Rochedale Shake down trip June 5th to 9th 2015

Shake down trip number two.....

We are actually putting a lot of thought, planning and preparation into our up-coming camping trip to the Kimberleys in August. So we seized the chance to get away with the trailer for five days to Brisbane. Our days off coincided with the Caravan and Camping Show (at which we bought the trailer two years ago) and also Zia's second Birthday party and a visit from Jess (who's in Darwin working, but was down for a seminar) Win win win!

We deliberately packed the car and trailer with all the gear, clothes and food we would take on the real trip. Just to make sure it all fitted and wasn't too heavy to tow. We even managed to zip the tourneau cover on the trailer in place (always a struggle!)



The car and trailer: loaded to the max



We were very lucky to secure four nights at the Gateway Caravan Park at Rochedale in the south of Brisbane. It was a busy long weekend (Queen's Birthday) and the park was fully booked. They only take caravans, motorhomes and camper-trailers (not tents) and have some permanent and rental cabin accommodation too. The amenities at this park were fabulous!
Although there were no en-suite sites, All sites were powered and situated very close to the main amenities block, which contained a well laid out toilet and shower block (male and female), well appointed and CLEAN camp kitchen with two BBQ areas under cover as well as a great laundry with driers and ironing boards as well as three clothes lines. In summer you could make use of the Recreation room, Tennis courts, pool and playground too, but we didn't go near them on this occasion.

We were pretty pleased with ourselves to get set up so quickly too. The first stage was up in forty five minutes. The rest of the setup was completed in about an hour and a half and we were sitting down with drinks and food by then chatting to our next door neighbours. While Barb walked to the shops to get some supplies, John pottered around and even assisted the new arrivals on the other side of us get their newly acquired second-hand pop top caravan set up too.

It was very cold that first night.
We'd left the butter out of the fridge so it'd be less hard in the morning, but when we saw that it was 2 degrees Celsius inside the tent we whipped the butter back into the fridge (set at 4*C ) to warm up! We were nice and snuggly warm in bed, however, with two doonas. But getting out of bed was brrrrrrrr! Next door caravan started up his air-con....we were very jealous. Luckily the toilet/shower block was heated, so it wasn't too bad getting cleaned up.

We set off for Fig Tree Pocket, where the birthday party for Zia's second birthday was to be held. Thank goodness for GPS! We hadn't been in that part of Brisbane before, especially not approaching from Rochedale. We found the park, and then because we were so early, went off in search of coffee. Not too many shops out that way. We found an out-door coffee station in a small block of off-road shops. The coffee was phenomenal! As was the cake and muffin to go with it. Restored, we went back to the park, and soon other children and their parents were turning up too. Zia looked ever so cute and was thoroughly enjoying playing and being the centre of attention. Not to mention enjoying opening all the presents coming her way. We caught up with Renee and Anton, as well as Roger while there. Rene and Cerae looked very proud and happy with their little Zia.

After the party we decide to go to the Caravan and Camping show. We'd pre-purchased tickets online, so caught the City Cat from Mowbray Park into the City, walked to Central for the free train to the show grounds. The Ekka Show grounds are a major construction site at the moment, so navigating around the grounds was a bit interesting, but we spent several happy hours trawling though the pavilions picking up bits and pieces for camping. On the way out we bought two solar panels. John had to lug them all the way back to the car via train and ferry. Meanwhile I was loaded down with heavy bags too.

That night it was still ever so cold sitting up watching pre-recorded TV shows and movies on the lap top, but once again we were warm and dry in our bed. On Sunday morning we had arranged to meet up with Jess. We picked her up from Norman Park and had breakfast together in Wooloongabba at the Bakery Café and then went on to Carindale for a look around and shop. John purchased a small fan heater for the tent. Beautiful!
After we dropped Jess home, we called in to see my friend Imelda. Her unit is just behind where Neal lives at Norman Park. She has great views from her tenth floor unit looking out over the sweep of the Brisbane River and the highrise of the City Centre. That night we were toasty warm in the tent with our new heater on. Brilliant!

The next morning we decide to go and take a look at the Ikea Centre....only about ten minutes down the road from our campsite. It's a massive centre! We had a coffee at Vast before venturing into Ikea. It takes a while to go the whole way around that store. Lots to see. We couldn't buy much...no room to carry it back. We were already worried how we'd fit everything into the car and trailer for the journey home. We had a very lazy afternoon reading brocheres we'd picked up at the camping show. It's becoming clear to us that we won't be able to do the Gibb River Road in WA with the Subaru Imprezza. Its clearance is just not high enough to manage the rocky/.sandy/ deep bulldust that we could encounter on that road. We may have to reconsider how to get to some of the places we want to see.

On the whole it has been a very good trip away. We managed to fit everything into the car and trailer and packed more efficiently than ever before. We are feeling more confident that we will be able to handle the travel on this trip.