Take it from an old fossil, wisdom comes from experience, experience comes from living, keep living and enjoying every experience good and bad, life is too short and i hope your veiwers appreciate the content, there is good advise within it, keep up the good work.
You’re a great couple and appreciate showing as it is and not glamorising van life, like way too many do. Honesty is refreshing and you provided some really important insight into getting to know your vehicle and can. Thanks & stay safe
Got to admit, i haven't watched a video in a while, but this was brilliant. you guys look super comfortable in fromnt of the camera and good together. Keep up the great work and thank you for sharing the not so glamorous side of the life. we are all human and all make mistakes. it is great to learn from others rather than having to make ALLL the mistkaes myself! lol
Well done for sharing. You virtually touched on this but a great habit ive learnt from heavy vehicles in & around minesites. Complete a 360 walk around the entire vehicle setup each time you stop prior to restarting. Its amazing what you will pick up on. Congrats again happy travels
Hey guys i dont think your mistakes were that bad considering you have been on the road for 3 years, my partner has put petrol in my diesel ute twice so far, i no longer let her fill up anymore lol Thanks for the honesty and wish you all the best for the future.
We feel very lucky. We have seen alot since starting this and relatively our mistakes aren't that bad. Some people we've met have had catastrophic issues that could have maybe been avoided. Thanks for the kind comment and thanks for watching and commenting.
Thanks for posting actually helpful information, warts and all. Recently I’ve ceased watching people on RU-vid doing their lap. The click bait is out of control. Sensationalising minor breakages…I’m over it. So thank you for being real.
Yes, unfortunately the Australian caravanning niche suffers so much from this sensationalism and click bait thumbnail. Believe me, we know about it, and hate it. Sadly though it works, and the creators abusing it are growing the fastest. And the new and aspiring creators try to emulate them. It's a bit of a race to the bottom. Hopefully we don't ever find ourselves in that race.
@@SvedosTrippin 2 years ago I thought about posting our lap on RU-vid after two weeks on the road I thought “I don’t want miss anything on this trip and I’m not going to spend hours video editing interrupt me”. So I stuck to instagram as a personal blog of our journey. So, I appreciate the hard work you’re putting in.
Very good video, my tip to add is that I have a checklist that I have laminated, for the inside and then the outside, I religiously stick to it, it came about after I lost a sway bar after my neighbour distracted me while hooking the caravan up, prior to the checklist, I had left the aerial up, had draws fly open not locked, had the fridge door open not latched, left the top hatch open, not turned the fridge to 12 volt when travelling, so my tip is use a checklist, keep up the good work, regards Tony
Thanks again for a helpful video. Now we'll hopefully reduce our mistakes for a big lap from Aug. I liked the mention of the marriage saver offer (I'll definitely not say no now!).
Awesome video! Great tips to share and loved the first one. Hubby and I are new to this and don’t know where to start, so any tips are good tips, even though these were errors for you both. Thanks for taking the time to do this video, xx
Thank you. This was a GREAT video. I have made a few of these mistakes and I felt like an idiot. It was great for you guys to talk about this as it might save others a lot of money. Remember, if you haven't made mistakes, you haven't lived. Keep up the good work.
Cheers Shane, a few comments saying they have made the same mistakes, certainly makes us feel better. Hopefully this will help a handful of people avoid these ones. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Only recently started to follow (currently off sick) love the honesty of your videos. Information is valuable as I'm in the process of buying my 1st camper... (Jayco Swift) It's been a long-term dream and finally about to happen. No intentions to do full-time on the road, but definitely school holidays.
Great vid guys & some awesome tips & advice! Agree with the fridge strap! We have had 2 latches break on our fridge in 12 months and now use 3 x Dreambaby Twist & Lock Multi Purpose Latches & they are awesome 😎
Your human, mistakes are made by the best experts in caravanning. You're aware now and will always be able to recognise things as they occur ,thank you for bring this subject up , and making newbies aware of these things ,good on you I have taken note of this thank you 😊
great content... I am a 'bush camper' with a Troopy and rooftent as well as a good size ground tent. We are considering our next move up to a caravan or trailer... all the helpful info we can gather before making our major purchase is helpful. Knowing the issues that could lie ahead is key to an enjoyable trip. Thanks for your insights. Safe travels !!
