January entries
A stunning proposal
Coming into our 30's, everyone around us was having babies. It was now or never to do the trip of a lifetime. Fly to Perth, hire an Apollo Camper and tour the Western Australian coast. We made it to Esperance for Christmas day on the beach. Then through Albany, Denmark, Cape Leeuwin, Yallingup & Margaret River to Busselton for New Years Eve. Next stop Sandy Cape (just north of Jurien Bay) & on to Ningaloo Reef, Exmouth. We were getting very used to being able to pull up where ever we wanted and having awesome views from our dinner table/bed/toilet!!
After spending 4 nights on the Exmouth Cape we started heading south again; here's the best bit, Coral Bay. At our caravan park we met a guy called Rick. Great guy who offered to take us fishing in his tinny. Awesome, caught 3......2 & half mackerel.
I was keen to see the turtles at sunset so without telling me, Rick and Nick (my partner), sussed out a spot on a cliff top to take a photo.....so I'm on the edge of a cliff, sunset to the left of me, thunderstorm to the right and Nick on one knee in front of me proposing!! It caught me completely by surprise and I of course said yes! How many people are able to catch a photo of this moment? .....Magic!
The rest of our trip was just as great. Stopping where ever we wanted in our Apollo bus...Monkey Mia, Kalbarri, Swan River. Beautiful. Throughout this trip we encountered Carnarvon floods (twice), Pemberton fire, Lake Clifton fire and the threat of Cyclone Vince but the flexibility of our Euro Tourer meant we weren't locked into accommodation. Thankyou to the outstanding team of Apollo people, especially Perth depot for making it all possible. What better way to start a new life together?!
Shelley Carman
Living the Dream
I had been to America previously but I wanted to see the "real" America, so my 50th birthday present to myself was this road trip. I covered 8,500miles and visited 22 states. I got to see Arizonas stunning open plains and mountains, follow the Bourbon Trail, see Civil War sites including the scene of the first naval battle in the Civil War, go to Abe Lincolns birthplace, visit historic St Augustine, get up close to aligators in the everglades, visit an Amish farm, see ghost towns, visit Boot Hill in Tombstone and the re-enactment of the gunfight at the OK corral, listen to the music in Bourbon St, watch eagles soaring over the Ozarks to list a very very few things. Cruising along Route 66 listening to classic rock music, waking up every day to different and amazing scenery, taking any side road I felt like with no time schedule to adhere to, is what I call living the dream.
The more I saw of this vast continent the more I realised how little of it I was seeing, 10 weeks sounds like a long time but it was nowhere near enough so I will just have to come back again - soon I hope - and with the service and support of the Apollo team, (which was evidenced when a semi slammed into the back of my RV), this would easliy be accomplished.
Kathy Young
New Zealand Experience
The only way to appreciate New Zealand is in a motorhome. The magnificent scenery, fantastic local produce available at roadside stalls & a plethera of exciting & fun activities. Not to mention an abundance of idealic locations to pull up & spend the night or enjoy a break. The convenience of having everything yuo need at hand makes for a hassle free holiday as long as you can stay awake to appreciate it (sometimes a bit too comfy). I'm already planning the next one :)
Kerri Bortolin
Our engaging experience!
We just came back from our trip to Down Under – 5 weeks of great experiences.
We started on the 18th of December 2010 in Frankfurt – Germany which was covered with 20cm of snow.
Our first stop was Hong Kong – what a cultural shock! All the scurrying und bustling little Chinese! There must be billions! Like a big ant colony.
We were glad when we flew to Cairns – Australia after two days. We started our 5 week holiday in Australia with a 3 day diving trip at the Great Barrier Reef. We did 11 dives including two night dives in pitch-black water. That was such an enormous experience, diving with sharks, morays, rays and all the colourful fish.
Back on solid ground we flew to the Ayers Rock to join a 3 day Outback safari. We saw a nice sunrise and sunset at Uluru, walked the “Walk of Winds” at the Olgas, hiked at the Kings Canyon and spent the nights in tents. Very impressive to see and hear all the strange animals – small or big. But some animal especially the small ones were very scary! For example, grasshoppers big like mice and praying mantis… This tour ended at Alice Springs, from were we flew to Sydney.
In Sydney we finally picked up our little comfortable home for the next 2 weeks – our Apollo Hitop Camper. We started with a short trip to the Blue Mountains, to be back in time for New Year’s Eve in Sydney. We were glad, that we didn’t have to look for a hotel, because we already had our bed for the night on board. We have never seen such a crowded New Year’s Eve ever! But the fireworks were worth it.
From Sydney we drove all the way down the coast to Adelaide. Overall about 4.500km with some loop ways. We had soooo much fun with our driveable home! It was so nice to be autonomous like that. With the little fridge, the water tank and the gas stove in the camper we felt pretty much like home! We spend the nights at the most beautiful places, near the beach, at cliffs, at lighthouses, just where we wanted to stop – great freedom!
For example we spent one night in Jindabyne on a parking lot directly next to a huge lake. After getting our beds ready for the night, we realised, that something was going on in the little park next to the lake. It turned out that we were in the middle of a fundraising for the local school. So we spent the evening watching E.T. in an open air movie theatre with all the kids of Jindabyne and their families.
Every afternoon we already looked forward to building our little bed later for the night. It was so canny and snugly and much more comfortable than we had expected! As we realised later after spending some nights in hotels at the end of the trip, we spent the most relaxing nights in our camper. Besides the quietness and the peacefulness you can only find in nature, which hotel offers you greatest views out of your bed?
But this part of our holiday came to an end too. So we returned the camper (with a little tear in the eye) in Adelaide and joined a two day experience on Kangaroo-Island.
After that we flew to Perth for our last part of our wonderful Australia-Trip. We had a little rental car and travelled from one National Park to the next and from one beautiful beach to another. The huge trees in the forests and dolphins near the beach were very impressing.
