4x4

Melbourne Caravan & Camping Leisurefest 2023

Having entered off of the Princes Highway and parking on the grass near that entrance there was a little bit of a walk to one of the gates and entrances. I think in the past I came in from Springvale Road. I paid for a ticket at the gate there is no difference in price between paying online or at the gate, and if you pay at the gate it’s one less site with your contact info.

I'm not really into caravanning, I'm more a curious observer from the borders of this oeuvre of adventuring. So my observances are from this perspective.

Wombat

There were several caravans with two single beds in them, with cupboard in between, which is an interesting solution to the problem of bedding in a caravan.

I'm not really a fan of the pop-top caravan, I feel that if I were out adventuring I wand a protective space from the outside, especially when sleeping.

It was nice to caravans with double beds, and a nice kitchen area plus bathroom, and several had a toilet and basin area and also a separate shower area. Others combined all this together, but I think day-to-day living that little bit of separation would really help with living within the caravan.

There's two main options on display the caravan and the motorhome. The latter built into a van or onto the back of a small truck. Both are a compromise and I'm not sure which one I would go for, were I in the market for one.

I can see the perspective for both, the van means you can go basically anywhere a van would go, and they're a lot more subtle than a caravan and a tow vehicle. But they're a lot more compromised in terms of space, power of the engine and things like that.

If I was going to buy one for myself, I think I would still go for a caravan, albeit a small one, much as in 2019 when I saw one then, I think I still like the Lumberjack Sheoak (Series II). The one I saw back then was the first generation one, but this is more updated one. It's also gone up in price by by 10 grand on that one to $31,990. 

It's got a sleeping area and then a separate kitchen area. 

It's still not totally perfect, at least for how I would use it, it still uses gas. I'd have an induction hotplate in there running off a battery system. I watched a few YouTube videos comparing gas vs induction as a camping option a while ago, and it made a very compelling argument for induction. If you've got solar panels on your camper, and a power station storage system or the like then it's basically free cooking fuel when the sun's out.

Ultimate Campers was the only one that I saw that had what appeared to be an induction system for cooking.

The Stockman Rover has a similar idea to the Lumberjack Sheoak, being a pod-style camper trailer. Their prices however are higher at a hair over $50,000.

I bought a bag of jam doughnuts, which were kinda disappointing. They were hot, freshly cooked but just lacking kinda.

Melbourne Leisurefest 2019

3rd October 2019

View from Public Entrance 3

In the past, travelling to Sandown Racecourse I've found it easier to approach from the Springvale Road end, but this time approached from the Corrigan Road side of the racecourse, which was a lot easier than negotiating Springvale Road.

Parking at the Leisurefest is free. Which is better than the 4x4 Expo at the Showgrounds where you were charged for parking at Flemington. 

I am, in general interested in this sort of outdoors. off roading sort of stuff. While I am more of the road tripping sort, than getting really off road and into the wilderness, I have on occasion gotten out there, and on those occasions a swag has done for me.

I am not all that interested in caravans from a purchasing point of view. I still find it all interesting from just seeing and learning.

The off road caravans more so than the traditional white box-style caravans. 

Road leading to the general caravan area, this is about as far as I walked.

With this in mind I did not explore much of the Winnebago / Jayco area of the Leisurefest, I looked in its general direct, got as far as the ARB pavilion and then went to get something to eat. It was quite a sea of white-topped caravans with air-con units and nothing really exciting. 

If you want a go most places off-road caravan, and have somewhere around the $55,000-$90,000 to spend there's plenty.

Families wise at around $90,000 you can fit three kids and two adults into a relatively well-sized caravan. It's actually kinda impressive that you can fit that much into the space, along with toilet, shower and a relatively well sized kitchen, plus a washing machine. Often the washing machine is hidden in the bathroom but I saw one or two where it's hidden in the kitchen. 

Differences in price between these caravans seems to trade quality of materials for price, and some size of appliances. 

For example in the Lagoon Caravans - Pasadena at the show for sale at $55,990, running my hand along the bench where the sink was, I could feel a little bit of unevenness on the bench top. 

Looking at others it seemed some plumb for a full sized oven, while others have a half to a quarter sized oven, so you might not be roasting a whole chicken in them, or if you are it's only the chicken and nothing else.

The Royal Flair caravans certainly had a more luxury feel to the inside of their bathrooms, a slightly nicer laminex than other caravans, wood-effect flooring, and in one of the caravans I looked in, which at first I thought didn't have a bed, the bed is actually raised above the dining area and then is raised/lowered on rails down. It's a nice way of cramming more in, but I'm not sure of its day-to-day practicality. I guess it depends what you want from the sleeping/living arrangements.

