also bottomed out a couple of times turning out of Flemington and into the showgrounds.

There was quite a queue waiting for the shuttle bus when we arrived.

It's not advertised on either the showgrounds' site nor the 4x4 expo's site that you can walk from the Flemington Racecourse into the showgrounds, but you can, there's a path under the railway line. It's also not sign-posted anywhere within the car park or the showgrounds itself.

It is maybe 5-10 minute walk, just under a kilometre to walk.

Parking is $20.

The ticket office has been badly placed for when you arrive by the shuttle bus, as it just looks like a random de-mountable office and has probably been placed better for people walking from the car park.

There's 4 main areas, plus outside, which given the level of rain I only had a quick wander through.

The Grand Pavilion, where I went in first, was mostly 4x4 related stuff, with a lot of bull bars on display, Ultimate Campers camper trailers and the ARB and Iron Man stands.

I had a good look through the Ultimate Campers area, I quite like the design of Ultimate Campers' camper trailers, with the teardrop design. However when I was looking around it I walked into the supports holding up the outer canopy (twice).

But Patriot Campers' offerings are also exceptionally good, keep developing. They had a lot more features and things that could be added, and have really solid design.

I had a quick look at the Alu-Cab a sort of camper trailer thing but something that could fit into the tray of a dual cab ute.

This looked like it had a few too many compromises to be decent, good sized bed, but the lower area was a little too small.

It's certainly the best version of this idea I've seen, a few years ago I saw a similar sort of thing, but you had to have a ute with an aluminium tray and the camper trailer-style thing just sort of slotted onto the tray. But also seemed quite heavy, adding a lot of top heavy weight to the ute. This Alu-Cab version appears a lot lighter.

I like seeing these things, but I'm not keen on them as I'm more of a road tripping sort of traveller than a stop and stay in one place for a few nights.

So if I'm in a location away from somewhere that might offer a comfortable bed and shower, then I have a swag which serves me well enough for a night's sleep.

The main arena was where the performances were happening with very few people watching in the rain.

In Hall 3 was what I like to think of as the secondary tat market. This is all the stuff that's seems like it's no-name brand or stuff that kinda is a bit rubbishy / maybe a bargain at the show. It's all the stuff for the inside of your camper trailer, along with jerky and whatever else. In this space off to the side is also where talks were being given.

Across the boulevard is the Boulevard Pavillon, a whole space dedicated to (mostly larger) camper trailers and off road caravans. It's quite a stark space compared to the others.

Hall 1 is where everything else is, it's the largest and has a large TJM stall, there's also Aussie Disposals and Opposite Lock.