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On Tour – Cairns to Townsville

On Wednesday 25th September we awoke in Cairns Holiday Park ready to set off on the first day of the tour down to Canberra. The morning was fresh and the caravan park was drenched with dew, the sky was an exquisite shade of blue. The perfect morning to begin the epic journey along the East Coast of Australia with such passionate van/travel enthusiasts and like-minded folk. The drive to the next destination although only a short journey was filled rich with beautiful scenery, scorched red fields, abandoned houses, the roads lined with banana trees and sugar cane.

 

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The first stop was Kurrimine Beach, a quiet and unspoilt tropical destination with the Great Barrier Reef curving it’s bay. Kurrimine is the epitome of an old North Queensland town with friendly spirit and warm hospitality. The Caravan Park was right on the beach filled with characters eager to hear the stories about the convoy. Some of the local stories were fascinating too, with the office of one caravan park made from an old school bus damaged in Cyclone Yasi. The evening was spent  in a charming old Hotel eating fresh seafood, discussing caravans and travel. The weather in the morning was perfect, with some of the other campers taking the opportunity to shimmy up palm trees and collect coconuts. Everyone has different ways spending their leisure time, but away from the hustle and bustle of cities with the warm tropical breeze and waves gently lapping the shore, it’s easy to see why caravan and camp culture is so prominent in the Australian lifestyle.

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The next day was the drive through to Townsville. Many stops were made on the way: the usually rainy Tully, the short beachside stretch that is Cardwell and Ingham with it’s legendary deli. In each town the convoy stopped and people of all different backgrounds flocked to admire the beauty of the vintage caravans and cars, always commenting on how meticulous the renovations are. The convoy made it to Townsville last night and is spending tonight in Ayr.

– Update by Jess Hay and Aaron Ashley (photographers local to Townsville)

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Grevillea Park, Canberra

Project update
Late next year the Museum of the Long Weekend will be set up on the banks of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra to open our beautiful vintage caravans and share some amazing and simple stories with the world. Caravans will group together in convoys setting out from Perth, Cairns and Tassie up to six weeks in advance stopping at every regional town we can find to share and collect stories, and meet the wonderful people who built and keep this great country running.

We have already had some great support from the Vintage Caravan Magazine, Museums and Galleries NSW, Arts Tasmania and the Centenary of Canberra helping us through the labrynth of government departments for site approval. We are now more confident in saying that we will be using Grevillea Park in Canberra for the event. It is a beautiful spot, right on the water, with good car access and lots of trees. Perfect!

Grevillea Park, Canberra

Grevillea Park, Canberra

The proposed route information is now on our website so that Vintage Vanners from all over Australia will be able to let us know where they want to join in with the convoys and whether they are willing to turn their van into a mobile museum for the trip and be one of our “core group”. You can’t book into a “site” as such, we will be “designing” the space depending on the number of vans we have interest from.

Grevillea Park 2

Grevillea Park 2

We are also interested in hearing how your family, and your parents and grandparents spent their holidays. Email us at info@longweekend.bighart.org and tell us a bit about you, them and something about the holidays you heard about or shared in. Make sure to include your contact details and what area of Australia you are in and we will be in touch.

So jump on the website and let us know how you would like to be involved. Looks like a great road trip is coming together!

Museum of the Long Weekend team

Promotional Video here…

Here’s a short promotional video we put together after our visit to The Nationals at Cowra in April 2012.

Project LAUNCHED!!!!

What a great place to launch this project. The Vintage Caravan Nationals held at Cowra earlier in May saw Scott Rankin and Lex Marinos introduce the project to the 140 Vintage Caravans and their owners.
So tell us what you think of the project and what you are looking forward to. We are up and running now and can’t wait to see it all come together.
If you missed out on your tea towel then send us a message and we’ll get you one somehow.
See you on the road somewhere.
Long Weekend

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