With most others which might be smaller, your partner could stay in bed while you get up, start on breakfast etc.

Inside the Melbourne Crusader Lifechanger "Connection" 19 Series

Inside most of the caravans I saw had bench seating mostly around a centre table that could be removed/lowered to make more bedding, but one the Melbourne Crusader Lifechanger "Connection" 19 Series had two swivel chairs, which was a refreshing change from all of the bench seating. I'm not sure how they cope with rough roads, but it's certainly a nicer piece of luxury than a bench seat.

What might be a new category in recent years I saw was the 'WRAP' caravan or the 'Toy Hauler'. This in some styles a compromised design and in others considerately thought out. These are caravans which have space inside to park your dirt bike, in the case of the Elite Caravans WRAP (Work Rest And Play) it's in a separated off part of the caravan, while in the Toy Hauler it is stored within the caravan. The trailblazers rv Toy Hauler however has two bunk beds in the space as well, so presumedly you store the dirt bike outside when you're sleeping, while with the WRAP it can be stored inside.

If I was going to buy something to tow it would be a camper trailer, as I think that offers the best compromise between having somewhere secure to sleep and being able to go anywhere. 

I quite like the Tvan camper trailers, the one I had a good look around at the Track Trailer area at the Leisurefest is not cheap at $79,680. Based on some of the other caravans I saw wandering around that seems like a lot of money for a very small amount of camper trailer. 

It is very solidly built, and looks like it would go absolutely anywhere and survive getting there. I feel like this is the sort of camper trailer you buy when you've lifted your 4x4 and upgraded the suspension and things like that.

Track Trailer Mate

Also for sale from Track Trailer was the Mate, a trailer with an interesting and compact design. It's a pretty low trailer with a pop-up tent on top. But the benefits are that it's significantly lighter than the Tvan about 500kg lighter.

There was one teardrop caravan on show. It's a very cute, cool design. I think this would be great as a classic car / small car road tripping caravan. It's 550kg, so most small vehicles that can tow should be able to tow this, it's very cool looking. But you'll be making a few (okay a lot) of compromises. There's no where to sit, no where to shower and no toilet, so look forward to caravan parks, and no going anywhere beyond a dirt road as this doesn't have the ground clearance. 

Another interesting design was Aussie Campers Simpson X at $17,990. Interesting as like the Track Trailer Mate the sleeping area as above the camper trailer, reached by a ladder. Looking around this one, there was something I didn't really like about it. It's a very functional design, very practical, but all of that caged area was a little...I dunno. It's a very practically designed trailer, but not much on the aesthetics. 

The Lumberjack Camper Trailers area I sort of came across by accident. 

It has a certainly intriguing camper trailer in the Sheoak. 

This camper trailer is about the closest I've seen to something I would actually consider buying. 

It's got a fully enclosed queen-sized mattress and a small kitchen at the back of the camper trailer. 

It's also not incredibly expensive coming in at $21,999.

It doesn't have the big slide out kitchen of the Tvan, nor the fridge or any of the other fancy bits and pieces which that has. In fact in comparison to the Tvan trailers it's quite sparse.

Lumberjack Sheoak

But the sleeping area is completely contained, which unlike the Tvan which is open at the end is a positive. 

It's a positive in my eyes at least, as sleeping out in the great outdoors, especially off the beaten track, having a solid something in between me and said outdoors would be a great thing.

Like all these sorts of shows there's an inside area with people from various tourism groups along with tat merchants that seem to flock to these sorts of shows to flog whatever it is that might be vaguely related to the subject of outdoors. Some things like one flogging double glazing I'm not sure how they're related to caravanning and the outdoors. 

Finally I also noticed a lot of tags hanging around in the inside of caravans, often the more expensive ones for financing your caravan. A lot of them seemed to be 30%-40% deposit and then a pay offs on a per-week statement of around $150-$250. The ones from Stratton Finance and NLF were at 6.99% p.a. over 84 months (7 years). I don't know why they listed it in months instead of years, maybe 84 months doesn't sound as intimidating a figure as 7 years.

National 4x4 Expo - Melbourne 2019

Friday, 16th August 2019

Approaching dark clouds

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. 

Bit of sunshine through the clouds

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.

Start of the walk back to the car park

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.

Ford Ranger - Alu-Cab

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.  

Discount hall

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

Full Sized Toy Cars on the Boulevard

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.

Parking a big ute in Melbourne

According to the Victorian Planning Provisions 52.06-9 the length of a car park space is a minimum of 6.7 metres for parallel and 4.9 metres for 45º, 60º and 90º parking bays.

