Morning all, it has been sugested to David and I to join a caravan club. Just wondered what others think. We live south of Bris. Any suggestions gratefully received
Cruising Granny said
10:12 PM Apr 15, 2012
If you're not going to be on the road full time, it can be interesting, and a way to make friends with caravanning in common, travelling to a variety of destinations. If you are travelling full time, there is no real point to joining a van club. You'll meet new people and travel all the time, and make friends and aquaintances along the way. Some neighbours of mine in this park hitch up every few weeks for a gathering, then they have to park up again and get on with life until the next gathering. They live in their van full time and they have travelled for weekends all over SA. I suppose the idea of the club is to meet aquaintances with caravanning contact in common. Communicating via forums and meeting fellow nomadders, making new friends this way, is more valuable to me.
Kaid said
11:26 PM Apr 15, 2012
We won't be on the road full time until his lordship retires.He is a Sales Rep so the idea is for him to visit clients whilst on the road. That way a 2 week trip away can become a four week trip and so on. Just thought that it might be of benefit to us while we are still getting the hang of things.
Cruising Granny said
01:45 AM Apr 16, 2012
It's a personal choice if you feel the need to "belong" somewhere. I don't really know what the benefits would be. Personally I think you'd enjoy the freedom of getting out there and meeting people along the way. I enjoy meeting fellow GN's, as well as fellow campers wherever I am. Personally I think a club would narrow the field a bit when you're meeting and camping with the same group of people regularly. The only thing that changes is the location. You will learn much from the GN's forums, and we can learn from you as you go. It's a club of sorts with a broad scope of members and locations.
_wombat_ said
07:33 AM Apr 16, 2012
we did join a club here in WA for a while, the club had a suggestion box at every meet, after we had been members for 4 months I started putting in suggestions, after my sixth suggestion was knocked back, we left the club, the committee was too clicky, nobody else's suggestion was ever taken up I was told later by other members, so make sure you really want to join a club before you join.
We would not join another club but I am sure there must be some good one out there.
-- Edited by _wombat_ on Monday 16th of April 2012 07:34:33 AM
gst said
07:49 AM Apr 16, 2012
I found most clubs have clicky element in them but I believe that to be able to have a say with fed & state goverments we need to support the largeer clubs so we joined Australasian Touring Caravan,Motorhome and Camping Club Inc plus ass member CMCA just for all the information we get.
-- Edited by gst on Monday 16th of April 2012 07:53:08 AM
Kaid said
03:53 PM Apr 16, 2012
Thanks for all the great advice. Our main worry was that these clubs can be very clicky. Also some don't allow pets. We just cannot afford to put our dog in the kennels everytime we want to go away. Think we'll just go it alone and work things out as we go along. With the great advice we have recieved from this forum I don't think we can go wrong. Thanks again guys. Much appreciated
Smokeydk said
04:06 PM Apr 16, 2012
Another thing is Membership fees...........ask what you get for them..........you can use that money better else where......have you thought of perhaps joining a Group rather than Club......they act the same ......you meet great ppl.....you still pay caravan park fees etc...and cost you nothing to be a member....most Forums have get togethers at a location and date.....
Just a thought
Red Dog said
04:26 PM Apr 16, 2012
I myself have been the member of several clubs over the years and yes I agree with wombat they do seem to be very clicky.
Happywanderer said
06:58 PM Apr 16, 2012
I am not into clubs, I would rather be out there doing my own thing, not confined to what other people want me to do. I had a phone call from a local just after I arrived telling me all about the Senior Cits club in town, sounded good till she said first meeting I would have to bring money to join, money for morning tea and lunch, 4-6 small gifts for the draws?? and a cake for morning tea. I am just not into that even if I could afford it.
_wombat_ said
07:21 PM Apr 16, 2012
Happywanderer wrote:
I am not into clubs, I would rather be out there doing my own thing, not confined to what other people want me to do. I had a phone call from a local just after I arrived telling me all about the Senior Cits club in town, sounded good till she said first meeting I would have to bring money to join, money for morning tea and lunch, 4-6 small gifts for the draws?? and a cake for morning tea. I am just not into that even if I could afford it.
WOW that's a bit over the top, did you tell her where to go?
