This motor home is the second motorhome we have owned with the first also carrying the “Blue Snoopy” name. Our first motorhome was a Sunliner Odyssey on an Iveco 50c17 truck body and chassis.
The Sydney RV Centre is Sydney’s only Winnebago dealership and now operates from dealerships at Narrabeen on the Northern Beaches and from Emu Plains in the west (near Winnebago Indiustries). When we purchased “Blue Snoopy” in 2008, the service provided to us by Brendan Samuels, Jeremy Pearce and their dedicated team of professionals was nothing short of spectular. This dealership also has a service centre (at the time of purchase the service centre was looked after by Michael Major – he is a wizard!) that caters for servicing the entire vehicle and “Blue Snoopy” will be a regular visitor for services as they are required. Sydney RV also has a service centre at Emu Plains.
This site also contains selected photographs from our trips in “Blue Snoopy” (within Australia) and from other trips where we travel in alternative (ouch!) transport.
Given time, we also intend to provide information via our blog for other travellers as the only way we have learned is by firsthand knowledge or by word of mouth. When we consider it appropriate, we will post comments relating to caravan parks, roadhouses or camp sites that we stay at. We have found this sort of information from other travellers invaluable in the past. Let’s face it, there is a lot of content on the internet that provides misleading information about accommodation.
Since we have commenced our travels in a motorhome within Australia, the Internet has provided us with an enormous amount of information and now we intend to share our experiences in the hope that others may benefit from our experiences and mistakes. We have also gained considerable information and knowledge from the members in the forums on the CMCA web site (www.cmca.net.au).
We believe and recommend that all travellers using campervans and motorhomes should become members of the CMCA. In addition to the benefits of membership, the CMCA has an informative web site (Refer to link on this site). We also believe that motor home owners (in particular Winnebago owners) should consider membership of the Winnebago RV Club. This is a very professionally run club that offers several safaris each year plus get togethers in various locations. The club is also very supportive of the Royal Flying Doctor Service.
We have found it very difficult to locate a single source of information for new motorhome travellers and hopefully we can do something towards assisting in this area. It is amazing how much information is available on this (RV) subject but how difficult it is to find the answer to a question. We are still learning something different every trip we have.
Australia is an amazing place and beckons one to closely study its wonderful features and the places you hear about both in songs or recall from geography classes at school. Slim Dusty sang about “The School of Arts Hotel”, John Williamson sings about “the Diamantina River”, “Cootamundra Wattle” and not to forget “The Rock (Uluru)” and you see Paul Hogan on the silver screen at the “Walkabout Creek Hotel”. These are all real places that we have visited!
Some of the photographs in the slideshow on the top of this site were from a trip we had in mid 2007 when “Blue Snoopy” travelled to the Red Centre, Uluru (have to be politically correct!), Kings Canyon, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy (have to go back there!), Broken Hill and all the towns on the way. The photographs were taken at Uluru, the road between Coober Pedy and Marla (this part of the Stuart Highway acts as a runway for the RFDS (please support that wonderful organisation) and in “The Breakaways” a spectacular desert location just to the north of Coober Pedy. There are now photographs of the new Blue Snoopy there with more on the way as we continue to travel.
And then there is Coober Pedy, a dusty town in the centre of South Australia that we fell in love with!
Our First Motorhome
Until June 2006, we had no real idea what a motor home was other than what was shown in American television programs. After looking at a motorhome at a travel show, the question was presented to “She” about the possibility of camping in this manner. “She”, who had never been camping before said “yes“ and reasoned that the motor home had a door that could be locked, a reasonable size bed and most importantly, a toilet. Then the biggest surprise of the day came with the price of the vehicle and the cost to insure.
We certainly could do this!
The first motorhome carrying the name of “Blue Snoopy” was delivered to us in early November 2006 and from that point in time onwards, our lives changed. We have to thank Ron Warden, Anthony McCosker and Bert Van Leeuwarden, who are all from Australian Motor Homes at Bennett Green, Newcastle, for helping us to travel in the direction that we have taken.
Our Second Motorhome
On 08/08/08, our Sunliner Odyssey “Blue Snoopy” was traded for a new Winnebago Leisure Seeker 2334 SL. The new motorhome also bears the “Blue Snoopy” name and the travels of this new machine will continue to be documented through this site.
You ask “why get rid of the Sunliner Odyssey?
When we acquired the Sunliner, we were embarking into unknown territory as “She” had never been camping before and the Sunliner provided both a toilet and a locked door. At the time, the price was right for our budget and the design more than suited our perceived requirements. After almost 2 years, 2 major trips into the centre of Australia and close to 26,000 kilometres on the speedo, it became VERY apparent that the Sunliner was not providing the amount of room we needed for a lengthy trip in a country where the weather conditions are so diverse and sometimes, unpredictable. This was highlighted in June 2008 in the Flinders Ranges when, due to rain and then mud, we spent a fair amount of time inside the motorhome and the lack of space became very evident. Also, we both decided it would be nice to have a separate shower and toilet rather than the combined shower / toilet unit in the Sunliner.
We always believed that the Sunliner Odyssey would only be a short term proposition but neither of us anticipated an exchange of vehicles within 2 years. Yes, we have fallen in love with the lifestyle and the new “Blue Snoopy” will allow us to enjoy it “to the Max” for many years to come.
History of the name “Blue Snoopy”
Back in the early 1970’s, “He” purchased his first car, a blue mini that had “done time” before being retired from “The (Police) Force”. At the same time, Charles Schulz’s “Peanuts” was the flavour of the month and a toy of one of the characters, Snoopy , found its way into the mini and rested on the rear parcel shelf. The combination of the two items resulted in the mini being called “Blue Snoopy”. Unfortunately the first Blue Snoopy came to grief on the road into Wombeyan Caves when it collided with another vehicle on a blind corner. When we purchased our first motorhome and decided that it needed a name, it took very little time to decide to carry the “Blue Snoopy” name forward. It rested on the Sunliner Odyssey for almost 2 years until “He” and “She” decided that the Odyssey was a fraction small for their future needs and the requirement of having additional space and a separate toilet and shower resulted in the acquisition of a larger motorhome.
(Last Updated – 23 June 2010)