Well, now we are back from our great trip to that wonderful continent. We will never forget that journey and especially our little Apollo Hitop Camper. And also because we got engaged at the Uluru ;)
That’s it... Hope you had fun reading our little report.
Lena and Christian
Portsea and great ocean road
What fantastic views we had from our apollo euro 2 berth motorhome at christmas time. This definately beats climbing in and out of coach tours, packing up and checking in and out of motels and going at our own pace. We can't wait for the the next motorhome adventure to another part of australia. Mark and julie nielsen - townsville, nq.
Mark Nielsen
Cast away
Just nine days into our month long Geocaching tour of New Zealand's South Island I managed to fracture my ankle by tripping over a tree root whilst walking in a reserve near Invercargill. I spent the rest of the holiday with my leg in a cast and was not allowed to put any weight on it. Living in a campervan was the very best place to be, as everything was close to hand and I didn't need to use the crutches to move about as there were plenty of surfaces to lean on. I had a great view of the scenery from the high up position and on some days I never left the van at all. My husband looked after me very well and didn't complain once about taking on the shopping and cooking. Highlights of our trip included watching Yellow-Eyed Penguins come ashore for the evening at Curio Bay, a day trip on Doubtful Sound, the stunning turquoise waters of Lake Tekapo, a visit to Stewart Island, the Moeraki Boulders and Pancake Rocks. We were Geocaching as we toured the island and managed to reach most of the places we wanted to visit, but had planned to do a lot more walking. We will just have to return when we can and do it all again. We would definitely hire a campervan again as the country is so well set up for this type of holiday.
Rachel Hunt
Year of the Rabbit
15 Jan 2011 Year of the Rabbit- That's what we saw everywhere in Vegas and that's what we planned -pick up the Apollo motorhome and head off probably racing around like a jack rabbit from canyon to canyon, national park to national park but it was more like a turtle - slow and steady which was ok - from place to place at your own pace.
Day 1 - Vegas - Zion - Bryce
Desert landscape, open freeways and snow capped mountains all in one day. The most magnificent scenery photos can't do it justice - but still have tons to flick through!
Day 2 - Freeway Rest Stop
A day of driving ready to rest but not sure about these rest stops- well took the risk, had a great nights sleep, woke with like minded travellers resting, some in trucks, some in cars and some in motorhomes like ours - all safe.
Day 3 - Glen Canyon- Lake Powell
Onwards to discover some great construction at Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell where pictures of the sunset capture the changing colours of rocky outcrops over the lake - pink, purple, red and many more.
Day 4 - Monunment Valley
Arrived at sunset, great photos, by the time we reached the campground it was dark, we settled down for the night. Waking for sunrise we coiuldn't believe the spectacular view and were even more astounded to find we had the whole place to ourselves- well except for the wild mustangs! Gotta love travelling at this time of the year.
Day 5 and 6 - Cortez - Mesa Verde National Park - Aztec Ruins
The friendliest RV Park hosts - again not many around only a few locals so the place to ourselves. Discovering the history at Mesa Verde walking the path of the cliff dwellers and travelling further south to investigate the amazingly restored ruins at Aztec.
Day 7 Freeway Reststop
Easier each time!
Day 8 and 9 Grand Canyon
What can I say you've got to see it- The Watch Tower Lookout the best I've ever seen.
Day 10 Sedona and Freeway Rest stop
A few narrow roads and steep descents out of the hills on the way to Sedona out of the hills and into the main street beautifully blending with the red rock surrounds.
Day 11 and 12 -Barring
A sanctuary to rest and prepare for our departure from USA
Day 14 Bustling LA - Motorhome return
Two weeks discovering outback USA has given us a glimpse of a wonderful country - we'll be back! By the way we saw plenty of Jack Rabbits!!
Craig Sierp
The Wave
Hidden in the desolate area known as the Paria Canyon-Vermillion Cliffs Wilderness area we found one of the most spectacular rock formations in the entire southwest—"The Wave". A permit is required to hike to this natural wonder, and only a lucky few are privileged enough to possess one on any given day. Luckily, we were able to obtain an advance permit over the internet and we could hardly wait to start hiking.
We made our way to the Wire Pass Trailhead, under beautiful blue skies—the perfect conditions for photography and hiking. The hike from Wire Pass follows a wash for just a short while before veering right up an old rocky road. Despite the sandy trail, we found hiking to our destination pretty straight forward. The yellows, reds, and browns of the sandstone formations spiral up and down the entire length of the cones—making them look like giant swirled lollipops. All around you are these intense rock formations, most with these deep striations running horizontally across their surface. It had taken two hours to reach our goal—not nearly as long as one might expect—and we intended to spend several more hours exploring this wonder of the desert southwest. It is immediately evident how this area got its name, as the rock literally appears to be flowing like water—it was absolutely spectacular! We spent several hours exploring and taking photographs before we decided it was time to head back. A place of this beauty is hard to describe in words, but I hope my photos allow you to share in this unique formation. The hike back was relatively easy and we arrived back at our car at about 6:00pm—another amazing hike was behind us, but the image of its beauty will be in our memory forever.
Elmar Rummert
Walkabout in the States
Our Crew of 4, which consisted of me (Loz), Ash, Jake and Spud set off from the Apollo pick up site at Hawthorne Blvd for our 10 road trip of the States. With images of beautiful coastal views in our minds we head north towards San Francisco. With Spud at the Helm we hit the LA Free Ways with the GPS guiding our every move. It’s over whelming there is Traffic everywhere so different to our little home town of Broken Hill.
As the Traffic zips past us we navigate towards a little Winery near Malibu to gain supplies evening wind downs. Up a little winding side road that took us through some beautiful ranges we made it to our first stop.
With supplies on board we hit the road. It seemed like the amount of traffic had tripled since we were last on the main highway. Its frantic Spud is doing his best to stay composed, we find ourselves on an exit lane OOppps!!! We need to get back on the freeway. After repeats of the GSP stating "Turn Back" we finally find an entry lane back onto the freeway. This is where our lives flashed before our eyes.
