Week 246-8 ” Accessavan – Wheel chair accessible caravan”

We have certainly had a busy few weeks. A few weeks ago I mentioned that we had put our caravan up for sale on the net and that we had had a few enquiries. Then we got one from Norwa on the south coast of NSW. The chap came over and the next morning after some rewiring to his vehicle left owning a caravan. Our next decision was what we wanted to do. We had looked at a wheel chair accessible van several months ago. I contacted the dealer and found the van was still available and they were prepared to lower the price. Over the next few days and lots of discussion we decided to make an offer. A few days later the van was ours and we headed over to Sheparton to collect it.

The van is an Accessavan and was manufactured in Wangaratta by Scott and Barb from Designer Vans. They offered us an extended warranty  as the van was manufactured in  August 2009.

I think the excitement of having a van that she could get into sparked Jill up. The features of the van that made Jill happy were the shower – toilet which is completely roll in similar to her one at home – slightly smaller. Lots of room and access to her bed and seat were fairly easy. Entrance to the van is via a slide out ramp. We have a slight complication as the van is about 100mm higher than our old van and we have had to move the lights under the carport and will need to do some modification to our house eves.

The van is slightly heavier than our previous van so some modification to the Jeep’s suspension had to be made – we contacted a Jeep specialist – CRD Stu from Queensland and he provided us with new springs and shock absorbers. The next thing was to pack up the van and Jeep and head out to Pat and Keith’s so that Keith could perform his expertise on the Jeep and we could have a trial run of sleeping in the van. The suspension made all the difference and but for a few small things with the van it worked out great.

The next thing was to plan a trip in the van – Labour Day weekend and we are off to Eildon Caravan Park. The kids arranged that they would also be there and we had another goal to reach. We left here lunch time on Friday and arrived mid afternoon, plenty of time to set up before dark. The kids were arriving next morning. Allison and Chris arrived and set up their tent and we waited for the arrival of Chris, Nicole and Riley but alas they had car problems not far from home so could not make it. They did however make a day trip on Sunday – car still in the garage. We had a great week end.

Sitting around the log fire and eating marsh mellows and walks through the park and a drive up to see the water in the dam – at 82% capacity looks fantastic, hundreds of boats.  While we were there we booked in for Easter as another family get together On arrival home on Tuesday we made a decision to plan a trip to Hervey Bay in July.

We have made our booking at Fraser Lodge Caravan Park. It is the same time that the kids normally do their Fraser Island holiday so they will stay with us for a week after their week on Fraser Island. Jill asked was it possible for us to go to Fraser Island? We will need to look at that – maybe a day trip depending on the tides.

 Jill has had a reasonable few weeks, sleeping well and we have continued our exercises – will have to modify them for caravan use. Her eyes have been playing up, her left eye is not tracking with the right one and reading has almost become non existent. On Wednesday I misplaced her glasses and they have not reappeared so we will need to get her tested this week for new glasses and hope that they may help. We have doctors and dentist to visit on Monday followed by speech therapy. This morning we washed and dyed her hair and I am waiting for it to set so that we can wash it again.

I am being told time is up so we will see you again on the net