Picking Up Our New Home And Shake Down Trip
Picking up our caravan
Our brand new Jayco Starcraft was ready a couple of months earlier then we had anticipated. I guess most people would be exited about that (and we were happy it was ready) but we were not taking off for a few months yet, so we would have to work out were and how much it would be to store it.
We booked an appointment to pick up our new home (this is so they can properly show you everything and how it all works) I videoed everything as we were shown around, it took about three hours. Jayco fitted our three solar panels and battery so we made sure they were in place.
We made sure we had everything we needed to connect the caravan to the Ute, 7 pin plug, brake away wire, Towing mirrors etc.
after we were shown around and we were happy, it was time to pay and drive away :0)
Shakedown trip and how we chose to store our caravan
We had booked in to our first caravan park so we could hook on to power and water and get used to the van. Larry also wanted to install the new battery management system and wire up the in car rear view mirror and electric brakes ( https://www.redarc.com.au/ )
We spent four days checking the solar panels were in working order and went back and forth to Jayco to buy wind shades , BBQ extension hose and ask questions before we moved on.
48Hr Free Camp at The Leap Hotel QLD
We wanted to free camp so we could see what it would be like. We stopped about 20min from the caravan park by a pub. They had 48hr parking on a lovely grassy area. It was on a main road but it got quieter over night and didn't bother us. We went to the pub for a drink and dinner, great for us having a free camp and for them having customers.
After our 48hrs free camp we headed back towards Airlie beach
Airlie, was the closest mainland area for us. We didn't want to park in Airlie beach as this was basically our back yard, so we found a caravan park about 30min out, near Proserpine in Myrtlevale.
We had a look on wiki camps and found Gunna-go caravan park. We initially decided to stay a couple of nights on power so Larry could still work on what he needed and we also needed to be in the area to get a hard cover put on the back of the Ute. Then we were going to move on for a few more days.
Storing our Caravan
After going to a couple of places that store caravans in Airlie Beach and asking at caravan parks, we asked at Gunna-go if they would let us store the van at there caravan park for a couple of month. Then we could come on the weekend and we would already be set up. They agreed for a minimal cost per week. We had read on the Wiki-camps app, all the great comments about the owners and they were right. We only had to pay $20 per night when we were home in our van as it was un-powered and we were there more then one night. We parked on a slab that had no power but did have water.
As we have solar and a 218litre compressor fridge, which runs of our solar, we tested to see if we could put essentials like wine and coke for the Jim beam, in the fridge and leave it on while we were away. It worked well so now we could stock it with other essentials like chocolate and cheese for our weekends off island.
(link to gunna-go)
