Dandenongs

Well here we are safely tucked up in the DANDENONG Ranges near GEMBROOK.  Beautiful rolling country side covered in gum trees with farmland cut out here and there. 

Luckily we are well above flood level.  Poor Queenslanders.  Boy, are they copping it.  There is NOTHING else on the news over here.  Now VICTORIA is starting to cop it, but apart from some very heavy rain and minor surface flooding on the roads, we haven’t seen anything.  They are now saying Victoria may cop it in about 8 weeks time when the floodwaters from the DARLING RIVER headwaters, which start in behind BRISBANE, eventually make their way down the Darling River to where it meets the MURRAY RIVER at MILDURA.  Apparently the Murray is already full, and once the Darling Floods hit it there could be problems.  We had hoped to be in that area at about that time so we may have to change our plans.  Bloody useless Australian weather – always raining. !!!!  We are going to base ourselves here for a few days while we explore MELBOURNE and the DANDENONGS.   On Friday 14^th we drove into RINGWOOD on the outskirts of Melbourne.  It absolutely bucketed down all day.  We bought hopefully the last of the stuff we need for camping and returned to a very soggy campground. Saturday we went back to Melbourne again, this time by train.  First we drove the 24 km to BELGRAVE through the beautiful little villages of COCKATOO and EMERALD, where I think cousin Tricia lived about 30 years ago.  From Belgrave we took the metro into Central Melbourne, a trip of about 1 hour.  We were soon on the free Inner city tram to the Melbourne Aquarium where we spent a fascinating 3 hrs.  Then it was the return trip back to camp. 

 Today, Sunday, is a day off, and with a bit of spare time on our hands we have practised putting up the tarpaulin shade with one corner over the back half of the Pajero.  The tarp is 3.5m by 6m and this will give us good shade for the tent, as well as room to cook and eat and also access to the back of the Pajero where our gear and the Waeco fridge is kept.   We have also put up our new tent for the first time to make sure all is OK.  At present we are having lunch under our caravan awning out of the sun.  Our NZ flag is fluttering in the breeze, and this attracts many passersby who stop for a chat and ask about our travel plans.  Cameron is living in the pool, but occasionally stops by for food.  Life is great. With time on our hands we have also composed an email to Creative Caravans outlining our teething problems.  We have attached a copy for your interest.  We will be interested to see what their response is.  Watch this space.

Here endeth the lesson.

Here's Urban's letter to Creative Caravans:

Dear Sir/Madam.

Issue 136 of the Australian Caravan and Motorhome Magazine featured a review of Creative Caravans Grant Family Tourer.  The van had been supplied by Ian Grant Caravans of Traralgon.  The review gave a glowing report of the van, and as a result we decided this was the perfect van for our upcoming 12 month holiday around Australia.

We placed an order for our van in April 2010, to be ready for us to start our holiday early in January 2011.

In mid December 2010, Ian Grants Caravans advised us that our van had arrived at their yard, and was ready for us to pick up.

We arrived in Australia on the 2^nd January, and on Tuesday the 4^th January took possession of our brand new caravan.  As we were very much novices, we took the precaution of booking into the Traralgon Park Lane Caravan Park immediately adjacent to Ian Grants yard, just in case we had any teething problems with the van.  As it happened this was a wise precaution.

Our first problem occurred when my wife tried to turn on the electric element on the stove.  It wouldn’t heat up. While my wife was trying to sort this out, I decided to fill the two water tanks in order to check that both them, the water pump, and relevant pipe work were all in good working order.  I inserted the hose into the external filler opening and turned the tap on.

I suddenly got the feeling that all was not well.  Removing the hose and peering into the opening,  I realised I was getting a birds eye view of the floor under the bunk, and it all looked rather soggy.  I removed the cap on the second tank and noticed it had a completely different view. This one actually had plumbing attached to it.

I quickly removed the mattress and base boards from the bunk, to find the entire floor under the bunk awash, and the relevant plumbing lying in the water.  Frantic mopping with several towels has hopefully prevented too much damage, but only time will tell if this little incident has caused any lasting damage.

As you can well imagine, by now my wife and I were becoming a little concerned about the quality of workmanship in our nice new caravan.