I have a four door Ford Ranger. It has a tow bar and a roo bar on it.

According to the Ford Ranger brochure it is 5531 mm long. This doesn’t include the roo or tow bars.

Before getting started here’s the lengths of other utes in a similar class as a four door Ford Ranger:

  • Mitsubishi Triton is 5389 mm long.

  • Holden Colorado is 5347 mm long.

  • Nissan Navara is 5296 mm long.

  • Volkswagen Amarok is 5254 mm long.

  • Isuzu D-Max is 5030 mm long.

Notably, none are as long as the Ford Ranger.

None of these utes’ brochures / websites seem to take into account the addition of a tow bar which many come standard with.

As roo and nudge bars are extra features none list these.

When I first began driving and more importantly parking my Ranger I discovered one very notable thing, which is probably obvious given the dimensions listed on this page so far.

If any car parks are built to absolute minimum regarding their degree-based parking bays there will be trouble because the bay is smaller than the vehicle.

This isn’t too much of a problem when you’re in the suburbs, there’s usually space to park away from everyone. At least I try to park away from the main thoroughfares of car parks so my Ranger is not poking out too much.

In almost all situations in parking bays I have found, and had to learn to reverse park, because I have found it to be quite difficult to get the Ranger into a space where it has some semblance of fitting. Because reversing in means I can get it right up to the line with the aid of sensors and reversing camera.

In Melbourne this becomes even more necessary. In the city you don’t have the luxury of being able to park away from where the busy bits are, in a parking structure there is no ‘quiet’ part in the city. Everyone’s looking for a parking spot.

I have found two locations where I’ve found that I can squeeze a little more space out of a location to fit my large vehicle.

Firstly the Federation Square car park.

Which at first glance doesn’t have any spaces that offer any more room than any other location.

Federation Square car park slatted wall

It is easy to get to, if you’re coming from the south, south east or east. It’s accessible from CityLink via Batman Parade or if not the tollways then going along Wellington Parade and joining Flinders Street from the east.

Inside the parking structure there’s one or two things to note if you’re parking a larger vehicle. Due to the way that the Federation Square car park is constructed you can see there’s gaps between the support bars that hold the structure up. This allows you, if you’re reversing in to get your vehicle back a little further, or more to the point the tow bar back against the metal mesh. It gains you a couple of millimetres here.

Secondly, and this is more for other people, though also for yourself to keep your vehicle out of the way.

The way the Federation Square car park is laid out the ramps leading to each level are not right at the far side wall of the car park (as they are in some car parks). This means there’s about four parking spots on the east side of the car park which aren’t in the way of the car park traffic trying to go up or down the levels of the Federation Square car park. It’s here that I often try to park as they’re easier to reverse into (as it takes me a few goes to get it absolutely right) and here you’re out of the way even if while the wheels may be within the parking spot the car is not.

Federation Square spaces on east beside ramp

Federation Square spaces on east side near ramp/stairwell

Next up is the QV car park.

This is not as easy to get to.

It’s in the middle of Melbourne.

My preferred access is from Russell Street, just after the Lonsdale Street intersection.

It’s an entrance where you have to have some trust that they’ve designed it properly because the turning from the street level looks like a brick wall and you have to turn left into it. <Street View link>

Thankfully it’s actually a lot easier than the blind corner that it is would suggest. Just beware of pedestrians who ignore the fact they often do not have a green crossing signal.

Once inside and down the surprisingly steep ramp down into the car park don’t bother with the first level. Continue down to the second or even third level.

QV car park - extra space

Here you need to find car park spaces along the furthest back wall, they’re thankfully numbered so I can say number 2253 or around abouts that.

These spaces have been drawn onto the floor, but there’s space, overhang behind it which is not counted within the space. This allows people with large vehicles to back (or even drive in forwards as there’s a surprising amount of room) and have your vehicle fit into the space with ease.

These are the only two car parks I’ve parked in with any regularity in Melbourne. As these two are basically perfectly located for a majority of things I might need to do in the CBD.

The other thing to note is height, which does determine from the outset which car parks you can even get into.

Here’s the dimensions for the above utes.

  • Ford Ranger: 1848 mm

  • Volkswagen Amarok: 1834 mm

  • Nissan Navara: 1795 mm

  • Holden Colorado: 1780 mm

  • Mitsubishi Triton: 1780 mm

  • Isuzu D-Max: 1735 mm

Ideally a height limit for a car park would be 2.0 metres. There are a lot of car parks in Melbourne that list their max height as 1.9 metres.

Federation Square car park level 3

As that only leaves 52 mm, I prefer to find car parks with 2.0 metres, that at least gives me 152 mm. Still not a gigantic amount but it’s a little bit better, just in case there’s something rogue hanging down.

