I've got to be quick here as I'm only in Hobart for an hour before flying out for more fishing

sometime back the furphy camp oven came under discussion as to whether it was still constructed in australia, I fired off an email to the foundry and recieved this reply........................................................................I quote!!!!!!

Hello Dave,

Thank you for enquiry regarding our camp ovens and taking the time to seek
out the facts from us directly.

These are the facts of the matter.

1.Furphy's camp ovens have, in fact, been manufactured off site, for well
over 5 years. They are still very much Furphy's camp ovens, because, they
are our original Furphy camp oven patterns manufactured to our original
specifications. They are not cheap randomly imported camp ovens.

2.Our Foundry is geared up to manufacture 100% cast aluminium not cast iron
as used in camp ovens, so rather than cease production of the product
altogether we sourced another foundry to manufacture for us to the same
standard in cast iron.

3.Some people take exception the fact that they are not manufactured in
Shepparton however, the commercial reality is, that the core business of
Furphy's Foundry is now Street and Park Furniture and we are in fact one of
the leading suppliers in Australia.

So, as an Australian company competing in the world market, we are doing our
best to continue manufacturing from the foundry and employ 60 families from
the Goulburn Valley region. The camp ovens are still serviced by Furphy's
Foundry staff, in terms of processing sales, taking orders, and enquiries
and organising delivery.

I hope that this explanation will clarify any issues you may have with
regard to our camp ovens.  I also hope that you and your many members
continue to support our products and continue to visit the free Furphy
museum, as they do in large numbers, for as long as we remain in business.
Furphy's Foundry are a proud Australian manufacturing company with a long
history and we intend to be around another 136 years. The one constant in
this businesses history is changing direction to reflect the demands of the
day. Nothing has changed.

Kind Regards,
Vanessa.

whilst no longer constructed in australia the furphy reputation is to be upheld not like the cheap chinese junk, I have asked for a discount to be applied for all grey nomads and am awaiting the answer to that, we can only hope I guess

hope that clears up what may be a minor bit of confusion, hell gotta go,  the pilots glaring at me!!!!

Up,Up and away.Happy landing Dave.Cheers.Ibbo.

Blimey!

Darwin, Port Perie and now Hobart, has our Sir Dave06 changed his rig for a chopper, or has he replaced the "Little Blue's" engine for a Holden V8?
From his recent posts I thought Sir Dave06 was getting the 'Combo' out for the harvest.
Mind you, fishing is a far better pastime

just another quick one, (in strahan for fuel and provisions and then nicking back out on the upper reaches of the gordon up to a cabin and a couple of lakes and streams up there) I have a reply from furphy regarding my application for a discount to apply to all grey nomads............. and I quote Hi Dave, Thanks for your understanding on this matter, it is very much appreciated. After a discussion with the General Manager, with regard to your request for an incentive structure for the Grey Nomads, I can offer your members the following. If any of the camp oven range are purchased directly from our Shepparton Factory either in person or by phone, mail etc and a grey nomad card is shown/quoted we will in fact give them a 10% discount. There are some stores around Australia that do stock Furphy's Camp Oven product, this will not apply to them as it would be too difficult to facilitate. I hope this goes some way in returning the support your group will continue to show. Kind Regards, Vanessa DiVita Sales & Marketing Manager Phone: 03 5831 2777 Fax: 03 5831 2681 Mobile: 0439 312 772 it seems the furphy clan are indeed a great mob to deal with, I will be updating all my gear when I get back even though I am loathe to use it yes Dave I do get around, this is my last hoorah before clambering on the harvester for 20 hour days, starting friday, the dragon was left behind on this one, this is just for me, helicopter at my disposal, pilot guide knows all the spots, I am semi retired (HAH!!! yeah right!!!) I refuse to just sit on my freckle and waste time, do that when I'm dead, I have my long service pay and a lot of time owing so off we go at every oppurtunity dont ask what it cost because I wont tell you, but I still have a little left in the bank account, but I will get a very good pay for piloting the harvester , but i guess if you are like me, working three jobs and a small business, 14 -16 hour days then the breaks are gratefully taken and often, I would fully recommend this to anyone, I have caught marlin and sailfin as well as great whites but nothing compares with this, I will be back never mind, back to reality on thursday, back to the grind

Do we have Cards Dave, or would the Grey Nomad Sticker do? Cheers, xina.

