Hey all, firstly, thank you all for the kind words and advise, most of the advise you offered I indeed took and completed..
We are home now, having arrived about 2pm this arvo, unloaded the van and car, and have most gear sorted and put away, were off to have it rego tomoz first thing.
A quick summary of the trip as such...
Trip down over 2 days was great, home to Albury, and then into Frankston, took the whole family, as I/we like to take the kids on every adventure, be it a quick overnighter, or interstate trip like this, given my kids are young, 4, and 8, we were a bit apprehensive regarding the handover, but the kids were great.
The handover was booked for Thurs 9am, so we arrived about 15 mins early, were greeted by the team and got stuck in, given this is my first van I was pretty methodical with what was being shown and how it all worked, prob to the dislike of the staff, TBH, the staff were great, and the handover went very well, this is were ill plug Page Bros at Seaford, they were awesome, and couldn't do enough for me....a couple of minor hickups, No1 is prob my fault, in that No2 wire on my 7 pin wasn't active so the ESC wouldn't work...easy fix....No2 extra power point on kitchen not in the right spot...dealer sorting that out , and hope to have it sorted over the next few days....No3, the TV, it was mounted as part of the deal, but is mounted very low on the wall on the left of the door as you walk in, so it feels as though your looking down at the TV when watching it...I have a plan to fix, just need to confirm whats behind that wall prior to moving etc....
Ok, once we got out the gate, we headed off down the coast to Rosebud Foreshore on the Peninsula for a few days, our first set up went well, but the night got a little ugly with thunder, lighting and some rain....Awoke to a pretty ordinary day, so our plans changed, and we decided to start our trip home..
Given we had to sort a few things with the van, and get some bits and pieces for the trip home we didn't get away until about 1030 that morn....getting around the city to head north was ok, but took a little time, but once north of the city on the Hume Fwy we got rolling nicely, made it as far as Wadonga, were we found CP for the night, had a feed and a few beers and enjoyed the evening....it was about now my wife was jumping for joy on just how easy set up/pack up is...were really enjoying the ease it provides all round..
Rito....first downer....bloody fuel economy, now my tug is a Patrol, it super modded, and is bloody heavy in its own right, I also new it was thirsty, but I got a jolt of reality on our first fuel up towing the panda....21.9 L/100...NOOOOO.....I will say my fuel results got better on the trip home, with an avg of 19.4 L/100....which made me feel a little better...now before anyone starts about the Nissan thing, don't bother, ive owned them all, they all have there good and bad points, and were all loyal to the tug we drive...mine is what it is....on the tracks nothing comes close, which is what we bought it for, my wifes car is due to be turned over shortly so we might have to look at something more suited to towing, with fuel and power in mind...who knows...!!!
The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful TBH, we caught up with my eldest son and his GF, out for dinner to the local RSL, back to the van that night before our last leg home this morn......im really liking the way the van tows, also the ease of setting up/packing up, and I guess the comforts that a van brings...my kids absolutely love it, so im thinking we will enjoy plenty of great family trips and holidays over the next few years....
All in all it was great 5 days, pretty full on, be enjoyable all the same, Vic as a great place, and we already have plans to do a trip down the south coast of NSW and into Vic, and back north to home, a bit of a loop were thinking.
Now, its time to get the mods started on the van, I already have a few ideas so over the next few weeks ill get stuck into them, I don't have to much spare time given the time of the year, and also were using the bloody thing a fair bit over the next 6 weeks..
That's about it.
Again, thanks for the advise etc, and a big thankyou to
@AzHaych who was a very big part of getting this off the ground..
PS, if I knew how to put a pic up, I would...ill work on it, and try and get a couple up....
Cheers again...
Rooster...
handover is Thurs morn, and then the return trip home over a few days...to say were excited is an understatement, 6 months in the making/building has been a fair stretch to wait..
