Delivery Day!!

We were greeted with a slightly worrying, “Did you see the news on TV this morning?”. Unknown to us a fire on the dealership roof had caused serious damage to several parked cars. Fortunately ours was not among them!

Taking delivery of our new car should have been an exciting day for us both but saying goodbye to our V8 Commodore was hard.

The previous loan of a Land Rover Discovery 5 while we did our caravan shakedown also took some of the shine off taking delivery of our car – we knew what to expect and what it was like to drive. However the dealership did a great job of the reveal and handover presentation. And, unlike any other car we have bought in the past, the detailed demonstration of the car’s features was excellent – some feat knowing how advanced, feature-packed and capable this vehicle is.

But the best part… our big adventure is one step closer… exciting times ahead!!

After a wait of more than 8-months our Land Rover Discovery 5 has finally arrived in Australia and almost ready for delivery.

Wiring

We needed to install our GME UHF CB radio, Redarc Elite Pro brake controller, the caravan’s in-car camera screen as well as an Anderson connector to power the van’s fridge while we are on the move. We initially approached ARB in Penrith who promised to forward a quote to do the install on a labour only basis after we had purchased the units from them at one of the recent shows. It never appeared. Land Rover Parramatta instead got the job – they already had the car, they had intimate knowledge of the car’s wiring and it wouldn’t void the warranty. They did an excellent job but at a significant cost.

A word of warning:

If you are going to install a UHF antenna to a Discovery 5 there are very few options for fitment. There is currently no suitable bullbar and the usual underbonnet/wing mount bracket is aluminium and not rigid enough to survive the vibration from Australian roads. A set of motorised flaps sit behind the radiator grill further restricting mount points. One alternative would be to mount the antenna on a roof rack but height restrictions in shopping centres will be an issue with an already very tall car.

Custom Antenna Bracket

Land Rover Parramatta created a very rigid custom bracket for us that fits through the middle of the radiator grill to a central mounting point that is strong enough to handle anywhere the car is likely to go both on and off-road.

Heat-shrink has been applied where the bracket passes through the grill to prevent contact with the grill’s paint finish.

When the antenna needs to be removed a sealing cap made from winding self-amalgamating tape around the thread and top of the socket will provide a dust and watertight seal. The tape will chemically bond to itself forming a semi-rigid cap that can be screwed-off and back on again as required.

Hooking-up our van for only the second time and thankfully on a much less windy day. What looked to be a very tight turn out of our site was much easier than expected and we were soon checking-out and heading North 440km to Repton – our home for the next four nights.

On Reflection

By now we were getting used to the sideways forces as trucks pass by but our extended mirrors were fairing worse. We had bought the recommended SpeedFix mirrors that follow the curved contour of our car mirrors.

Vehicle manufacturers design their mirrors to be as aerodynamic as possible but in turn are making it far harder to attach extending mirrors. And this was a case in point for us. The more we tightened the screws of the SpeedFix mirror the more it slipped away from the frame of the car mirror. The airstream at 100kmh made it worse until one of the mirrors fell off in Catherine’s hand as she wound down the passenger window to tighten it. We’ll be looking for an alternative set of mirrors.

Journey’s End – Almost

We eventually arrived at Repton without further incident… well almost. Unknown to us was a closed bridge that spans the Bellinger River between us and our site. Thanks to one of the locals we were guided to an alternative route, where we made the mistake of following the first road sign into Repton, which took us down a steep, narrow and very winding road. Fortunately there was no other traffic and we arrived without issue at the Bellinger River Tourist Park.

Nine out of Ten

Now as everyone knows well, reverse parking into your allocated site is a public spectacle where you will be judged on how well you perform this manoeuvre. Equally there will be many who freely offer their advice to guide you into place – whether you need it or not. In our case it was most welcome as our site was right against a very large tree and not enough room in the roadway to turn our van the required 90-degrees. In our favour, however, was a grassed area opposite that had been temporarily closed-off to allow the grass to regrow and allowed us to do a straight reverse park – I can do those!!

And so we spent our first evening by the beautiful Bellinger River with a beer in hand as we sat watching dolphins swim by and reflections of the setting sun ripple in the water.

Okay, so we still don’t have our tow vehicle but we needed to do a shakedown test of the caravan before we hit the road on our Big Lap and to make sure any issues could be addressed when the van goes in for its first service.

We had an 80th birthday celebration to attend on the NSW Central Coast in addition to a 4-night stay voucher at the Bellinger River Tourist Park in Repton courtesy of Jayco Sydney. It would make the ideal opportunity for our first road trip… if we had a tow vehicle. Thankfully, and due to the delays with the delivery of our Discovery 5, Land Rover Parramatta kindly volunteered one of their Discovery’s for the trip.

Without a hitch

Hitching-up our van for the first time was much easier than expected thanks to the rear camera on the car. Lining up the tow ball with the hitch was spot-on first time! Doubtless it was beginner’s luck – it can’t be that easy.

Our loan car had the same Redarc Electronic Brake Controller that we had bought for our car, which self calibrates and it wasn’t long before we got the feel for the correct braking assistance as we navigated the winding country roads. And, apart from the slightly higher engine revs on take-off, the 3L V6 diesel had no problems with the 2.8-tonnes we were now towing behind up and down hills. Of course your driving style changes a lot when towing but even on the busy stop/start 3-lane road leading to the M1 it was easy to keep up with other traffic and sit neatly in the centre lane.

Bridge Sway

After days of clear, calm weather, today of all days was blowing an absolute gale and we were both concerned of the crosswind effects it would have on our driving – especially over exposed bridges on the M1 heading north. So it should have come as no surprise as the van was exposed to the strong winds across Mooney Mooney bridge for the first time. The sudden lurch to the right was much stronger than expected but we were already slowing down and with my foot off the accelerator, light braking and the assistance of the car and caravan’s stability control systems working together, soon brought us back in line and we continued very cautiously along the remainder of the bridge.

We made it

With no further issues we arrived safely at Blue Lagoon Beach Resort at Bateau Bay and a much welcome surprise – a drive-through site!! What more could we ask for on our first trip?

Issues with the caravan?
So far none.

Site issues?
Only that the water point on our site was further away than the length of our hose. Lesson 1. Get a second hose and a coupler.

Exactly as promised by Jayco, our caravan was delivered right on-time today.

A big thank you to all at Jayco Sydney for preparing the van ready for us to pickup and the time spent showing us what did what and where everything fitted. Hopefully we’ll remember most of it but I’m sure by the time we do our first short trip there will be much time spent looking through the pile of documentation we were given. And all those keys!!

There was only one problem… we still didn’t have our tow vehicle due to delays at Land Rover. So, very kindly, the ever helpful staff at Jayco Sydney organised a move of our new van to its temporary storage location closer to home.

We are still looking for a secure undercover storage site to help protect against our big summer storms and the giant hailstones that get thrown our way every few years. A site with electricity would also be good to keep the batteries topped-up and to be able to start the fridge cooling ready for the big trip.

Finally taking delivery of the van brings the big dream that much closer to reality. But so too does the increasing list of things we need to buy for the van… and the car.