Is this a Furphy DaveO................or true?? :) :) Sorry mate..................couldn't resist it.

hmmmm!! yeah!!! what do I say to that, ducky???? xina I am not sure about needing a card, as yet we are not that organised and I guess for some that is the attraction of this web page, i could perhaps make up a design and maybe print some up for us or I could see Cindy about doing something, but I think if we were to just front up at the foundry sales office and state we are Grey nomads then the discount would apply the other way is if we were to use the mail order service and state we are Grey nomads then the discount would still apply either way it is a fantastic offer and I am really pleased to be able to forward this to you all I have offered Vanessa the opportunity to advertise on the front page of the nomad and I really hope the company takes the offer up, this will give us addresses and special promotional offers not open to the general public I intend also to contact other outlets, perhaps tyre companies and the Raa or it's successors in other states as well as other organisations to see if we can get more discounts or special offers on goods as a group we have considerable buying power that I think is as yet untapped

The advertising and product endorsement issues are at the discretion of the Webmaster, Cindy.While we could do some background work to encourage businesses to recognise "Nomads", the outcome of this homework should be fed back to Cindy, and the decision to go with it or not should be left up to her.While we are all active contributors to the Nomads' Forum, with the best interests of the Nomads at heart, the overall administration and associated buisness decisions are at the discretion of the Webmaster.There are many websites and forums out there and they could be all seeking product and company endorsements.  No one is immune or exclusive.All administration of this website and froum are the right and discretion of the Webmaster.If we design stickers, cards or posters on behalf of Nomads, they should be submitted to Cindy for approval. Even the idea of these concepts must be approved by Cindy & Co. We are guests of the site, but we don't own or control it. Let's remember our place.

yeah!! welcome back, and oh gee!!! Dave thanks for the discount!! lets remember our place WE are the grey nomads without us there is no grey nomad website, I put up suggestions as I am not one to just sit and let the grass grow, if I can help to get someone to place a paid advert on the front page of the nomad I will, the income is welcomed by cindy, i have invited a paid advertorial, I did not make it a free offer and I will offer more as I come across them if I want or need a card stating that I am a grey nomad then I will make it, I can make one stating that I am a vampire as well if I need it to get discounts off the blood bank, I can aproach cindy to look at the manufacture of a card if we get enough people wanting it, and we find we need it but as I stated in the above post (of which you only partially read obviously) we can get the furphy goods through mail order and simply state that we are grey nomads to gain the discount or simply state it at the foundry we are not talking about a "product" here anyway, we are talking about members benefits, what "product endorsements" are you talking about, the website may be a "product" the grey nomads are individuals and thereby are not legally a "product", nobody "produced" us we are grey nomads by nature not by manufacture I will continue to forward the interests of the members of this forum in any way shape or form, if I can get discounts or travel offers from various departments I will and I would have assumed that you would do the same, I have not used the "wwwgreynomads.com" website in any of my dealings and that is the only "product" under law that needs protecting if you have a look around on the web you will find heaps of "grey nomad" websites some private some open I really dont know what you are saying here, if you read my post it explains itself, I have offered nothing for free?? I am not looking to take over the site. I gained a discount for members and have offered to gain more, I have possibly raised the webmistresses income, I dont see a problem with any of that, if you do then it is you who should examine yourself if you dont want to take advantage of the discounts that I may or may not encounter then feel free to just pass them by