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I hope you have happy and safe travels in the future. The caravan community are amazing, lots of experience and great people to learn from.
Thank you so much for sharing! We have just started travelling in our new van and have made some good mistakes! Hit a tree on our first trip because we didn’t take the height of the van into account! We will definitely take your wisdom on board to avoid future mistakes.
Great honest video guys. Having once places a few litres of petrol into our diesel fuel tank, we know how easy it can be done. It is a horrible feeling when you are a short distance away from the servo and you start to question yourself "did I put diesel in" so for that reason we now always get a receipt as a reassurance of what fuel was purchased.
Hey great communication that's why you've bin on tĥe road with kids for 4yrs.Well done.Suggest a tiny cheap centrifugal pump, n some clear hose,$30-50 and some spair fuel containers.Attach a cordless drill to pump n you can remove wrong fuel from tank in minutes and fill to the top with correct fuel b4 started.i made same mistake putting unleaded in my deisal n was on my way in 15-20mins.
We are going with prevention rather than a cure, haha. We know double and triple check before filling up. Will only make that mistake once. Also we are about to upgrade to a long range tank and it will come with a bung if we ever have to dump bad fuel we can undo that.
Another informative episode thanku guys for keeping it real. We have sold up and have 9 weeks until we leave on our forever trip hope to meet you guys on the road sometime.
Another really great video. So brave if you to share it. Well done. (Our latest: I had to go away from the van for 5 days at the beginning of the week, leaving hubby to 'batch'. On my return on Wed, he told me the flap on the toilet cassette came off when he was about to empty it!! So glad I wasn't there and he had to deal with it by himself.) Yeo. Things DO happen to all of us.
Want a funny toilet story from us. The button on our flush played up and stayed on flushing the toilet. About 15 mins later I was like what's that noise. The toilet was flooding into the van. Ahh well, these things happen. Thanks for watching and the kind comment.
Hey guys thanks for being so open about some of the things that can go wrong. We’ve only just begun our caravan journey with a weekend away here and there. Last weekend we were packing up in the rain, and had another person waiting for our site. In the mad rush we packed everything up and took off. About 30km down the road I decided to stop and empty the toot, and found the caravan keys still in the front boot of the van. I did do a quick pre-departure check but missed this one. Keep the videos coming I enjoy learning from your adventures.
great tips … When reversing instead of left and right we use driver and passenger… Doesn’t matter which way your looking at things . Everyone is on the same page then
Great tips guys we ended up strapping every overhead cupboard as well as the fridge we use little clear rubber straps and stick on clips from Bunnings! We like your fridge idea better though! Thanks!
Love it,,can only say have a "raw material draw,," hose clamps ,,bits of any thing you find on the road that might be useful when you need it most,,glues,, super glue,,,,5 min epoxy,,full strength,,contact ,, hot melt ,,soldering iron and some ability to use it ,,multi meter,,x2 ,,,you will blow up one,,
@@SvedosTrippin love your work,,was once a sailor,,one wisdom was "if you wait untill everything is ready ,,you will never go sailing,,,but if you can fix anything you can go tomorrow ",,
Haha, it's taken nearly 3 years to get just above mediocre. I'm not sure we are the right people to make that vid but I will think about making it. Thanks for watching and commenting.