Whilst Spud was attempting to enter the freeway he found that an approaching truck was traveling to fast for him to get back into the flow of traffic, the RV had been forced onto the should but there was still not enough room for us not to avoid making contact with a guild rail, stuff was flying around the inside of the vehicle we scared out of our wits. The truck just roared past and continued on. We were all ok but very shaken up, Spud was a wreck. The RV wasn’t to badly damaged and was able to be driven with no worries. We were so glad that we weren’t an Apollo Tragedy.
We pressed on with cool and calm Jake at the wheel, we stop a few hours down the road to rest up it had been a big day for everyone. We found a nice little RV park near the beach which fulfilled our expectations of wonderful coastal views so not all had been lost for the day.
An early start we're back on the road North to San Francisco, with Bon Jovi's greatest hits blasting we sign our way along the highway. (Spud By far is the worst signer around, but it doesn’t stop him from having ago).We Perch up a RV park near the 49ers Stadium and hit the sights of this beautiful City, Golden Gate bridge was a highlight with the us girls hitting shopping district like it was the first time we ever allowed spend money. We both score our "Vegas" dresses with the boys convinced they would win back our spending’s when we got to Vegas; we hit a pub for a few quiet ones.
Another morning of site seeing and we hit the road with our plan to stay a night in Bakersfield on our way to Vegas, they boys are hanging out to get there and make their winnings. Our sound track for the day was Cold Chisel a tribute to Steve Prestwich who had passed away.
We decided to see Hoover dam before settling down in Vegas. What a sight, The Dam is AMAZING!!!! We could of spent many more hours just staring at the wonderful constructing the Boys we're analysing the structure inch by inch. But Vegas was calling them, so into town we go.........Next Stop Sam's Town!!!!! Sam's Town is a cool little RV park next to his Casino a great spot to stay with your RV.
The bright lights of the Strip mesmerise you, the characters on the street entertain you, the noise from the tables and machines make you dream of winning big!!! Sadly the Boys didn’t win our dress money back nor did they win any money :( But the fact we all got the experience Vegas was priceless.
With our shirts still on our backs we head to the Grand Canyon, we had just witness one of man’s great engineering feat it was time to see one of Mother Natures. We had gone from wonderful warm weather to SNOW???!!! Oh well it had to be done. The Canyon is a Mind Blowing site, a scene that takes your breath away, we were used to seeing flat dry landscapes but what we were seeing in front of use was a series of valley's and cliff faces. Were we suddenly teleported to another planet??
Sadly it was time for us to trek back to LA. We spent our final days driving through wonderful areas see beautiful valley’s and mountains and cute little town filled with wonderful, friendly locals before hitting the final free way back into LA to return our RV.
We all said good bye to the RV which was our Home for the past 10 days and handed back the keys. We hope the repairs make the RV look good as new and that it gets treated with great care in the future.
We started out thinking we may of bit off more than we could chew but it turned out to be the trip of a life time. A Road trip that exceeded expectations and then some, we all can’t wait until we get the chance to do it again.
Thank You Apollo!!!
Tony Parrillo
Touring The Margaret River and south west Western Australia
My partner and I collected our motor home from the Perth depot on Tuesday 21st December 2010. It was very easy to locate (we used public transport) and when we arrived our "new home" was clean and ready for our arrival/departure. After completing all of the necessary documentation, with great trepidation, we headed out. Whenever you are driving a strange vehicle, in a strange area, you must allow a period of adjustment. Initially the size was quite daunting but the vehicle handled very well and within no time we had stocked up on food and necessities and were off into the great unknown! We got out of the city as soon as we could (not hard in Perth) and headed along the south coast via Fremantle to Mandurah, where we spent our first night sleeping in the van. The inclusion of maps helped greatly with navigating around an unknown state.
A major part of the fun was getting to know the vehicle and facilities, which we managed quite easily because there are ample instructions booklets and brochures included.
After the first day and night we were feeling far less worried and thus able to sit back and start to relax? Our holiday had begun........ YYYYYYYIIPPPPPPEEEEEE!
The next 2 weeks were spent touring around places that had previously just been names on a map and are now living entities in our memories and photos. Places with such alluring and mystical names as Rockingham, Fremantle, Nannup, Bunbury, Albany, Denmark, Yallingup and Margaret River (to name a few).
Our adventure included Christmas and New Years. What a great way to enjoy the festive season and to bid farewell to one year and welcome a brand new on. Roll on 2011!
We were lucky enough to escape the rain and floods of our home state of Queensland and bask in the sun, swim in the crystal clear waters, touring wineries, enjoy watching the sun set over the ocean, go caving, dining out, walking the streets of unknown (and sometimes previously unheard of) towns and suburbs.
Relaxation and sightseeing would have to be the 2 words that describe our adventure into southern Western Australia. The people we meet along the way were very friendly and accommodating (typical Aussies). We were even fortunate enough to meet and greet overseas tourists who were enjoying the magic of discovering a new country. That was a real eye opener for us because we could absorb some of their wonderment at seeing, through fresh eyes, this fantastic, different and fascinating part of the land down under.
The only sadness came when we had to return the mobile home and return to "the real world" of home and work.
To sum up, I would say that our holiday was a resounding success and something that we could recommend to everyone!
Thanks Apollo for providing the transport, home and opportunity to enjoy a "once in a lifetime journey of discovery". The final topping would be if we won the Apple ipad, so that our next Apollo holiday could be better recorded!
Rhonda Carter
First Time
First time I've ever rented an RV, and I must say it was a great experience. My two kids and wife loved it! It was like bringing the house with us while we toured around. They're easy to drive and loaded with everything you would need and plenty of storage. It made my 40th B-day a great memory I'll never forget!
Tony Parrillo
We’ve just returned from a 12 day trip on a RV/camper-van trip around the central coast and southern desert of California over the holiday period. In short, it’s one of the most amazing trips I’ve had to see wildlife. While we were there, we saw: orca/killer whales (swam under our boat!), California grey whales (in migration in numerous pods), condors, a fox, skunks (mating-yikes, very noisy), deer, ground squirrels, a bobcat, sea lions, elephant seals (with their new-born pups – very cute) and of course, tons of pelicans, herons, cranes and other birds.
