In the beginning...

Getting started was simple enough, we had a rush of blood to the brain and bought a van...

Us and our 3yo Nova Caravan

... and then we bought a vehicle to tow the thing. 

2006 BMW X5 3.0 Diesel

We took a few small steps getting to grips with the concept of caravanning, then we took some bigger ones, up to six weeks at a time.

The van was found in Shepparton, where we had gone to look at a used Jayco, which was 'orrible. On our way out we stopped at the Tourist Info Centre and asked about caravan sales yards, of which there are two. We opted for the one north of town and found a big old shed with a few vans parked out the front. On closer inspection three of them were locked, one was a huge off road setup and then we came to this. Basically it was 'love' at first sight. It had nothing we thought we needed such as the full size stove, separate freezer or toilet and shower, but one look was enough to convince us that what this van had, was what we wanted. The sign said "... or offer". The little man ummed and arhed at my offer. He counter-offered. I told him to sharpen his pencil and pointed at the sign which clearly said "or offer". You'd think I was cutting his arm off - if they don't want to take less, then don't suggest that you can make an offer - it's that easy. We negotiated and the deal was struck. We only had one tiny problem, we didn't have a vehicle to tow the thing with, our trusty V8 Fairlane certainly wasn't going to be up to it. The van for those so inclined, is 17'6" (actually its 18'6" as we discovered later) and its Tare is 1660 kilograms. They agreed to park it out back and mind it for us for a few weeks.

We had been looking for a BMW X5 Diesel for a few months, and were on a promise from a member of the white-shoe brigade. In the interim, my brother kindly lent me his Land Rover Discovery II, 2.5 litre 5 cylinder, manual, diesel and off we went to bring it home. We are very thankful for the use of the vehicle, but it showed me one thing - we'd need something bigger than the Disco to tow it comfortably.

Eventually an X5 that suited my needs came up on one of the car sales web sites: a 2004 3litre diesel, auto. One owner, low miles. I flew from Canberra to Adelaide to check it out and again, a deal was struck. The attraction of the 2004 X5 was: its a 3 litre six diesel, it's a six speed auto, it was the first of the 'update' series, and being 5 years old, was a semi-sensible price. Also, it's a mid-range truck, not a baby toy nor a goliath. Rated to tow 2700kg and with 400 Nm of torque, it sounded perfect. Oh, and it's a BMW, which I happen to fancy as we've had a few over the years and they have all been solid, comfortable and reliable.

My first surprise was that i filled it up in Adelaide, all 90litres, and drove it right home to Canberra on the one tank. Having been used to the Fairlane needing refreshments every hour, i was suitably impressed.

Now we have covered 17,000 kilometres, up and down the east coast and Tasmania, in all kinds of weather, all kinds of terrain, and i'm still delighted with it. We get 9 l/100k around town without the van and 14.5 litres towing at all kinds of speed. The sheer pulling power has never ceased to amaze me. We're in Canberra, so the coast for us includes the notorious Clyde Mountain. No drama here, but had to dip into 2nd gear once coming up. The whole rig is so stable I ditched the Hayman Reese weight distribution hitch as too much trouble.

So there we are, all set to take on the big one.