Great video. Thankyou. Are you able to swap roles with each other? For example can Mel park up whilst Brett gives directions? I’m teaching my wife to park up, hook up and unhook the van, drive whilst towing etc. You never know when either one of you might need the skills the other has developed. Anyway thanks for sharing 👍😎
It can be hard to follow the the 'seasons'. We've done about 150,000 Km in the last 30 years, off-bitumen. There are August winds on the East coast and October winds on the West coast. SA Peninsulas are often shocking for wind in August, but you can swap sides. A good camping base is Mallacoota and surrounds from November. Then you can Nullabor or go via the McDonnells. We turn right at Normanton and go up to Mt Augusta, turn left to Carnarvon and head to Exmouth in Winter. Just sayin'
thank you so much guys you are right it isn't easy to talk about. hey quick question i am new to towing a van. we are heading to cobalt gorge which has 45km of corrugation road. do you think it is necessary to deflate the tires for a short trip
Hiya, if the roads are corrugated, it would be a good idea to drop pressures. I personally would drop the line if it's more than 5-10KM of corrugations then drop pressure.
Hi mate, it's been a while since this vid. I assume your asking in relation to our swing arm being cracked, something we would of noticed sooner if we were paying attention to our tyre wear. The answer is no, we were under warranty, and we had the entire swing arm replaced. We did how ever have to supply to G n S chassis a weigh report showing that our van was under its weight limits (at our cost I might add) before they would honour our warranty claim. Thanks for watching, Svedo.
Yes, neither have we, but we still made the mistake. I used one that was grey as I couldn't see the black deisle one (it wad out the back of the station).
I am waiting for a ar manufacturer to be sued. Saying that a towbar weigh is available without stating can't be done without fuel passengers or load is false advertising.
Yes it is a bit discusting. The van sales people who in theory should know this as well dont care either. The person who sold us our van was aware of our tow vehicle, and propably knew that it would never be fit for purpose. But they happily let us sign a contract for a new van. But at the same time, I take responsibility for my own lack of self education. Thanks for watching and commenting.
I just wanna say generally about weight of anything to be towed no matter how powerful the vehicle or suspension upgrades or a GVM upgrade....you would be out of your mind and this is respectful but absolutely stupid to tow anything that weigh the same or more the the vehicle towing...shove all that crap up the manufacturers back sides of there towing specifications, if the caravan is heavier then the vehicle and you have to stop suddenly that caravan will overtake you and make an avoidable accident in to a nightmare....people do need to learn you can throw all the money in the world buying the hype the lies that mods will make your vehicle tow anything....it's just science and fact don't tow anything heavier the your vehicle simple or your a weapon on the road and shouldn't be there for the safety of every other road user. ...just advice not aimed at anyone. How do I know don't ask....if it happens it's so quick when your faced with a situation that requires stopping action quickly, when you look to you mirror to see if clear to manoeuvre but all you see is van its to late your already folded up in a jackknife at 90km.....be safe out there.
I have just sat down to watch some RU-vid after putting a roast on. My lovely wife is sitting on the bed reading a book and the kids are having some Ipad time. So yes still togeather :)
@@SvedosTrippin it just shows you, that miracles can happen in a small caravan in outback Australia, so she has stopped interrupting you has she., early days.
Great topic. Here's another one: Failing to do a walk around before departing. I've driven off with chocks under the wheels; left things behind; forgotten to plug in/unplug things; etc. A final walk around before engaging Drive is worth the 1 minute that it takes.
Love your style and ability to flow the conversation between yourselves and be bouncy without being over the top. Too many dry and boring trip videos that are very tiring to watch So well done , with some good info and the right approach as lifestyle traveler’s , who simply take their time and enjoy their travels
Hey guys, fantastic topic to delve into and share with both novice and seasoned caravan enthusiasts! The vlog is packed with valuable insights, and I believe others, including myself will find your hard-earned advice quite helpful. I’ve made some of the mistakes you mentioned Brett, and I truly resonate with your feelings on owning up to them with fellow travelers. Thanks for addressing a challenging topic! Stay safe and see you guys on the next adventure 👍 kind regards Corrie
Thanks for being honest. We think most travellers would certainly relate & would've experienced similar horror stories themselves. Great information for those starting out! Safe travels!👍
Excellent video. We’re into our eighth year on the road and gee we’ve made our fair share of mistakes. Love your honesty. I’m sure you’ll save plenty of people some costly mistakes.