just as an after thought this is the email I sent off to vanessa with the offer of an advertorial on our cover sheet....just so you have a couple of facts Hi Vanessa, > > it is me that should be thanking you for taking the time to reply to our > group's concern's, I have posted your reply on the website (as I will > with this one) and you will be happy to know that almost all members are > understanding of the need to produce the oven elsewhere, (always a > couple of "grumpy's") > > once again thank you for taking the time to answer a couple of small > concerns, you and the company can rest assured in the knowledge that > wherever possible I will push the virtues and value of a "furphy" > > if you wish, it may be in your interest to place an advert for furphy > camp ovens on the site, there will of course be a cost, this can be achieved by contacting "Cindy or jeremy" > our web handlers at this web address > ..........http://www.thegreynomads.com.au/advertising.htm....... after > the post that I have placed basically hailing you as the gods of camp > ovens I think this market may be a little more receptive than before > > you have a lovely Day and thank management for us for the very kind > offer, all the best, Dave so as you see I am aiming to achieve world domination with the starting point of the grey nomads, HAH!!!! HAH!!!! HAH!!! (so hard to do an evil laugh using merely the keyboard)

I think I might go away for a week!!

indeed, what a terrible person I am, secured a 10% discount on a usefull item for our members, and hopefully a bit of advertising for our webmistress, dear me I should be drawn and quartered

Dave, If you have officially been authorised by the Webmaster to act on the site's behalf to procure advertising on the site, and discounts from these companies for the members, that's fine. Then I would thank "Dave" for the discount, but at this point I doubt it's validity. While I'm the last person to look a gift horse in the mouth when it comes to discounts, I do question the authenticity of the discount as it applies to forum contributors. At this stage you're sounding very much like and "I specialist". It appears to be very presumptuous for one individual to take it upon themself to deal with businesses, allegedly on behalf of the Webmaster, without the Webmaster's approval or authority. These business transactions and negotiations are up to the Webmaster, unless, as I said, anyone has been delegated. I also take every opportunity to promote the site to every traveller I meet, and other friends who are not travelling, because I believe it's a great social network, even for non travellers. However the business of operating the site is up to the owners of the site. We are but humble members, who contribute to the site and maintain it's popularity. We are NOT the site - we are part of the forum network which is only one aspect of the site. There are other features on this site relating to travel, work, choosing rigs and other points of reference. The forum is but a part of the site. It is not the sole purpose of the site, and forum contributors are a very important part of the forum section of the site, therefore they are an important part of the site.

I still do not get the gist of what you are saying, I am not saying we are the site, I am saying we are grey nomads. anyway take the offer or leave it, I dont care, I have no delegation nor do I want it and I dont know why you keep bringing it up, are you really that bored?? I am not operating the site nor do I see why you keep saying I am trying to????????????? as I stated the offer is there you want it, take it, you dont want it leave it at that, the rest as far as I can see is crap I am thinking seriously of rewriting to furphy and getting the offer withdrawn

Hi Dave,                                                                                  
 Alices' ADVERTISING POST is still in the What's Cooking thread.  I'm amazed that Granny hasn't commented on it yet.
Can't see what her problem is with you.  All you did was let people know that they could get a discount if they were going to buy the product. 
I can't see how that constitutes ADVERTISING.

Cheers,
xina.


-- Edited by xina on Friday 23rd of October 2009 07:35:25 PM

some people are incredible! it's a shame the gift horse cant bight! I ordered a few larger replacement ovens yesterday Dave, larger one and a couple of smaller ones. mate you saved me $45, spoke to Vanessa over the number quoted above, stated I was a nomad and you should have heard the change in her voice, so happy to hear from one of us, you made an impression on her, ...........................let me be the first to say "THANKS DAVE"

no worries Mick, I've had a few who have pm'd me saying they've upgraded, I havent put my order in yet, havent had time, good to see you saving a few bob, travelling is dear enough

I was rather disappointed to learn about this back when I came back from the US and wanted to get a camp oven. I really wanted to get an Australian oven and ended up getting a Billings Foundry oven from Castlemaine as a wedding present with a customized "Just Married" lid... really good quality and good service. While in the US I ordered a Furphy cast iron jaffle iron with spring handles and ended up being shipped an aluminium Jaffle iron with skinny shafts and "timber" handles which were simply dowel sections cut off and shoved over the thin metal shafts... I was not pleased. The story I got back from them was that they no longer cast iron in their factory, they did send me another aluminium one with spring handles but I was really disapointed about not getting a good Australian cast iron Jaffle iron.. One day maybe.