And they’re off… The three winners of the 2016 Dometic Follow the Sun competition finally got going this week from Cairns on their “journey of a lifetime”, while raising funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The newly-appointed Dometic brand ambassadors were officially sent on their way at a breakfast event at the Cairns Coconut Resort Holiday Park that included balloon artistry, face painting, giveaways and live entertainment.
Their three month road trip down the East Coast will be sweetened by the taste of home for South Australian travel guide publishers Linda Bloffwitch and Grant Hanan.
As one of three winners of a $25,000 caravan makeover, the Kangarilla couple (who also own an Ultimate off-road camper rig) chose to upgrade their Traveller touring van with various Dometic products including a new air conditioner, fridge, toilet, awning, privacy screen, hot water service, gas heater, caravan door, and all-important wine fridge.
“We live in the middle of South Australia’s wine region and have a 1000 bottle wine fridge at home. We always travel with some decent bottles and it will be lovely to keep them at a good temperature rather than in socks under the bed,” Linda said.
“It’s like we have bottled up a small piece of home, which is a nice treat when you are on the road for a long time."
For Cameron and Julie McKay, the owners and managers of August Moon Caravan Park in Innisfail, winning the expenses paid trip has “rekindled their wanderlust”.
The McKays will be travelling with their four kids and have blinged up their Jayco Sterling van with a new air conditioner, gas heater, oven, electric roll-out awning, fridge and toilet from the Dometic range.
“We are so busy running the park that we never seem to get the time to go travelling ourselves. We actually had the caravan on the market for the past 12 months, so this was meant to be,” Cameron said.
“Obviously caravanning is something we love – we have built our lives around it. The win has given us the opportunity to take a break from work and hit the road again.”
The three winners were handpicked from thousands of entries Australia-wide, and also receive $10,000 to cover expenses. You can follow their adventures, including scheduled Happy Hour get-togethers, at the Dometic Follow the Sun website.