Where & when will we have our next rally?

precisely.

I'll stick with the Butt as I don't have the monkeys............ I would like to put forward a place in NSW. Wee Jasper. Approx 4 hrs South west of Sydney. Turn off the Hume Hwy at Yass then travel approx 54km (last part dirt) to Wee Jasper. Only has a general store but it does have a number of very large areas for camping, alongside the Goodradigbe River. Lots of possums, dogs are allowed, rough camping with open fires, however no power. Last time I was there they had installed a shower block though. Jan

Jan,
Forget it, that place already failed the 'butt' and
'monkey' test. Remember, we bananabenders need 20C. to get out of
bed!
David

All, I will throw in the Warrumbungle Mountains as a possible venue for you to discuss - plenty of room, great scenery, though the walks can be a bit strenuous. In close proximity to Dubbo and the Western Plains Zoo for those that want a digression to/from the rally. Not too far for the Queenslanders to travel (and even less for us NSW people!). Cold nights, but warm/hot days. No power (don't need it), but good water on tap. Phil

Phil, I thought that when I was at the Warrumbungle National Park, a couple of years ago they had signs saying NO Caravans going up the hill to get into the Camping area. We didn't have a van at the time so it didn't apply to us. I agree it is a very scenic area with plenty of good walks to keep the heart healthy. Where ever the future rallies are, seeing as one of the main features of Bushtracker Caravans is there ability to travel to remote places without the need for caravan park facilities, then we should get the most out of our vans. Brian

Brian, Caravans are ok. See http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/parks.nsf/WebMgmt/HTMLPages+Homepage for full details of the park

Western Plains Zoo brings back some memories. Cindy and I did some prac work there around '86. The most memorable were ..... Cindy bitten on the arm by a male Cheetah. Not much damage just some blood. Scared both of us ..... I ran ..she stayed !!!! I was dropped to the ground by a male ostrich on heat. He musta found me attractive. I was spat on and chased by a rabid camel eventually finding hard red clay over a fence. While I was attending a female elephant it sprayed me with so much water from its belly tank my gum boots were full to the brim. And did it stink !!! A giraffe dribbled 500ml of saliva on me as vet'inry took some blood ... it had a cleft palate and I forgot to keep an eye above. The most memorable was blow darting Deer to send to Pakistan (as they had become endangered) as a goodwill gesture from the zoo I believe. We used a piece of orange telstra conduit with a blow dart in it ....put up to mouth and Phhhhtttt !!! Anthony

Must have something to do with your animal attraction gene Anthony. Mine seems to attracting me to walking in dog crap lately….yuk.

Anthony, Are you sure that the smell in your gum boots came from the elephant and not down the inside of your trousers. and Nomad, no wonder you step in dog crap, if you are up and about at 3.57AM then it is a bit hard to see what you are stepping on. Brian

That settles it, we're not coming to Cania coz yous
guys are no fun at all.
David

Mmmmm !!! I saw that also .......... 3:57 am !! Wow !! Could have been ... A party at Ernie's with a disco mirror ball on the ceiling .... Sleep dog turd walking .... First post of the day Syndrome ... Checking the boundary fence for foxes/dingoes... still angry at turd depositors. Practicing to be security officer at Cania... [rapideyemovementsleepygrin] Anthony

Brian, You might be right ! [smile] 2.5 tons of pachyderm spraying 200L of water on ya can elicit some non human smells from a human .... smell of fear ... she also let out a bellow that would blind a deaf person. [smile] I swear there were tears of laughter in her cricket ball sized jet black eyes. I was glad it didnt come from the other end as one of their farts can fill a tradesman's wheelbarrow !!!! 3 cubes of sugar for her and a towel for me and we were best mates again !! Anthony

Hi all, just bumping this one back up to the top into the discussion zone. Any other good suggestions for places to hold BT2004 Rally? Angie

The biggest obstacle to where the next rally will be is a site that is big enough to fit us all in. This year there will be 21 or 22 vans. After this years rally I was intending to forward a story to both Caravan World and Caravan and Motor Home magazines and include our URL address in it. We have only been in existence for 6 months, so as the word spreads it is quite possible that next year there will be around 50 vans, and that needs a pretty big area. I doubt that there will be many places that have that many powered sites available, so it may well be a bush camp somewhere. Our very own Bushtrackerbabe & buck will be there next year, not only with bells on but they will be clanging also. I know that the Motorhome Club have purchased the old Casino airport so they would probably let us use their site, if we asked nicely. Might even encourage them to allow caravans to join their organisation if they had a large group of Bushtracker vans stay on their property. Brian & Margaret

Jan, we have already tried it. Used to go there camping, fourteen or fifteen years ago and it was absolutely beautiful. BUT, last year we went there on our way home from bushtracking in the Kosciusko National Park. The road in and out from Yass was almost too much for our 80 series 4.5l landcriuser ( it overheated a lot & we later found out that our radiator needed an overhaul). However, it would still be a long haul for most. Another negative was the sheep droppings all over the ground - just spoilt the amentity of the place.