Trip Leaders: Rudi and Adri Wend

Report: Don Bambry

The Australia Day long weekend is the perfect time to getaway for 3 days after having just completed 6 – 8 weeks of Christmas school holidays.

Yes, what a time to take a brand new camper trailer out for the very first time and set it up as per the manufacturers instructions. It’s a Qld 4X4 Club favorite event to have one of their members show up with some brand new kit, all ready to work like clockwork the very first time.

So it was with our EMU off-road camper trailer. Received just before Christmas, the off-road camper trailer can be fully set up in a flat 5 minutes. Even quicker if you’re really onto it.

Well, that’s the plan anyway.

We parked next to Rudi and Adri who were quick to offer their assistance. But no, we needed to do this on our own, so off they went to take a ringside seat with a glass of wine , ready to watch the impending comedy event.

No need for instructions. We’ve been shown this once before about 2 months earlier. Seemed simple enough.

So READY!   SPAGHETTI!!   GO!!!

Level this, adjust that, release this, pull that, slide this, move that, lift this, drop that, nudge this, poke that, zip this, peg that……………………………..

And so on and so on.

Miraculously we got the 5-minute setup completed easily in just under 48 minutes. What a success!!

Some room for improvement sure, but we did it on our own and Adri and Rudi had only just finished one bottle of wine during the whole comedy event.

Hmmmmmmmmm

Bigriggen is a fantastic campsite with lots to do in camp. The river is good for swimming and remains crystal clear for the first person to go in each morning and stays clean for a solid 3 minutes before resembling a bad day on the Brisbane River. There are bike tracks for the kids. Even a Moto-X track across the valley, which did make things a bit of noise some of the time.

But the wildlife!!!

“David Attenborough” hold me back!!

Sleek looking lizard things, Possums, Kookaburras and Cicadas. Yes those Cicadas. All 8 million of them, screeching from dawn to dusk. Wave after wave of Cicada singing so loud you had to raise your voice to be heard. But somehow the place is tranquil and relaxing.

Go figure.

The convoy of Club members headed out for a drive around Mt Barney, which gave excellent views of the National Park and Maroon Dam. As “tail end Charlie”, we ensured everyone stayed on the straight and narrow which must have been a bit of a relief for Rudi who led the convoy off into the hills.

Next door to Bugriggen is an Olive Grove with a beautiful Café called “the Shed”. A great place to get breakfast and the coffee is good.

So it came to pass that we eventually had to pack up the camper trailer. Now this task is comfortably completed in less than 5 minutes. And yes! You guessed it; we cracked it easily by finally having it all packed up in a mind-blowing time of 38 minutes. A whopping 10 minutes quicker than the set up time.

We know we can improve on that time. Even if we still refuse to read the instructions. (it may be possible that Annette requested quite frequently that perhaps we should read the instructions but I am not able to neither confirm nor deny this)

Big days, Big crowd, Big scenery and Big Camper Trailer Circus, all at Bigriggen.

Regards

Don