Great video and some timely advice. Only takes a few minutes to do a walk around your van at each fuel stop and check things out. Check wheel nuts etc. liking your channel keep up the good stuff and enjoy.
Hey Brett & Mel. What an awesome video, honest and everything explained. Yes, it's hard owning up to our mistakes, so well done to both of you! Anyone watching you guys for the 1st time will think that you're on your own....your kids are so well-behaved and know when not to interrupt 😂 Hope you guys and Kaylee & Owen have an good weekend. Safe travels and see you next week ❤
Thank you for making this video. Your right about not many people own up to making mistakes, but when your new to this, like my husband and I, we are still tenting it ATM. Yeah it's a learning curve. I like the idea of the checklist 👍 strap the fridge👍 . We plan on hiring a few different caravans first to see which might suit us and our 4x4. Looking forward to more videos guys....
You reminded me of the time I put 80 litres of fuel in the rod holder (the fuel tank filler is right next to it). 25 years ago. I still haven't lived that one down!
Brave and honest video guys. You obviously learn from your mistakes, and better still share them so others can learn and not make the same ones. A huge 👍 from me.
On caravan weights I don't think you made a mistake personally. There is a problem a big one but a fair bit of the responsibility IMO rests with caravan manufacturers. They deliberately and knowingly understate Tare weights. My 21 foot Jayco Basestation has a tare of around 2350 kg but that weight does not include the weight of full gas bottles or water tanks. So add over 200kg before you put in a tooth brush. But the next issue is the Max weight of the caravan. So if you want to put in a motorcycle and stuff and keep under the Max rated weight you had better pack very very light. The irony is my Outback suspension is massively strong and ratings could be much higher. Accept where you put the weight is critical and just where your using it is critical. Great video all great points. Re marriage saver. Yep some caravan park sites are extremely challenging. And congestion can make it really difficult. We have a good rear view camera on the caravan. If I cannot see my wife I stop and get out and have a look with her. Caravan parks can attract male helpers who think they know better than my wife!. I always rely on her as no. 1 And take my own time. Often when backing you must watch out for the front LHS corner of the truck! Yep stuffed up fuel once too. Not thinking
Thanks mate, great thoughtful comments. Yes, the stress of onlookers certainly doesn't help, even though I'm pretty seasoned it still adds a layer of anxiety for me... I agree there should be some responsibility on the manufactures about van weights, I think the fact that it's believed that about 70% of vans out there are over weight should really prompt some action shouldn't it.
@@SvedosTrippin I think it would be interesting to see you can legally tow any of Jaycos new top of the line vans behind a selection of 3500kg rated tow vehicles if you actually loaded them with full tanks gas bottles and say 200kg of stuff.
@rosewood1 that would be a great experiment, not sure I have the resources to complete this haha, not to mention dealing with the fall out if the results ended the way you and I suspect.
A tip/trick with the reversing of the van ... change roles. Let Mel do the driving and Brett do the directing. Try it. It's a sure way of avoiding the arguments and angst. An old friend told us that many years ago.
I travelled Australia with a dear mate who is ex farmer truck driver parking in parks were a breeze people used to stare at how good he was, come other times he did hand signals not always in sink.we had 4 months and I loved his surprise at how wonderful our country is was one of many short trips we are unable to travel now but great memories. Thanks for your episode do you travel with children? And these days do you both work as it is not cheap travelling and am sure there are some interesting jobs to do in rural areas best wishes safe travel😊
I like your video, I also have a small hit that we used when traveling to Cape York with a camper trailer, i used a permanent Marker and drew an line on the face of our wheel nuts ,car and camper and by just looking at them you would know if the nuts are coming loose. We checked them each time we got out of the car especially when traveling on corrugated road.
What a wonderfully comprehensive video . On topic of tyres , we do a walk around and check heat and state of tyres every time we stop , about every 2 hours on average , for whatever the reason . But well done admitting your mistakes and passing on your advice to others .