We started off straight for the desert to check out Joshua Tree National Park. One of our first evenings camping involved an off-road stint in the Bureau of Land Management sites just outside the park – such an amazing start to our trip with starry skies and the quiet, dramatic expanse of the Mojave/Colorado deserts surrounding us.
What followed was a series of wonderfully varied camping experiences in California state parks: joining families with decorated camper-vans in Carpenteria over campfires for NYE celebrations, foggy wonderings in Morro Bay along the heron sanctuaries, cozying up near fellow couples in Pfeiffer Big Sur, witnessing daredevil surfers at Andrew Molera SP, warming adventuresome college girls at Willow Creek with our campfire and roasted sweet potatoes, avoiding the quintessential boys’ ‘brat back’ in Malibu Creek – all visits rich and varied from the previous but equal in charm and memorable experiences.
For a first time camping experience, this was an amazing one for me. What a great start to the New Year! I hope the start of yours is a great one too.
Josye & Dan |
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Posting from the morning after our first night in the camparvan.
- our camper is a custom toyota hiace, from 2007 - a really beautiful car.
- the dude at the rentals was a great salesman: he talked us into taking the full insurance, although we planned initially to take no insurance at all. His main argument: there is no compulsory insurance in NZ, about 30% of drivers are driving uninsured, if I get into an accident with them, I pay, even if it wasn't my fault.
- it seems that the majority of tourists take campers in Auckland and drive South to Christchurch - just as we did. We could have gotten a MUCH better deal if chose the same route in the opposite direction... Heaps of vans need to be taken back up North.
- the country is beautiful, and everything is super camper-friendly. Many campsites with top class facilities, great signposting, good rest areas with toilets and showers, local attractions inviting motorists in on the roadside everywhere.
NZ certainly lives up to its great reputation so far, and the campervan life is fantastic... Going to be a nice 4 weeks :)
Gyula Simonyi |
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From Brisbane, we drove this monster to Sydney. It can sleep six, and it was almost new. It had to be relocated, so we got a fairly good deal on it.
My favorite: navigating cities and parking.
Also: cool showers inside the camper (!) before sleeping.
Despite often careless Australian signposting, we delivered this rolling castle without a scratch, and 25 minutes before the agreed time (we had it for six days).
Gyula Simonyi |
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December entries
Wow
Our second day in the Apollo campervan. took us from Timaru to Lake Tekapo. I stopped the campervan dozens of times on the way to take photos of the beautiful scenery. We turned a corner, it was our first view of Lake Tekapo, and we both said WOW together. It was a calm clear day and the mountains were reflected in the lake, it was breathtaking.
Peter Dinning
On the last morning and exactly on time (8am) there was a taxi waiting to take us from the hotel to the airport. We arrived at the checkin a bit early, so we sat around a bit to wait, after all there was a long day ahead of us! 29 hours of travel with a stop in Singapore.
On our way back we flew along with the time (from east to west), so we got a very long day followed by a long night. For us it felt like midnight when we arrived at Singapore, but the sun was still shining brightly. We walked a bit around the terminal's Butterfly Garden, sat on a relaxing chair and napped a little. It was dark by the time we got on the next plane for the long night, where we fell asleep almost immediately.
It was an awesome journey, and we got everything as good as we might have hoped for. The weather was lovely, most days around 18-25 degree and loads of blue sky and sunshine. In addition, in this time of year everything is nice and green, except where there was still snow on the mountains, which we thought was one of the nicest things about New Zealand.
Ilonka Maathuis |
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November entries
Travel Guides are not Always Right
Twenty seven degrees Celsius for October is what the Travel Guide predicted. Who could have known that we would end up in a snow storm in November.... On the way to Zion National Park the sun disappeared and the snow came in. Visibility reduced to 10 meters, the road slippery as can be. Scared to drive in these conditions we stopped on the side of the road to let others pass. What a joke, they stopped behind us and waited until we started moving again! Deer jumped through the snow and over the fence, bighorn sheep crossed the road in front of the Apollo campervan and then a tunnel in sight. What a relief to come out of the tunnel and find the snow on the road is gone. All cars stopped to recover from the anxiety of the trip, but what a view; Zion is amazing. Shades of yellow, orange and green leaves, red and black rocks beautiful in contrast with the white of fresh snow. It has been worth it. Fantastic memories for ever.
Anneke van Laanen
We are a family of 2 adults and 3 children age 4, 7 and 10.
We have rented an Apollo campervan, and started our journey in this beautiful country in Auckland, from there we drove to the north, saw among other things Waitangi Treaty House. We have also seen the big Kauri trees.
From the north we drove to Coromandel, saw the cathedral Cove and hot water beach.
The whole time we take lot of pictures, so we can remember this journey when we return to the cold cold Denmark.
The Camper is the perfect base for a journey like ours.
See beautiful pictures from our trip here:
http://vorestur2010.blogspot.com
Randi Hoffmann |
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Jullie hadden nog wat foto's van ons tegoed van Sydney, dus hier zijn de beelden van de allerlaatste dagen. Op het moment van schrijven vliegen we via Turkije het Europese luchtruim weer binnen. Als dit online staat zijn we na bijna 24 lange uren vliegen en vermoedelijk een nacht slapen, weer terug in Amsterdam.
Sydney is, net als Melbourne, een gigantische stad met 4,5 miljoen inwoners. Dus, ook net als in Melbourne, hebben we maar wat plekken uitgekozen om een paar uur doorheen te slenteren. We sloten de reis nog af met een poging tot inbraak in onze kamer in het guesthouse waar we overnachtten in Sydney. Om half 4 werden we wakker van geluid en stak er al een arm half door het raam naar binnen. Halfslapend deden we het gordijn open en de dieven waren zo mogelijk nog verbaasder iemand te zien aan de andere kant van het raam dan dat wij dat waren. Een mooie laatste nacht om onze reis mee af te sluiten...
