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Hi again,

We came to the forum a couple of weeks ago and spoke about bringing our campervan from Sydney to Tilbury. We are now chasing more info re selling it in the Uk after touring Europe & UK for 6 months - Feb 05 - Aug 05. We are trying to find out roughly what we could sell it for in the UK before flying back to Australia. It is-     

Toyota Hiace 1986 2.4 diesel, LWB (5.2 mt), automatic, 170,000km, 4 new light truck tyres, full side awning, tent over back door, removable flyscreens side & back, bull bar & stone guard with fishing rod tube on front, clean interior with microwave, 2 burner & grill, gas bottle, 60 litre water tank with electric pump, 2nd 12v battery for off road camping, new canvas pop top, new curtains, excellent motor - new timing belt at 140K, fully equipped with crockery, all utensils etc. Frontline conversion to large double or two single beds.

If anyone would like to hazzard an approx. price it would help us enormously. Thanks guys, Fran & Martin

Hi Jeremy,

Thanks for your reply to our last forum entry. If the Toyota is only worth about 2,000 pounds, we will be far better to bring it home again as it is worth about $14,000 here.  That's just under 6,000 pounds.  Thanks anyway for your reply.

Regards   Martin & Fran

hi Fran & Martin, your planned trip sounds great.

 that top tip by Ewan, to join the camping & caravaning club is a good one because apart from their sites being top notch, us codgers , (guy's with snow on top)   get a discount for making it to a ripe age

best regards Den.

Hi everyone,

Our van is underway to England. We leave 31st January from Sydney and arrive in London on February 1st. We are staying in London for 2 nights and then collecting our van from Felixstowe.  We need to find out how to join UK campers and how much it costs.  We have also been told that the caravan parks in Europe insist on either handing over passports or a carnet.  Is this right?  We will arrange for our van insurance while in London but any suggestions regarding good insurance companies, would be appreciated. 

Will write more later.   Fran & Martin

Hi everyone,

Well we made it there and back in one piece and we had a fabulous trip. The campervan arrived from Australia without hitch at Felixstowe - only problem was the shipping agents left the ignition half on and our main and leisure batteries were thoroughly ruined. Spent 2 weeks in freezing England in February getting it and other things sorted, then sailed Norfolk Line to Dunkirk for 44GBP one way for the van and us. Left UK on Valentine's Day and returned the same way for 56euros on the way back (on St. George's Day) and boy, were we pleased to see the white cliffs of Dover after 3 months in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and back to France.

Due to the time of year with no caravan parks open, slept in laybys for the week as we headed for Portugal amid snow, mountains collapsing in Spain between the coast and Polencia. The police sent us back to Santanda and up through Burgos. Found ourselves late, in the dark, snowing and right in the heart of Basque country. Slept warm and too tired to worry about any danger. On the lovely Portugal where we spent three weeks. Another three weeks in Spain. We were careful at petrol stations but had absolutely no problems inspite of several dire warnings. A week in the south of France and on to Italy. Passed through Monaco as prince Rainier died and into Italy as the Pope died!  We were a bit concerned about Jaques Chirac but I believe he is well. Had hoped to go to Austria and Bavaria but it was now April and no signs of Spring arriving - in fact a snow storm the day we were due to go north so we hot-footed it back to France and spent a wonderful month (except it rained every day except 2) exploring the rural villages. Back to England and the south, west and Lakes District. Then lovely Scotland where we had the best weather of the whole 4 months.

We from Australia had a few culture shocks:- Prices in the UK. We had a pretty strict budget but it cost as much in the UK for 3 weeks as it cost in Europe for 3 months. No toilet paper or toilet seats in caravan parks in Europe. 3-5 amp power so it was hard to even make a cup of tea. We would have used gas but our English bottle ran out and the French sold us an empty one (insisted it was our stove that was the problem and we were too dumb to check the weight of the tank). And the traffic in all the cities everywhere.  Also the cost of the European tollways.  We are spoilt in Oz. Apart from a few small tolls in Sydney and Melbourne our roads are free and virtually empty by comparison. The infrastructure in Europe (not the UK) has hardly progressed since 1960s and compared to visits in 1983 and 1994 the backward trend has to be somehow connected to the EEC. From where we sit, why would the UK want to be dragged downwards to the lowest common denominator. This is not a political statement but an observation from an outsider.

However, we had a wonderful time and it was an experience not to be missed even though it was hard work and tiring for people our age. But we did it and now we can sit on our verandah in the sun and watch our wonderful videos.  Thanks for all those who welcomed us to the web site and offered answers to some of our questions.

Happy travelling,   Martin & Fran 

Kevin & Jayne