Not that this is likely to be an issue, but I used to drive a car that compared to the Ranger was significantly lower. I used to park that in the Victorian Arts Centre which lists their height restriction for their car park as 1.9 metres. That car park in particular feels a lot lower than 1.9 metres.

To wrap up now.

Federation Square’s pros is that it’s easier to get into if you’re coming from the south or east as it’s not within the CBD. Cons are that all the spaces are mostly the same size and any that allow over hang (as I mentioned for the QV) are positioned close to the lifts which means they’re always already taken. Another con is its position. It’s within walking distance of the MCG. This is a problem because it fills up quickly and overflow is in vacant land beside the car park. Not good if you want to park and know your vehicle is securely parked.

QV level 3 car park

QV’s pros are there is overhang which means you can fit larger vehicles into the spots. Cons; it’s in the middle of the CBD, getting into it involves a seemingly narrow turn, exiting involves going up a steep incline (if you exit onto Little Lonsdale street), once within the turns to get down to the second and third levels are somewhat blind and narrow.

But as I said being able to fit my vehicle into the space is a significant plus.

Price wise both Federation Square’s car park’s prices and QV’s car park’s prices are listed on their websites. There’s about $2 difference between them, the only notable thing is that QV’s night rate begins an hour earlier than Federation Square’s.

See also my separate review on the Eureka car park

Melbourne Leisurefest 2014

Today (Thursday 2nd October 2014), reprising my visit from last year

I went to the Melbourne Leisurefest 2014 at Sandown Racecourse, Springvale.

It’s still on until Sunday 4th October 2014.

Things to note immediately, no boom gates on Springvale Road. It’s evident from this statement that I’ve not been up Springvale Road in some time, mostly when I’ve needed to go near that neck of the woods it’s been via the Princes Highway or the Monash Freeway and haven’t actually needed to go into that area for a year or so.

This is notable only when driving to Sandown Racecourse from the south, as I was, and used to being able to turn down Sandown Road to get to Sandown Racecourse, which I don’t think you can do any more. There used to be two places to turn right at the boom gates. One before the train line which would take you down Lightwood Road and another, just over the train line which took you down Sandown Road.

Now to get to Sandown Racecourse for the Melbourne Leisurefest (and I imagine other things held there) you need to go up to Virginia Street (there is a sign on Springvale Road indicating where to turn right) which then becomes Bird Street.

As I noted last year Bird Street doesn’t quite meet Racecourse Drive smoothly, there’s a dirt gap. This isn’t a problem for anyone with a 4x4. I would suggest anyone going who is driving in something that sits lower to the ground to enter Sandown Racecourse from the Princes Highway.

I didn’t really go with any plans to buy anything or to sort anything out at the show this time, unlike last year. Although I did go and see the guys at MGL Sat concerning a satellite phone I’ve had ordered with them, who said it would take 6-8 weeks, which has blown out to 10 weeks. He assures me that it will be in soon.

This time I did take some time to have a look at caravans, which I have little interest in ever purchasing. But have some interest in a general sense.

Big Red Caravan

You can get a caravan, which is nicely kitted out with I think a queen sized bed, kitchen and bathroom with shower, toilet and oddly small washing machine for about $75,000. This one from New Age Caravans, the Big Red range caught my eye in part because I could actually go inside and have a wander (some other exhibitors had theirs fenced off so you could only go to the door). But mostly because they had some red and black matting down and their caravans weren’t the bog standard white.

Big Red Washing Machine

I actually really dislike the white caravans, the white caravans are the ones you see clogging up the road and making every driver’s life miserable because they’re big, hard to over take and people who have white caravans seem to drive slower than anyone else with differently coloured caravans.

The small washing machine I thought was the most notable thing in the Big Red caravan, it’s an odd touch that I’d not seen in others. It’s certainly a nice touch, I can see how that would be useful to have when you’re off travelling rather than having a washing machine maybe outside of the caravan or having to wash clothes in the sink or maybe at the caravan park / laundromat.

I also saw one of the worst designed caravans, I don’t recall which one, just that it was one of the ones that was fenced off so I couldn’t have a good look around inside. The people there were very prevalent and while some people were unhooking the plastic fencing so they could have a look the staff would rush in and fence it back up.

These caravans (or rather the one I had a look at) had a bed area and a kitchen area...they also had a toilet and shower. Although not a bathroom area.

The toilet was separated from the entrance to the caravan by a waist high partition, with the shower (more like a garden hose) above the toilet. This incidentally was in the kitchen area directly opposite the oven.