David Krijgsman |
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Brace Yourselves
As newlyweds touching down in Sydney for our honeymoon - we were both praying we'd enjoy some sunny spring weather and go home looking bronzed. So after we landed, and were greeted with bright blue skies - we were smiling from ear to ear.
Following a couple of glorious days in the city, we set off up the coast in our dazzling Apollo Camper - grinning like Cheshire Cats.
These grins however, quickly eroded as the torrential rain began to fall, and after a couple of hours of the window wipers racing, we stopped for the night in the quaint town of Karuah.
Awoken to the light patter of rain, and still suffering from jet-lag, we set off quickly to escape the weather.
Finally, on arriving in Byron - some of the clouds broke and the sun appeared. Great we thought, but once we'd decided to stay for lunch, the heavens opened again - and back on the road we went.
Little Italy was our next stop, a free camp site on the Pacific highway - but unfortunately it was without the balmy weather of the Mediterranean, just more rain.
The intense weather and driving calmed somewhat when we arrived at the relaxed holiday town of Noosa and we spent a few days enjoying the sun we had both prayed for on that plane.
Bliss, we thought.
But it was short lived...
Someone open the taps again, and down it came...
The heaviest rainfall for 30 years fell over Queensland on the next two days, and reports of 16 inches rang in our ears!
Eventually the Sunshine Coast lived up to it's name and the sun did return, more happily than ever.
Yanni
Terra Australis incognito
Oh what a trip I made. I'm "Apollo 13" original from Japan but now living in Down Under. Two loveley german guys picked me up in Brisbane and we started to discover first the sunshine coast up to Hervey Bay. There I had to be on my own for one day while the couple flew to Lady Elliot Island. I was to heavy.......
They had a fantastic time there and made me jealous. But then I showed them my spirit and I rocked them down along the Gold Coast, through the "Hinterland" to Sydney. After the beginning of our 2nd week I guided them with my strong steam up to the Blue Mountains and via McLachlan-Valley and Hume-Highway to Melbourne. What a beautiful coloured landscape. We three had a really good friendship and a lot of fun.
Along the Great Ocean road I showed them all the beauty of australia with the typical animals, flowers, Ocean and landscape. After we passed Victoria we entered South Australia with final destination Adelaide. We spend two days at the beach before we had to seperate us after 4 weeks travelling together.
Apollo made us very happy that they brought us together. We had a amazing and marvellous time in Terra Australis not any more incognito.......
Claudia and Achim Killmaier
Terra Australis incognito
Good luck is that we had a great trip with our Apollo Van, drove beautifully, comfortable and lots of fun with stops at great places and visited friends along the way. A great way to travel and arrived safely at our destination after 3,000 kms up the eastern coast of Australia.
The bad luck was that we thought the van was a bit noiser than usual and when we stopped to look we found that a stone from road works had broken a side window. When we arrived the apollo staff were great and really understanding that these things can happen.
Marlene Reiffel
A tea party with Apollo
In an Apollo van you can meet all kinds of intersting people on the way.
Imagine our surprise when we were having a cup of tea by in a roadside stop , when Alice's tea cup arrived on the back of a truck.
Naturally we could not resist the opportunity to have a cup of tea with the "Alices tea cups - much to the amusement of the truckies who were transporting the tea cup to a school fate.
Marlene Reiffel
Honeymoon in a Hitop-Campervan
Our Honeymoon-trip to Australia should be different from others - without five-star-hotel-hopping. Therefore we hired a Hitop-Camper, because what do young, newly-married people need more beside a small room, a double-bed and fresh air. By the way, we travelled with an motorhome for the first time. And it really became a home for us, because we had the chance to get everywhere we liked to on anyday that suited best. Although we had two weeks, discovering the East Coast of Australia from Brisbane to Cape Tribulation, we could have stayed two month there. Because there are so many things to see. To get this feeling of freedom has turned our honeymoon-trip into something special. We really enjoyed it and had some tears in our eyes when we had to return the campervan. Apart from the fact that there is mostly only one honeymoon in ones life, we decided to hire a campervan again to discover another country.
Thanks for 2 lovely weeks!
Tim and Elisabeth (from Germany)
October entries
I just want to get away." said Ron, and although our travelling plans were postponed and unfortunately also shortened, our holiday is finally at hand: 5 weeks in New Zealand!
On the tenth of October we'll fly from Schiphol, via Singapore to Auckland (on the Nothern Island), where we'll pick up a campervan after two days of citytripping. We're not expected in Christchurch (on the Southern Island) until November 8th. We do have a tentative route planned, but we didn't acctually book anything, so we're free to do whatever we want!
Ilonka Maathuis |
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Surf & Wine
The next day in Brisbane we handed back our van, swapping it for another relocation deal, this time a really plush, huge van, and a flat screen TV! We went straight to the very cool Byron Bay for 3 nights where we both had a surfing lesson which was loads of fun and watched the AFL Grand Final with a couple that had we met surfing. It was an exciting game which ended in a draw for only the 3rd time ever in AFL history. No one in the pub was sure what would happen next until some googling revealed that the teams would have to re-play the following week.
The next day we went to the beach and were confused to find that no one was swimming in the sea. We didn’t think too much of it and went and had some really tasty fish and chips, with Aussie chicken salt –yum. It later transpired that two sharks had been spotted in the bay and a helicopter was circling above, keeping an eye on them – I found this absolutely terrifying but Al went swimming there a couple of hours later.
A long 9 hour, 800km, drive down to the Hunter Valley wine region for some wine, cheese and olive tasting and buying followed! We hired bikes again and were congratulating ourselves on finding our own way around and not paying for one of the expensive driving tours when we turned a corner to a huge, long incline. We climbed it to be met by a steep downhill section, followed by another hill and so on and so on…..18km, an hour and a half in the beating sun, and a few getting off and pushing sections for me later we arrived at a lovely small winery and had the most amazing burgers. We visited cheese and olive factories and a few more wineries before heading back. I’m ashamed to say I gave up part way home and Al came back with the van to collect me! We enjoyed our purchases for dinner that evening and headed back to Sydney the next day for another stay with John & Jen, marking the half way point in our trip.
