My wife and I are both recently retired. We are beginners with caravanning but look forward to learning the ropes and acquiring a rig. We want to travel the country from east to west and north to south with our little French Bulldog Louis.
Looking forward to many discussions.
Cheers
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Three cheers for dog-friendly camping and responsible dog owners.
Welcome to the forum Bushtoad/ Colin and co. Hope you enjoy the forum and all it has to offer .
Great people ,great info and plenty of great ideas. Do not be frightened to ask questions as
there is always someone on here willing to help.Once again enjoy.
G'day Colin we offer a very warm welcome to you and your wife to the forum, we retired 6 years ago and have been visiting a different state each year, we live in an absolutely fantastic country we hope you enjoy your time in the big playground as we have.
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Life was meant to be enjoyed Australia was meant to be explored
Happily doing both to the Max.
Life is like a camera, focus on what's important & you will capture it every Time
Thanks a lot aussietraveller, sounds like you really have it sorted out.
Since we've started seriously looking into this lifestyle, we've already learned there are an emormous amount of interesting and diverse places to go and things to do and see that we didn't pay any attention to before.
We took the first big step yesterday by purchasing a vehicle (Holden Colarado 7) which I hope lives up to the reviews. Next step the van.
Cheers, Colin
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Three cheers for dog-friendly camping and responsible dog owners.
take your time before you buy your RV..........and if new, expect to have a few very annoying warranty problems. Check the on-line reviews for both the manufacturer and if new, the Dealer and see what previous buyers have to say about them.
We're into a 2nd new 'van now. The 1st (about 8 years ago) was perfect and had no warranty issues. The latest (about 7 mnths old and cost a tad over $70K after screwing down the Dealer - never pay their list price!!) is regarded as a better 'van and we're up to no. 36 in warranty repairs.
When you get your RV, take it away not too far from home for about a week and give it a trial and write down all the things that might be wrong with it. Only communicate with the Dealer in writing (email) - never, ever by phone (sadly, most dealers are worse than 2nd hand car salespeople).
Having said all of that, you'll love the Nomad lifestyle and wonder why you didn't start earlier. We look forward to helping you along once you get started....
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Cheers Bruce
The amazing things you see when nomading Australia
Thanks Bruce and Bev for the valuable tips. I've certainly noted all of your comments. I guess its reasonable to expect some hickups but 36 issues sounds pretty high, I wonder if that's typical.
Regarding the list price; a friend of mine just bought a new off-road van and pretty much got about 12% off list. He's always been a good negotiator but I suppose that gives me a benchmark to aim for. Like the 36 issues though, 12% sounds quite high, I would have thought.
I'm sure we'll love the namad lifestyle and can't wait to get started. We won't rush it Bruce and Bev and have given ourselves the rest of the year to find a suitable van, I just hope it doesn't take quite that long. In any case, the year before last, after retiriing, we downsized our home so have no van storage and need to ready a suitable spot at my sons house before we can take delivery. At the moment, we're looking at both new and used to try to work out which way to go. If I could negotiate 12% I think I know.
Thanks for the post and the advice.
Cheers, Colin
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Three cheers for dog-friendly camping and responsible dog owners.