Sounds to me like they do not really want new members
Cruising Granny said
08:48 PM Apr 16, 2012
Gosh HW, not even a "test run" to meet the people and determine if they're the people you want to spend time with. That sounds a bit autocractic right there. Even at Sing Australia we allow people to attend 3 times before we expect some sort of commitment to membership, or not. We pay $6 a week to cover the cost of hiring the venue and to provide supper. We practice in the Uniting Church Hall at Gawler. In Cairns they meet at the Germania Club. (free plug). It's a national organisation so although I joined in Cairns, I can pop in anywhere for a sing. We recently had a regional gathering at Berri. Just like GN's, the gatherings just cost us whatever we want to participate in over and above the singing sessions. We had a picnic lunch on the river bank, and a singalong for about 2 hours. We then had the formal part of the weekend in the town hall for $10 with a great country-style afternoon tea. Those who stayed on camped at the caravan park or at the hotel/motel, and joined the others for dinner at the pub for $32, and more singing. The next morning we met on the river bank for breakfast, bacon eggs, toast, juice $5, and you guessed it, more singing. The sound of up to 120 people singing on the banks of the river must have been great. This was just to demonstrate the benefit of gatherings over clubs and their regulatory carry-on. Personal choice of course.
jimbo said
02:27 AM Apr 17, 2012
.No clubs for me either....I'm a free wheeling spirit....I'm like a bit of paper in the wind can end up anywhere...
Gerty Dancer said
02:38 AM Apr 17, 2012
The Grey Nomads is a pretty good club I reckon!!
Happywanderer said
02:46 AM Apr 17, 2012
Can't beat the Grey Nomads. Can still feel young on here. I think if I joined Senior Citz it might make me feel old. lol. Sorry in advance if that has offended anyone.
Morning all, it has been sugested to David and I to join a caravan club. Just wondered what others think. We live south of Bris. Any suggestions gratefully received
If you are travelling full time, there is no real point to joining a van club. You'll meet new people and travel all the time, and make friends and aquaintances along the way.
Some neighbours of mine in this park hitch up every few weeks for a gathering, then they have to park up again and get on with life until the next gathering. They live in their van full time and they have travelled for weekends all over SA.
I suppose the idea of the club is to meet aquaintances with caravanning contact in common.
Communicating via forums and meeting fellow nomadders, making new friends this way, is more valuable to me.
We won't be on the road full time until his lordship retires.He is a Sales Rep so the idea is for him to visit clients whilst on the road. That way a 2 week trip away can become a four week trip and so on. Just thought that it might be of benefit to us while we are still getting the hang of things.
Personally I think you'd enjoy the freedom of getting out there and meeting people along the way. I enjoy meeting fellow GN's, as well as fellow campers wherever I am.
Personally I think a club would narrow the field a bit when you're meeting and camping with the same group of people regularly. The only thing that changes is the location.
You will learn much from the GN's forums, and we can learn from you as you go. It's a club of sorts with a broad scope of members and locations.
we did join a club here in WA for a while, the club had a suggestion box at every meet, after we had been members for 4 months I started putting in suggestions, after my sixth suggestion was knocked back, we left the club, the committee was too clicky, nobody else's suggestion was ever taken up I was told later by other members, so make sure you really want to join a club before you join.
We would not join another club but I am sure there must be some good one out there.
-- Edited by _wombat_ on Monday 16th of April 2012 07:34:33 AM
I found most clubs have clicky element in them but I believe that to be able to have a say with fed & state goverments we need to support the largeer clubs so we joined Australasian Touring Caravan,Motorhome and Camping Club Inc plus ass member CMCA just for all the information we get.
-- Edited by gst on Monday 16th of April 2012 07:53:08 AM
Thanks for all the great advice. Our main worry was that these clubs can be very clicky. Also some don't allow pets. We just cannot afford to put our dog in the kennels everytime we want to go away. Think we'll just go it alone and work things out as we go along. With the great advice we have recieved from this forum I don't think we can go wrong. Thanks again guys. Much appreciated
Just a thought
I had a phone call from a local just after I arrived telling me all about the Senior Cits club in town, sounded good till she said first meeting I would have to bring money to join, money for morning tea and lunch, 4-6 small gifts for the draws?? and a cake for morning tea. I am just not into that even if I could afford it.
WOW that's a bit over the top, did you tell her where to go?
Sounds to me like they do not really want new members
Even at Sing Australia we allow people to attend 3 times before we expect some sort of commitment to membership, or not.
We pay $6 a week to cover the cost of hiring the venue and to provide supper. We practice in the Uniting Church Hall at Gawler.
In Cairns they meet at the Germania Club. (free plug).
It's a national organisation so although I joined in Cairns, I can pop in anywhere for a sing. We recently had a regional gathering at Berri.
Just like GN's, the gatherings just cost us whatever we want to participate in over and above the singing sessions. We had a picnic lunch on the river bank, and a singalong for about 2 hours. We then had the formal part of the weekend in the town hall for $10 with a great country-style afternoon tea. Those who stayed on camped at the caravan park or at the hotel/motel, and joined the others for dinner at the pub for $32, and more singing.
The next morning we met on the river bank for breakfast, bacon eggs, toast, juice $5, and you guessed it, more singing.
The sound of up to 120 people singing on the banks of the river must have been great.
This was just to demonstrate the benefit of gatherings over clubs and their regulatory carry-on. Personal choice of course.
I think if I joined Senior Citz it might make me feel old. lol. Sorry in advance if that has offended anyone.