Over the next few days we had A LOT of really good food and climbed the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was an incredible experience. You climb right up on the top of the bridge along the arch which is quite scary as the floor is see-through in parts and you can see the cars whizzing underneath but the views are amazing; there was even a ravens’ nest in between the girders with ravens flying in and out past us. At the weekend, we had a night out in Sydney, went for Pub Cha Round 2, watched the AFL Grand Final Round 2, and had a delicious barbie using Jon & Jen’s new Weber. We headed up to the Blue Mountains with J&J for our last couple of days in Sydney and had a great time, despite the continuing bad weather. The mountains, rock formations and waterfalls were breathtaking in the mist which clouded over and cleared in a matter of seconds. We walked down 800 steps to the bottom of the steepest funicular railway in the world and rode it back up, the 52 degree angle eliciting a few shrieks of terror as we sat in a small metal cage with plastic over the top, looking out over a huge valley! It was a fantastic end to an unforgettable stay in Australia and we’re flying to New Zealand in a couple of hours looking forward to the next part of our travels.
Alexander Pay |
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We missed the quake but got the snow
We come from a land down under where it never snows. Driving in snow and putting on snow chains at Arthurs Pass was a wonderful experience. Driving through a winter wonderland near Queenstown with deer in the snow covered fields was a sight to behold. But the best of all, when the weather cleared, was seeing the sunset on a golden hued Aoraki/Mt Cook.
So many wonderful sights and photos. An amazingly comfortable campervan, with so little stress.
Can't wait to one day return.
Ian Collins
Apollo our ideal mate!
Adventure
Perfect equipment, easy to use
Organized business
Lots of miles without problems
Logic choice to explore Australia
Outback recommendable!
Olde Heuvel
tja, und heute ist dann ja ein besonderer Tag der besondere Tag wir beginnen ihn mit einem gemütlichen Frühstück (wie aber auch sonst jeden Morgen ;-) dann wird noch kurz Wasser abgelassen und neues aufgenommen die einheimische Vogelwelt auf dem Campingplatz verewigtKakadu in Goondiwindi Papageien in Goondiwindi und dann geht es weiter.
Auf dem Campingplatz hatten wir Wlan (der erste Platz mit kostenlosem!), dann haben wir abends mit den Kindern, was bei denen Mittags war, eine lustige und informative Chat-session gehabt. Morgens hatte ich dann die erste SMS von Sandra (Danke!) und um 8:05 (= 00:05 D-Zeit) hat Björn dann angerufen ;-) (Danke!).
Heute im Laufe das Tages haben wir dann die 6.000 KM-Marke geknackt! Wobei ich mich frage wo das herkommt ;-) in Goondiwindi stand dieser WegweiserWegweiser in Goondiwindi In Adelaide sind wir gestartet in Mt.Isa waren wir auch, macht zusammen 3.471 was haben wir den Rest gemacht? ;-)
Birgit + Juergen Philipp |
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Boom Boom House - Home away from home
We hired a Sunrise Escape, picked up at San Francisco Depot and returned to Los Angeles. It was the best decision ever for our family holiday for the five of us.
Surprisingly, we were given a free upgrade to a US Wanderer - full 6 feet (almost 2m) longer than Sunrise Escape. The size was a bit overwhelming but the wide and good road system in the US meant that we had little difficulty manouvering the vehicle around the cities and on highways.
The first thing my little 3 year old girl said when she stepped inside the campervan was "Boom Boom House". She is just starting to speak some words and she knew "Boom Boom" was a car (or any motor vehicle) and "House" was a house. Hence she named the campervan a vehicle house - "Boom Boom House". Our campervan soon got this nick name for the whole trip.
She still asks me, 1 week after our holiday, "Daddy, where is our 'Boom Boom House'? I want to go to my "Boom Boom House"." It just makes all of us explode with laughter! We all say to her, "Yes we will go, soon, again." We will certainly do that as soon as we can, on our next trip. Well, this was our second time hiring a campervan from Apollo Campers.
The size of our "Boom Boom House" was a bonus for our 5 member family. Extra room just made things so much easier. It was our Home away from Home. It's funny, although we are home now, we miss our the other home - Boom Boom House.
Thanks Apollo, well done!
Dennis, Carin, Robin, Leah and Jade - missing our Boom Boom House.
Dennis Park |
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Wonderful Vehicles
This was the first time using Apollo Campers, and what a surprise it was for the wife and I. We ususally rent RV's from either private parties or the local RV rental companies. We have been renters for over 10 years needing a motorhome 2 or 3 times a year so we felt owning one would be no advantageous to us. Apollo certainly surpasses any company or owner with the vehicles they supply. All newer models with all the bells and whistles including tv's which are not a standard feature on their competitors fleets. All in all it just is so nice to utilize a vehicle/motorhome and that everything works when you want to use it! The unit we rented this time was the Sunrise Escape model which had enormous space to move around in. We will be Early Bird renters on our next vacation for sure.
D. Lew
TASMANIA CAMPERVAN HOLIDAY IS THE BEST
My partner Geoff and I recently returned from a wonderful holdiay in Tasmania.
We hired an Apollo camper van which was our home for three weeks. We saw everything we had hoped for and more. Snow and wombats in the wild at Cradle Mountain, Markets and Stores in Hobart, convicts and ghosts at Port Arthur, antiques at Richmond, waterfalls and wilderness in the National Parks and the greatest food everywhere we went. We even bought some of the local flathead and cooked it in the campervan. It was definitely one of the best holdiay experiences ever.
Robyn Locke
Driving on the "wrong side"
I'm over 60, but still like a challenge, even driving on the "wrong side" of the vehicle and road, as compared to Australia, that is.