I don’t know how much the caravan was, but were I in the market for a caravan it wouldn’t be this one.

I think I would rather shit in the bushes that opposite my cooking / food preparation area.

Van Cruiser Customline

The other caravan that I had a significant look inside was the Van Cruiser Customline Dirt Road caravan, which they had on sale for $57,490. For this you got a caravan that could go on dirt tracks, and an ensuite, bed, and kitchen / eating area.

This caravan also was black and orange, or to put it another way not another white box.

I think this one would be a better caravan than the Big Red, I think the Big Red is larger, but would it really be worth the $20k more?

I don’t really know, I’m more a swag sort of person, the travel, the journey is what is important rather than the arriving and setting up home, so my requirements are rather different. I would rather not be tethered to towing something, so anything I’m going to sleep in needs to fit in the back of my ute.

One notable thing I did find looking at various caravans was the bathroom sink. It was porcelain. Why that’s notable is the toilets were often plastic, the floor is vinyl, the cupboards chipboard with a wood laminate on them. Everything on a caravan is a choice made to keep the weight down. Yet, the bathroom sink is porcelain. That doesn’t make sense to me, why not have a stainless steel sink or even a plastic sink? You could still have a nice looking sink but save some weight. Those sinks are at least a kilogram or two.

The 4x4 area of the Leisurefest was represented by large ARB and Ironman 4x4 marquees, a slightly smaller Battery World presence and similar sized Opposite Lock marquee.

In this area there was also a small marquee that was dealing with GPSs and radios, which I did somewhat want to ask the guy there something about CB radios. But there was already an older guy standing there asking some questions. He was also loudly (audibly, even against the wind) eating some hot chips. Munching, chewing and generally sounding like a cow munching on grass. The guy running the stall seemed pained by it. I couldn’t abide it so left them to it, but when I came back they were being interviewed by the roving camera crew, they didn’t seem like they were from a TV station, but were obviously documenting the Leisurefest. It wasn’t a huge thing I wanted information about, I can find it just as easily online, but I thought while I was there I might quiz them. Munching chip man irritated me though. If you want to ask lots of questions about something surely you’d wait until you’ve eaten your hot chips before doing so, or maybe go and ask your questions before you stuff your face hole with hot chips. Just a thought.

I went for a quick wonder through the undercover areas, which were mostly ‘market’ style stalls. They were all camping and outdoor related but also had their air of a Sunday market sort of stuff, nothing really unique there, a lot of it had the air of ‘cheap’ to it. I’m sure there was a bargain to be had there, but there was nothing that immediately grabbed me and made me want to buy. With the small exception of the rope stall, but then I remembered that why my associates have utes with a tray that offers lots of tie points for rope when carrying stuff. I have a ute with a tub, and have two tie down points inside the tub. Straps, rather than ropes have thus far proved a better way to secure things when needed within the tub, so rope would only be of secondary use.

Continuing through the Racecourse’s area I didn’t walk out into the tent area very much. Tents wise, regarding the big canvas tents I don’t really have an interest in I have a swag, and that’s really enough for me. A rest stop for the night rather than a base camp. So the tents don’t really interest me all that much.

However in amongst the tents were a few things that did interest me.

The Pod Trailer was an interesting design. If I ever needed more storage space when going off road this is something I would consider. I doubt I’d ever buy one. But it’s a well designed product.

Track Trailer Tvan

I didn’t look at many camper trailers, which I do like the general design of. A bit more than a tent, a lot less than a caravan. Good for off road. One caught my eye while I was wandering around. The Track Trailer Tvan It looked different, futuristic even. Like someone had redesigned one of those little teardrop caravans with a ruler.

Pod Trailer

I did have a look inside this one. It looks capable, comfortable and useful. It certainly looks like you can pack a lot in once the tent portion of it is folded away. There appears to still be space for other things. It also looks solidly built.

Finally, on the way out I passed by some motorhomes. There was a nice 1960s Volkswagen Campervan that had been completely restored. But aside from that they’re all practical, but boring. At least with a with a caravan you can unhitch it and drive into town, or go off-roading and then return to your house on wheels.

Campervans

Campervans just make you compromise every which way. They’re smaller than a caravan and therefore have less features. They’re bigger than a car being based on a van so they’re not as good on the road. Plus they’re a campervan. Which means you can only use it as a campervan. At least with a caravan you have a regular 4x4 or ute when you’re not towing your caravan. You can use your vehicle for non-travelling related things. With a campervan it’s a single-use vehicle.

Explore Australia Expo 2014

Not as good as the Melbourne Leisurefest 2013.

