We recently interviewed our new Great Aussie Ambassadors, Jesse and Lil from 76Tourin after they picked up their new Xplora Caravan from our Coolaroo factory. We are so excited to introduce you to these guys! Hear what they have to say.
Tell us a little about yourself?
“We are a young couple who love adventure. We love camping and the outdoors and try to get away as much as possible, we try and follow the sun. I’m (Jesse) a plumber by trade, but 12 months ago I did the switch to mining to do something different and gain some more experience. I love my car, I own a 2012 76’ series Landcruiser V8.”
“Lil is an Electrician, who loves fitness and the gym. We both love the beach, being from the east coast of NSW, we love visiting new beaches and finding new camping spots. One of our favorite beaches is at Hawksnest, which is about an hour away from home. It’s one of the nicer beaches on the east coast.”
“We’ve been together for 8 years, we are high school sweethearts – funny story of how we got together. It all started with a ball to Lils head and an ‘I’m sorry’ message later that night, and well the rest is history.”
“We were in the market to buy a house last year, but instead wanted to travel Australia, so we opted for a caravan instead. We may as well travel while we are young – our families are super excited for our upcoming travels, and we couldn’t be more excited ourselves”.
Have you had any previous experience with caravans or RVS?
“No, we usually use roof top tents and swags, but our families, especially our grandparents have had experience with caravans. I remember our family camping holidays with my grandparents and they owned an older van with wooden features and the classic old stripy awnings. We are completely new to Caravans, but we couldn’t be any more excited on the upgrade.”
What made you decide to buy a Great Aussie Caravan? What stood out to you?
“We had been looking at other caravan brands in our local area. We wanted to be able to walk into a caravan and have everything already set up and ready to go. We attended the Newcastle show earlier in the year and looked at a heap of vans, and thought we were satisfied with our decision, until we saw the Great Aussie stand, and thought your vans looked absolutely beautiful, and the price point was on par to other vans we were looking at.”
“We loved the connection we instantly got with Great Aussie, and how roomy the vans were, it just felt like home compared to other vans we had seen. As soon as we took a van tour, we were sold on a Great Aussie Caravan! We instantly contacted Great Aussie on Instagram and immediately got in contact with the team. Next thing you know, we were on the phone with John (General Manager) for about an hour talking about van options and just getting to know each other.”
“The following week we dropped into RV Central in Morisset to confirm that a Great Aussie van was what we wanted. We took another van tour and it felt so nice, roomy and spacious inside, it looked and felt quality, the finer details of the van were amazing, and there was so much storage! We were tossing up van sizes, between the ‘Striker’ and the ‘Xplora’. For us, the ‘Striker’ was too small for what we wanted internally, but we fell in love with the 17’6 ‘Xplora’. The North- South bed and internal room of the 17’6 was perfect for us. We did consider the ‘Tonka’ as we are wanting to do a lot of off-roading, but it was just too heavy for us to tow.”
What type of trip or adventure do you have planned with your caravan?
“We are planning on starting the Big Lap in May. We are slowly going to head up North and do Cape York, pulling up whenever we find a good beach spot along the coast. We are going to be quite flexible on our journey but aim to spend 3-4 nights at each place along the way. We may stop at Port Macquarie and do some exploring around there, but we are hoping to do the Great Barrier Reef in May for Lils Birthday.”
“Once we’ve done Cape York, we are planning on heading West and venturing up to Darwin to explore Litchfield National Park, Katherine, and Kakadu National Park. We love nature and the outdoors, so I’m sure we will spend a lot of time up there. We also want to be there for Territory Day in July to set off some Fireworks.”
“After Darwin we want to experience the Gibb River Road for around 3 weeks, then we will spend a couple of months exploring WA. There is so much to do in WA we are not too sure where to start! We will head to Broome and meet up with some friends in Exmouth while we are there. Then we will be onto SA and possibly do the Flinders Ranges before heading up the Centre to Alice Springs and Uluru. This is all just a baseline itinerary as we want to be flexible on our travels, and not have too much planned. We are excited to get recommendations from locals and other travelers we meet along the way on places to see and things to do.”
Are there any specific features or amenities in the caravan that you’re particularly excited about?
“We love the full-size bed, and the fact we won’t get wet from condensation like a rooftop tent or swag. We love the shower and ensuite, and the single bench lounge in tan. We love the cooking amenities in the kitchen, the fridge size and the 12V washing machine will be so handy while we are on the road. We love everything about this van, and it’s so roomy and has lots of space and storage. We don’t feel cramped like we did in other vans. We can’t wait to use the internal and external speakers! No more U-boom.”
Do you have any concerns or questions about operating or maintaining the caravan?
“Not really, we are just super excited to get out and start using it. We can’t wait to live in it every day and use all the features. We think we will be okay; it will become second nature to use once we get used to it and learn how to use everything. We’re getting a run through of the vans features on handover, so we can ask specific questions about the things we’re unsure of like the battery system and solar power maintenance.”
What towing vehicle do you have?
“2012 Landcruiser 76’ Series V8. We recently put some new works on our vehicle ready for our new caravan. We got new injectors, new suspension and shocks valves, and weighted springs to manage the ball weight of the van. We think our vehicle is now ready to tow our new Xplora.”
Finally, do you have any feedback or suggestions for us based on your experience with Great Aussie so far?
“You’ve been great so far, we’ve been really impressed. So many emails and phone conversations with the team, keeping us in the loop of our van production. Lots of phone calls with John, which kept our confidence in Great Aussie. We were so ecstatic when we got the call that our van was ready to be picked up and was ready on time. We are heading straight out in the van to test it before we start our Big Lap. We can’t wait to share our caravan Journey with you guys.”
To follow Jesse and Lil’s journey, make sure you check out their Instagram Page, TikTok and YouTube channel at @76tourin.