We collected the Apollo motor home from Las Vegas depot, only a short bus ride from "The Strip".
After watching an Apollo video presentation followed by a thorough familiarisation of the vehicle, we headed off for five days to San Francisco.
First to Bakersfield then over the rolling hills to the west coast and Highway 1.
We stopped at a great RV park at Cayucos, with a spectacular vista down to the town, sea and beyond.
San Simeon and the Hearst Castle tour was a hit. Fantastic story, tour and iMax presentation. William Randolph Hearst was quite a builder, 44 years were spent building the Castle, guest houses, pools and surrounds. Amazing.
Onward up the coast to Camel by the sea, home to Doris Day and Clint Eastward.
"Make my day" was one of Clint's famous movie lines.
Well, the drive from Las Vegas to San Francisco "made our US trip"; even if it was on the wrong side of the road.
SPECTACULAR!
Paul Spottiswood
The trip has wetted our appetite for more motorhoming in the future. It is such a relaxing way to travel, like a snail, slowly and with your home on your back!
Everything about the van was perfect. It fulfilled all our expectations and was comfortable and roomy. We discovered having power is the answer. If you have adequate power you can literally go anywhere and stay as long as you like. Water, which we thought would be a huge problem is everywhere and readily accessible. However, inadequate power makes staying in caravan parks a necessity which limits your freedom. A generator and solar panels will be high on our requirements list.
Laurel & Dale Cole |
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September entries
To me there is nothing like hitting the open road and driving off into the sunset. I’ve done it on a number of occasions in Africa but so far not in Australia and I could not wait! Add to that the arrival of a long-lost friend from Europe as my perfect passenger and the recipe was just about right for an adventure of note.
Oh wait hang on there’s one more very important thing you need to make it happen – a palace on wheels…in other words an Apollo Campervan!
Ben Southall |
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I'm not sure if I'll ever go on a motorhome trip with twin babies again but we did have some of the best times and YES I laughed so hard I nearly peed myself more then once. When you only have 1 week and you have to drive 14 hours in a day to be somewhere, having twins on board makes it difficult. After day 3 we stopped using bibs, even though I bought 42 disposable ones. It just wasn't worth using them when more food went on their clothes, the bed, my clothes when your driving 110 kms! Here's a run down of our week...
Natasha Ceccato |
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So now that we are home and settled into normal life, I'm itching to get back onto the road for another road trip :) Yes there were times when I thought geez my babies are driving me insane BUT hindsight has now shown me that we did it too ourselves. One thing I would do differently is travel less hours in a day. Trying to drive 14 hours in a day with 10month old twins on board can become a bit chaotic. On our way home we did stop more often to stretch our legs and let the girls crawl around so the drive home was MUCH MUCH MUCH better then the drive there.
Natasha Ceccato |
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Pass me our passports...
Let's set the scene; Batchelor, Northern Territory. We are sitting outside our campervan, 30 degrees, having enjoyed a delicious meal and an acceptable Riesling when my beloved casually asks,
"When do we have to return the van?"
"Dunno, think it's next Sunday."
"Where's the agreement?"
"In the folder in the backback with the passports."
"The folder isn't here."
Women! If you want something done do it yourself.
"It's in here...oh shit! No passports, no agreement and no airline tickets."
Holiday on hold. Off to Darwin. Aussie Immigration doesn't want to know.
Ring our Embassy in Canberra.
"Ring Sydney. We don't issue passports."
Sydney: "Apply for new passports. Print an application form off the net."
"This is Wednesday. We need them by Saturday as we fly out of Darwin 1.30am Monday. How much will that cost?"
Holiday costs suddenly double.
Forms filled out, quadruple checked, been burnt by that lot before. Posted before the mail closed. Phew! What a day.
Saturday comes......no passports. Ring airline.
"Can't go Tuesday, Wednesday is full but for an extra $1150 we can get you home Thursday."
"$1150!"
"That's right. We won't charge you the extra $50 per sector per person, $200 in total for swapping your tickets as we feel sorry for you".
I feel sorry for me.
"The passports won't come Monday. Darwin Cup. Public holiday" smiles the hotel manager envisaging another $600 to what we already owe her. She was right.
They came Tuesday.
Never mind, we love the Northern Territory!
John Sharpe
Ren Centre
We picked Apollo the best campervan that perfectly fitted our very enjoyable holiday to the RED Centre. Thankyou Apollo.
John Lee
Gibb River Road Trip – Broome to Darwin
You can see it all on Google Earth, read about it in travel brochures however nothing compares to doing it.
We had talked about doing this trip for a number of years and the opportunity presented itself in late July and August.
The relaxed tropical holiday town of Broome was the beginning of 10 wonderful days of open landscape, red corrugated roads, wildflowers, boab trees, hot springs, crocodiles, billabongs, wild animals and reptiles, black night skies with millions of stars, impending thunderstorms, fast flowing tides, breathtaking landscapes, gorges, waterfalls, campfires and migrating birds until we reached our destination of Darwin.
The Apollo 4WD camper was our home for this trip and the staff in the booking centre in Brisbane, the Broome and Darwin depots were so helpful and friendly.
We have not taken it off our bucket-list, as this was only a "Sampler trip".
Lu Carlone & Elaine Carlone
Kiwi Camper
It was mentioned before we left Australia why as Kiwis we would be want to holiday back in New Zealand and especially in the winter period. Well in fact it was the best holiday we could have possibly asked for. I still remember the day picking the campervan up from Apollo – I was like a kid in a candy store that needed a sugar rush and everything was free – opening the drawers, pulling the curtains while screaming in delight to my husband. We had a 6 berther for the next 2 weeks while we travelled around the South Island with our two daughters and my in-laws. We worked our way from Christchurch down the West Coast. Every day was amazing – although we had seen most of it before I was quite often taken back by the stunning views that my native country gave me – I was back in paradise as the weather did its thing and the sun followed us virtually every day. The days that it did rain we had a rainbow that also followed us. On returning from out venture we decided to take my nieces into a local caravan park in Christchurch for out last night in the campervan. It was the following morning that we woke to an earthquake that rocked the city. We presumed that the suspension had intensified the movement of the shake. How wrong were we as we drove back to our place in Rapaki. It was devastating seeing the damage that had been done. Although we had celebrated the best trip in our lives to date, we were overwhelmed with what had happened to our City. We left New Zealand 2 weeks later, leaving with the intention to move back and proud to be the Cantabrian’s that we are – fallen but not beaten.