Despite the Explore Australia Expo 2014 being touted on their website as being “Australia’s premier touring, 4WD, adventure and fishing expo” it seemed a little lack luster.
View of Melbourne from Flemington Racecourse

Presented over three of the Melbourne Showground’s pavilions and some of the outdoor space it wasn’t amazingly busy.

Although, I was there on the first day it opened; Friday 20th June 2014. It was also a typically Melbourne winter’s day. Windy, the suggestion of rain and overcast.
I parked at Flemington Racecourse and walked in. There was a shuttle bus for those people who couldn’t walk the 700 metres or so that it is from the Flemington Racecourse car park to the Grand Pavilion. Really I think if you’re into any of the things that the expo is about you should be able to walk that distance without any trouble.

I entered through the Grand Pavilion which also held the fishing part of the expo. I think they should have given them a smaller space to use, so they might have had a chance of filling the space as it just seemed a little but...not enough exhibitors for the space.

On through there was a little walk down to the Exhibition Pavilion and its neighbouring pavilion each of which held the 4WD and adventure elements of the expo. Whilst caravans and camper trailers were outside.

‘Adventure’ seemed to be their catchall for anything that doesn’t involve 4WD. There were some quadbikes and other things like that.
Also one thing that did catch my eye was the DTV Shredder. Which is kinda like a jet ski, for people who want to ride off road. It’s got caterpillar racks and is an odd combination of snowmobile, skateboard and tank. The show price for it was $7900.
It was one of the things that at least perked my interest, though only in the same way that jet skis perk my interest. Things that I like the look of, though would never really consider buying. It’s a lot of money on a toy.

The only other thing that really perked my interest was the Mini Jump Starter. It’s a lithium polymer battery that can both charge anything via USB and an assorted 12 V plugs and also jump start your car.
This I had heard of, read about on some gadget sites, but I didn’t think it had made it to market yet. So it was surprising to so here, and seemingly it does work and is good for other things like powering fridges and other things like that. It’s about the size of a paperback book. Holds its charge for 6 months and is relatively well priced.
It won’t jump start a diesel.
Well not the one they had for sale at the show, they did say that they had a larger one that was coming in 4-6 weeks that would be able to do a diesel, so I may keep an eye out for that and possibly get one, as that is one of my worries. Having an auto and it being a diesel if the battery goes flat for some reason I’m buggered.
Of course I could just get one of those larger ones that’s like a small toolbox and put that back or the tub or something but then that’s something extra and large to carry around. With this it’ll fit into the glove box.

Melbourne Leisurefest 2013

Today (Thursday 3rd October 2013) I visited the Melbourne Leisurefest 2013 at Sandown Racecourse, it’s still on another few days until Sunday 6th October 2013.

Interesting point, getting there. I drove there by driving North up Springvale Road. You would usually turn right after the rail crossing in Springvale and drive down Sandown Road to get to the Racecourse of the same name. Except the council (or whoever) is doing road works so no right turn there. Instead you have to turn right at the next road up.

This is Virginia Street and it’s quite unsuited to taking any traffic for a big event; it’s normal width suburban street and it’s got cars on either side dropping the road down to one lane with areas where you have to pull over to let a vehicle going in the opposite direction pass. At the end of Virginia Street it becomes Bird Street, at the end of Bird Street there’s a gate to allow you onto Racecourse Drive for when something’s on.

However, there is a gap between Bird Street and Racecourse Road, that gap is dirt, and that’s probably fine for most of the year. Bird Street probably doesn’t get a lot of traffic because Sandown Road would take the traffic so no one would need to worry about the 800 millimetre gap of dirt between the two pieces of tarmac.

Except that’s it’s been a particularly wet few days in Melbourne and while Thursday wasn’t particularly wet it wasn’t sunny enough to have dried out anything.

So this section of what had once been dirt was now quite muddy.

But that’s fine, because I was driving a 4x4. But as I drove onto it in preparation to turn right I notice a bit of dip down, and I think anyone driving out of Bird Street in something like a regular car might not get out of that muddy section quite so easily.

Unlike some of my previous expo outings this one I didn’t just go out of curiosity, I’ve in fact been to this one like it before, so know what it looks like. I actually went with a purpose, or several actually.

Before finding out the things I had actually gone to the Leisurefest to find out I did have a bit of meander around the Melbourne Leisurefest. It’s “The Official Industry Show” proclaims the free show guide that you get when you hand over your $15 cash to get in (concession and seniors get in for $10 and children under 15 get in free with an adult).

There were lots of caravans on display and they’re something I have little interest in, I don’t want to ever tow a caravan, I have no interest in owning one and with some exceptions they’re all more or less the same.