A quick visit back to Ian Grants Caravan yard and their maintenance man, Ron, was soon on the job.  He glued the plumbing into place, and just as a precaution, I gently pulled on the plumbing attached to the second filler.  This too quickly came away in my hand.  More gluing by Ron.

You may want to have a quick word with your employee responsible for completing this part of the caravans construction. Chances are he has never heard of the term “Good Workmanship”, and also the person who checked and tested the plumbing.  Perhaps they don’t fully appreciate their duties and responsibilities.   From your copy of the records for our van, you will be quickly able to establish who these employees are. Our van has the number CC1285 stamped on the chassis.

Having solved the obvious plumbing problems, we then turned our attention to the electric element on the stove.  Everything appeared to be working except the element.  A check of the pre delivery check lists supplied with the van, showed the stove had been checked and tested.  We therefore assumed it had been working when it left your factory.  We were completely baffled, and Ron eventually returned to Ian Grants to seek help.  He ended up ringing Creative Caravans, and I understand ended up speaking to the owner, who was also unable to help.

From discussion among Ian Grants staff, it was suggested that maybe the stove wasn’t plugged in, but this was deemed extremely unlikely due to the pre delivery check and tests. However anything was worth a try, and after much searching the lead and plug for the stove were found lying on the floor in the cupboard under the stove.  The plug was threaded through the hole into the adjoining cupboard and plugged in to the hot point located there.  At last was had an element that worked.

Again you may want to have words with the employees concerned.  They are certainly not doing the job you are paying them to do.

Believing we now had all our problems sorted out, we bravely took our van on the road for the first time.  To our delight it towed like a dream and for the first time since taking possession of the van we began to relax and enjoy our lovely new home.  We enjoyed a few days around the lakes Entrance area, and then headed back west to the Dandenong Ranges to enjoy the spectacular scenery and attractions offered. 

Access to our camp ground was down a corrugated metal road which we very carefully and slowly negotiated, being astutely aware of our investment following behind us.

On arrival at our camp site we began to set up. My wife opened the van door and her loud exclamation of “Oh My God” quickly drew my attention.  On entering the van we found the stove lying face down on the floor under the table. Luckily the gas pipe was still attached, and appeared to be undamaged.  Not so the electric cables for the electronic gas ignition.  One corner of the table had struck the base of the upstand for the table, inflicting an unsightly gash.

On examination we could see the stove had never been fixed in place, but simply slid into the cabinetry and left.   There was no sign of any screws, glue, or anything else having been applied to hold it in place.

Being well aware that any repairs I attempted without due authority may well invalidate your warranty, something had to be to ensure our safety.  We obviously couldn’t use the stove as it was and couldn’t travel to get it repaired.  We were also out of communication range.

We stood the stove up and reconnected the electrical cables to the best of our ability.  We then lifted the stove up and slid it back into the recess in the cabinetry.  A cautious test showed it still worked.  Our problem now was we obviously couldn’t travel, knowing the stove could easily fall out again.

I decided the best way to solve the problem was to secure the stove into the cabinetry by fixing two small self tapping flathead screws into the front of the cabinetry immediately adjacent to the front edge of the stove.  Only trouble was this involved a 40 km round trip to the nearest hardware store to obtain the screws.

 I have now fixed the stove in this manner.  It’s not pretty but it’s doing the job.  Again the quality of workmanship from your factory leaves a lot to be desired.

While we are on the subject of quality of workmanship, you may like to know that while most extractor fans mounted above the stove are designed to remove cooking smells from the kitchen area, ours very effectively blows dust and cooking smells all round the inside  of the van.  I’ve got a hunch it may be either installed upside down, or somehow the electric supply to it has been reversed.  Either way it would be nice to have it extracting cooking smells to the outside as I’m sure the manufacturer intended it should.

To say we are a little disappointed with the quality of workmanship and level of quality control emanating from your factory, would be like saying “Noah made a little boat, threw a couple of sheep in it, and sailed around Melbourne Harbour for a couple of days.”

I eagerly await your suggestions on how you intend to help us satisfactorily resolve these matters.  Hopefully nothing further goes wrong in the interim.

Urban and Christel Broadmore.