Danielle Webley
New Zealand Travels
Well NZ has all to offer earthquake and all, had a ball, first time we have enjoyed Christchurch, we always fly in and drive, our first day we drove off to Hammer Springs spent 2 days , we take a different route each year down to Queenstown, most of are stays are in motor parks our motorhome is great we go once a year, one day we hope to buy a home, we are happy to find the real Christchurch.
Anthony Griffiths
Love at First Sight
How should I begin to tell our journey?I had my eyes on you the minute I knew I had to make this epic trip. 7 days and night I would be spending with you, you were my obvious choice. While you were sitting comfortably in SF waiting for a story to unfold, my heart was pounding hard, hopping on the plane from Hong Kong, eager to meet you. What was waiting for me was beyond my imagination. Or anybody else's for that matter.
Eyes locked. Fists clenched. Hearts skipped and we fell in love. My heart perspired when I looked into your core. My knees limped when I caressed you with my palm. I studied you from the inside to out. You glimmered and sparkled before me and I willingly surrendered to your charm. It was the first time we went places together, the first time we curled into each other's arms. And it felt like we belonged.
Every night together we looked up to the starry sky, the boundless horizon when the sun slowly rise. I sat on your lap, and we cuddled and rest, and whispered sweet nothing till the sun came up blazing us with its big wide smile. The dust was just, the drought was trivial. The week we had we lived like there was no tomorrow. For better and for worse, I adore every second with you. You showed me love, comfort, you were the shelter to my typhoon.
I love you so. I cannot fathom the thought of doing this again without you by my side. 333 days till we meet again.
Maria Wong
Shakey Start...
We arrived at Christchurch at 1am on Saturday morning the 4th September. After arriving at our motel for the night, at approximately 2am, we were awoken by the shaking of the bed, walls and building at 4.35am. Coming from Port Macquarie, NSW in Australia, we have never experienced the shaking of an earthquake of any size, let alone one with a magnitude of 7.1. After a long night awake in the motel waiting for the next aftershock, we attended the Apollo office to collect our 6 berth motorhome. We were extremely glad to see they were open even after such a bad night for all New Zealand residents and business owners.
We were given our 6 berth motorhome and quickly started our holiday around the south island. Despite our very rocky start, we had a wonderful time travelling in our Apollo motorhome. We did not let the earthquake affect our holiday and we cant wait to go back and do it again.
Alison McKinnon
Travel with the Kids
Spacious, easy to manover, power to pass the caravans, easy pack up and move on. We have travelled this country extensively with the kids. We have done the swags under the stars, the campervan. We will do the appollo motor home from now on, easy easy the vehicle drives well. Went everywhere we wanted to. No packing up.
Kathy Tucker & Stewart Gunn
Today our real adventure through Australia will start. After our last breakfast in the hotel, we checked out and went on our way to pick up our Camper at Apollo.
We arrived around 9h and after some formalities, we received the keys of our car. The camper was almost brand new (only 4475 km were driven with this camper) and just the right size for us two. Every luxury item which we could wish for was present in the camper, like a micro wave, a safe, tv and even a dvd-player.
We started driving to Daintree. At first a little strange, because we are not used to driving on the left side of the road, but we could used to it pretty quick.
After a 3-hour drive we arrived at the Daintree Experience Center. This is a route which they built through the rainforest. We also received a lot of information and together with the signs they put up, we were able to get a lot of information of the trees and animals living in the rainforest.
After this visit we drove back in the way of Cairns to find a camping to spent the night. Our first stop was at Port Douglas, this seemed to be a very nice place, but unfortunately the camping site we found didn’t have a spot available anymore.
So we checked the Tourist Park camping guide which came along with the camper. This guide turned out the be very useful for the rest of our trip. This guide lead us to ‘Lake Placid Tourist Park’ near Cairns. We parked our camper there and were able to test it out for the first time. As we expected, everything worked fine and we cooked some macaroni.
Cindy Derksen |
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ILE CONTINENT, IMMENSE !.... 14 fois la France ! l'Australie nous fascine et rêvons depuis longtemps d'y faire un grand saut...... de kangourou bien sûr ! 3 grands sauts, d'ailleurs, pour visiter ce continent.
Nous avons choisi le camping-car pour nous déplacer, le meilleur compromis pour circuler en toute liberté.
PREMIER SAUT EN 2003 (du 16 Septembre au 12 Novembre) : L' Est australien.
Nous arrivons à Darwin et récupérons notre "compagnon de route" pour 22 jours de traversée du bush en passant par Kakadu, Katherine, Tenant Creek, Alice Springs, Ayers rocks, Kings canyon, Adelaide.
A Adelaide, nous retrouvons nos amis australiens, Paul et Helen pour quelques jours et visitons Kangaroo Island.
Par la magnifique "Great Océan Road", nous rejoignons Melbourne où nous séjournons une semaine chez Julie et Terry.
Blog by Otis Cotter - aged 4...
We drove to Hervey Bay from Agnes Water and got straight on a big boat to see the whales. The whales were counting by flapping their tails. They were bigger that our campervan when I saw them underwater. It was "boat-excellent", except when I got a little sea sick.
We drove to Crescent Head, NSW today and went straight to the lookout - it was really high up. I could see a golf course, beach, river and caravan park right on the beach. We went on a long walk and I saw a pelican on its nest and another one sitting on a lightpole. We collected shells on the beach and I went swimming ' nudie rudie' and dived under the waves. Daddy was sad because there was no surf, maybe tomorrow daddy...
Anthony Cotter