Some of the really rugged ones are peripherally interesting to me in that they look like they’re built to survive an apocalypse.

I did walk past several camper trailers which are interesting, they’re kinda like several steps down from a caravan. They’ve got storage and cooking stuff build in, plus a sink and even water heating and things like that, but instead of a bed and all being enclosed and everything there’s a tent that folds out. The key advantage of a camper trailer is weight and manoeuvrability. You can tow a camper trailers and go off four wheel driving in a way you can’t with a caravan, even the rugged ones, because caravans are heavy. There’s a reason people towing caravans are in the left hand lane doing just under the speed limit, caravans are heavy things that don’t like to go around corners or go at speed.

I also saw one camper trailer variant which was actually a tool box sort of arrangement that sits on the back of a ute. I’ve seen these sorts of arrangements before, but on the back or built onto a ute tray. This one was built onto a ute with a tub, without any apparent modifications to the ute’s tub to take it.

This was made by M2O Toolbox & Canopy. I thought this was a great idea, this at least gets rid of the need for a camper trailer. If you’ve of course got a ute to add something like this to.

Weight would still be an issue for me. Though for M2O this appears to be their business; making toolboxes and canopies for utes so they would know how much weight is good okay and where the threshold lies.

I also had a look in the ARB tent and was rewarded with a showbag, which was one of those bags with the long handles that no one seemed know how to hold onto. Everyone seemingly bunching it up to carry it like a shopping bag. The way I carried it was swinging it round onto my back like a messenger bag.

I’ve only actually looked through the showbag now as I write this up. Within the bag is a copy of 4WD Touring Australia “Living the Dream” proclaims the under title, it’s “The Exploration Issue”. There’s the ARM 4X4 Accessories catalogue, notable for its shiny and slightly rough front cover with what is trying to be tactile sand on the front. 7 ARB stickers including; Safari Snorkel,ARB Sport, 2 kids ARB stickers, an ARB Dandenong Sticker, Old Emu 4X4 Suspension by ARB and Airlocker ARB. There’s also a pamphlet for ARB Dandenong and Issue 37 of ARB’s own magazine 4X4 Action, which is full of articles and adverts pretty much like any other magazine. Except this one’s produced by ARB.

Curious to know what ARB stands for? It’s on their website, it’s the initials of the company’s founder Anthony Ronald Brown.

Next I arrived in an area I was actually interested in; where all the four wheel drive clubs had decided to locate themselves.

I didn’t find a club I wanted specifically to join, but while talking with the Four Wheel Drive Victoria bloke he mentioned that vehicle specific clubs were taking members from non-related vehicles. So the Jeep club was accepting members who had vehicles that weren’t Jeeps.

That would be a kinda uncomfortable meeting to go to being the only person who didn’t have a Jeep. Jeep people are also a bit fanatical about their Jeeps. Wranglers especially.

I did grab a pamphlet about 4X4 Driving Training which looked interesting.

Only on closer inspection does it seem more interesting than just before I slipped it into my ARB showbag.

On one panel of the found out pamphlet it asked “Just purchased a four-wheel drive vehicle?” Then follows it up with “Are you aware of the responsibilities that come with owning a four-wheel drive vehicle”?”

Then it asks a bunch of questions like;

  • Do you know how to drive it?

  • How to make the best of you gears?

  • The different techniques needed to be able to drive competently in sand, mud, and other terrains while maintaining traction at all times?

  • How to drive it in the best interests of the environment and other bush users?

  • Are you thinking of putting some accessories on your vehicle? Driving lights, tyres, bull bar, winch, UHF radio, HF radio or suspension?

  • Will your choices be best for your vehicle?

  • Do you know where to go four-wheel driving?

It then says “If you answered NO to any of these questions then a Four-Wheel Drive Victoria Training Course is your best answer to getting into the four-wheel drive scene safely and responsibly.”

Now. Just think and look at the question it asks at the end in relation to the bullet pointed questions.

If you answer NO to the UHF radio question; NO I’m not thinking about putting accessories on my vehicle, then I should go for the training course. Uh...no, that’s not right.

The other questions do stand up against the final question, but the UHF accessories question doesn’t. Because you need to answer YES to that question in order for the final question to make sense, “YES I am thinking about putting accessories on my vehicle and I want help”.

If you answer NO to adding accessories then...well that’s it you don’t need to worry yourself about them.

Satellite phone have come down in price quite a ways.

I still wouldn’t call them cheap, but they’re certainly not stratospheric in price of what they once were. They were once things that sat in heavily protected Pelican cases that were chunky, robust and amazingly expensive pieces of technology.

They’re still that, sort of.

