Wheels slowly roll as caravans enter the park, some have already put patio furniture under awnings as the cowbell starts ringing. It’s time for happy hour. The Canberra Caravan Club has come together to celebrate 50 years of road stops, potluck dinners, and great friendships.

In 1972, a group of like-minded caravan enthusiasts got together and penned the foundation for the club. The first outing as a newly formed club was gold fossicking and a barbecue at Captains Flat; later that year they held their first rally in Cooma. In the half century that has followed, group members have come and gone, travelling and growing together.

Club president, Lyn Fitzroy, and her husband, Terry, joined 14 years ago after a neighbour invited them to a meeting. After that, they attended a rally where soon-to-be friends offered them tips on how to make the most out of their new caravan. 

 “A lot of things about hitching it up correctly and having your weight distributed throughout your van correctly and how to find the most economical places to go to camp the caravan parks,” Lyn says.

Not long after, the couple packed up their belongings, stored furniture with family and rented their house before hitting the highway on an eight-year adventure around Australia.

Lyn says none of the club members lives in their vans fulltime; they’re used for holidays. Rather than going around the country, they chose to zig-zag across the states, occasionally coming home to Canberra to visit family. 

“It was a five-year plan; we kept saying when we’ve got enough to retire we will and we will travel. It took 15 years of this five-year plan and eventually we worked it out. We could draw some out of the superannuation and with renting the house that would be sufficient.”

Lyn says she isn’t exactly sure what made them decide on a caravan but suspects it might have been the road trips taken when their children were younger. Regardless of the motivation, they are glad they made the decision to get rolling.

Lyn says when she first retired, she would have said it was the break from commitment and only being responsible for herself, her husband, and the rig that she enjoyed the most. Now, she sees that there is more to it than that; it’s the connections they make on the way.

“It is a lifestyle when you go into a caravan park; you’re not just yourself, you become part of that community of the caravan park,” she smiles.

The couple is still travelling in the same van that did the rounds of the country with them, and just like their owners, vans have their own personalities and names. Lyn and Terry travel in Kooyanna which has kookaburra details sprinkled throughout.

“Kooyanna is an Indigenous word for the laughing jackass and the laughing jackass is the kookaburra. The van is also a spirit; I am a descendant of Captain Charles Sturt and when he heard the laugh of the jackass, he likened it to a wild spirit. Hence Kooyanna became the name of the van,” she says.

Another van that has a lot of personality is owned by Glenda and Norm Nelson. They caught the caravan bug in 2003 when Norm suggested a camping trip. Not fond of the idea, Glenda said they could compromise, and they purchased a small pop-top caravan. They upgraded in 2011 before they set off on a 15-month tour so they could have a toilet, shower, and washing machine.

They have since upgraded a couple more times and now own a customised van. But what really jumps out is the loving decorations expert crafter Glenda has created, including the quilt that sits on the travelling home’s bed and which has adorned their past vans.

The couple signed up for club membership shortly after the purchase of their first van. Glenda says she likes that the group is full of people who want to get out and do things, not just sit at home.

“We do a lot of travel by ourselves but sometimes it’s nice to go with a group and do interesting things with a group,” Glenda says.

The group has 55 caravans and just over 100 members. While most people join as partners, for this event there are two women travelling solo, each with their own van. Members are encouraged to keep in touch via two monthly events, one involving the rolling hotels and the other with just its passengers. 

A social function invites members to activities such as a barbecue at the Cotter, lunch at a club, or a day out at the tulip festival. Then, a monthly rally takes place anywhere within a 300km radius of the capital. They have been to the Parkes Elvis Festival and all along the coastline. When they travel to rally locations, they keep their distance from one another. 

“We don’t convoy; we are never in favour of convoy because it makes it hard for other people on the road. If we are having a rally, say, down the coast, they generally go for four days, Thursday to Sunday. People head off at different times and you meet at the caravan park,” Lyn says.

Once at the destination, the fun kicks off. Each rally has its own marshal who organises the activities for the weekend, sometimes a unique activity of the town they are in or a special event. A fan favourite is the nightly happy hour where people come together over a drink and snack.

“Then you have nights where you have cooking with hotpots, and everybody brings something to the kitchen or marquee, and you all share. You get to know one another,” Lyn says.

Every three years, a national rally is held, and the Canberra Club proudly hasn’t missed one since their formation. Held around the country, Canberra has played host twice, in 1983 and again in 2016, with over 600 caravans in attendance both times. A couple who has seen their fair share of national rallies is Bob and Sue Dal Santo, active members of the group for 40 years.

They enjoy going to the national rallies as it is a chance to catch up with friends they likely wouldn’t have seen in the intervening three years. Sue says it is always an opportunity to give back to the community where the event is held.

“They do the craft works, sewing and knitting and that. Here in Canberra, I looked after that side and it nearly filled a whole hall, which went out to different charities around Canberra and they do that at each national rally. It goes out to the hospitals or Flying Doctors Service or ambulance service, something like that,” Sue says.

The club had a different look when they first joined; it was mostly families who went away with their children. Now, all the children have grown up and left the group which is largely made up of an over-60 crowd. Sue says the children might re-join eventually.

“We had two daughters at the time, we liked caravanning, we wanted to be able to use our caravan more and also joined up with people who had similar interests,” Bob says.

Waine and Betty Summerfield have been chasing the sunset with their caravan since 1973. They joined the club after retiring early and have been loving the friendships for the past 20 years. One of the main motivators for joining was the social events which encouraged them to branch out more with their travels and connections.

“The most important thing is to have a social life away from other social lives and the beauty of the caravan club is that everybody is equal,” Waine says.

“It’s been just lovely; the long-term friends we have made it very special,” Betty adds. 

Lyn says the secret to a happy trip is getting along with your husband even when there are little disagreements, especially when it comes to backing the van into the site. The biggest downside to caravan life would be having to take the black water to the dump point. Each park has its own drop-off point for the toilet cassette. Lyn smiles as she says that is “the men’s job”. 

Think caravanning and making new friends sounds like a good time? The Canberra Caravan Club has yet to turn anyone down from their application process. Lyn says all you have to do is go to the website or get in touch, then attend a couple of meetings or a rally before applying to become a member.

For more information on the Canberra Caravan Club and how to become a member, visit canberracaravanclub.org

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