The long awaited shakedown trip is finally here. BB and I have been stocking the caravan over the last 3 months so we at least have the bare necessities for the inaugural trip. We're venturing from our home in Mandurah to the South West town of Bussleton which is only some 200Km away for the practice run. The idea is to get an idea of the fuel consumption figures for the vehicle and just get a feel for the caravan and accessories. Nothing spectacular to report other than magnificent fuel consumption figures for the vehicle caravan combination. The bonus being that all fittings, accessories and additions to the caravan worked a charm. Well maybe not the first time!

As can be seen from the photo's, the BIG4 Beachlands Caravan park Bussleton is just a credit to the owners. All facilities are immaculately kept from the BBQ and kitchen facilities to the laundry, swimming pool and spacious layout of the drive through sites. Having a larger caravan however we found the access to the sites a little tight and I would think quite frustrating with a full park during the 'high' season. The Park can be forgiven when the quality of the facilities are as high as this though. Many thanks to Gavin & Lou as you have set a standard we think will be hard to beat in our travels.

To say something's didn't work the first time would be an understatement. Plan A was for a 'romantic dinner for 2' using our new gas stove the first night and after all amounts of coaxing we could not get the unit to light, lacking gas, so bugger, plan B a pie and sauce looks pretty good for tonight and we'll tackle this tomorrow.

Continuing saga day 2 and after checking all gas fittings, stove inline isolation switch, regulator and gas bottle what in the hell can be stopping the bloody thing working. The gas hot water heater works a treat and its on the same gas line. Hmmm. BB decides the answer will be in the instruction manual which we had brought along. What would she know?

The 'romantic dinner for 2' was so good I could be almost forgiven for not lifting the stoves glass cover fully!  (4mm) You get that!

To the caravanning fraternity wishing to explore this region of Western Australia we would highly recommend utilizing Busselton as a base camp from which to explore the surrounding area, in particular the Margaret River Wine Region, which extends westward from Busselton in the north to Augusta in the south.