MGLSAT who were at the Leisurefest and even have a show room in Victoria, but mostly it seems operate from their website had two phones on offer. Provided by two different companies / satellite systems. Inmarsat and Iridium.

The latter many people will likely be familiar with. They’re the ones who were the first in portable civilian satellite phones. These phones have pole to pole coverage. Basically anywhere you can see sky these will work.

They’re also expensive, not gigantically expensive, but expensive compared to the alternative. The Iridium 9575 costs $1600. For what kinda looks like a 90s era Nokia. It’s dust and water resistant to IP65 works from -15 to + 65 ºC has a talk time of 4 hours (standby of 30 hours).

The other option is the inmarsat IsatPhone Pro. It costs $900.

Inmarsat doesn’t quite have the same coverage as Iridium does, but unless you’re a polar explorer it shouldn’t be a problem. The Inmarsat has global excluding the poles coverage. They achieve this by using 3 satellites compared to Iridium’s 66. Why these two companies and how they manage these two different amounts of satellites can be discovered from their Wikipedia pages.

Basically Inmarsat’s coverage misses out on most of Greenland, what appears to be most of Alaska and the aforementioned poles, although right up to the general area of the poles’ landmasses you might get coverage.

The relevant part of this is that Australia is in the middle of the I-4 Asia Pacific satellite coverage area, which means if you’re intending to use it whilst travelling around Australia it’s perfect.

The IsatPhone Pro does have a few different features than the Iridium 9575. The IsatPhone Pro is dust and water resistant at IP54, it’s got 8 hours talk time (100 hours standby), works from -20 to + 55 ºC and has Bluetooth. It looks like an early 2000s Nokia.

It’s got a bigger screen than the Iridium can manage faster data (up to 20kbps compared to Iridium’s up to 9.6 kbps) and it also cheaper.

There is the question of why anyone would get the Iridium? Well...it’s better for some things than Inmarsat’s offering. Mostly if you’re a miner or possibly a farmer or something like that. The Iridium is ‘always on’ and you can push an emergency button SOS button, you can also be contacted on it without extending the aerial. While the Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro you have to fold out the chunky aerial from the body and get a satellite lock before making a call.

I did actually go wanting to know about the price and features of these phones so did ask questions and found out this info. When I do eventually get a satellite phone (more because my family want me to have one) it’ll likely be the Inmarsat IsatPhone Pro. The price being the primary driver on that one, it’s cheaper than most smart phones and can do more when you need it than a smart phone.

Now of course there are other options for satellite phones, you can get cases that your smart phone clips into that, via an app gives the same options as the above two phones. These clip on cases contain all the satellite phone technology without the speaker, mic and other innards. They’re also not much cheaper than the IsatPhone Pro.

The other reason I was at the Melbourne Leisurefest was to investigate swags. I do mean in the plural and singular though not “swag” as in “swagger” which is how it’s been used of late.

Rather swag with the Australian definition a bedroll for camping, though it’s also evolved a bit from a bit of canvas that you crawl under to something with a few aluminium poles curved around to keep it off your face.

Why a swag?

Well I’m lazy, but also want to sleep outside in the bush and I find tents a little...meh.

If you look at a tent, even one of those round 3 second tents that’s not the end of the setting up, you have to fill your tent with something. Something to sleep on, and something to sleep in. Be it a foam pad or an inflatable sleeping mat and then a sleeping bag.

A swag has all of those things, it’s a thing to sleep within, it’s got a foam mattress and, well you can have a sleeping bag within it, or just a blanket.

Southern Cross Canvas

It’s made out of canvass which is a little old world, but is practical, will keep you warm and has many flaps and mesh that you can open to keep you cool.

My question, that I put to the person at Southern Cross Canvas was a pretty simple one ‘why should I buy from you when there are cheaper swags out there, at this very fest?’.

The answer was pretty simple, they use Australian made materials (except the aluminium poles which are American) and it’s all Made in Australia. Made in Bayswater in fact.

The others which are much, much cheaper are made in China or India and are treated with various chemicals to make them waterproof or to try and make them mimic their ones.

They actually had me at Made in Australia, I’m a firm supporter of buying stuff that’s made in Australia and supporting local industries.

I did sit, and lie down in the swag they had on display and the person from Southern Cross Canvas observed that it was only just long enough for me (I’m 6ft 1” or 6ft 2” something like that) pretty much okay for it, but they said that they could custom make a longer one for me. For about $20 more than the special price for the show.

And yes, I did order one there and then. Though I did go to the show with the intent of finding out about one, and the offer of the custom made one did push me over the line that this would be something actually constructed for me, being a bit taller than the average.

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