Ok, so I have been a caravan owner for over two and a half years, not what you could call experienced but not a complete novice. To be fair, we have been on less than a handful of caravan parks, the vast majority of what we do is free or bush camping, you pull up where you like and camp, there are no regimented pitches. So anyone watching my solo attempt to get myself parked on our current site at Woodman point would have been thoroughly entertained. Debbie could not be with me this time, so I was on my own (no help with reversing the van). We had asked for an extra wide pitch because we have a large slide out bed on the side of the van.
When I turned up, sure enough, we had been given a large corner pitch, ideal. There was a large blue mat in the centre of the pitch which clearly was meant to be our outdoor area, so I was to park the van to the side of it. To left was another pitch with a caravan on it, to the right was a lamp post and the roadway. Behind was a large caravan. So I decided to park the van to the right of the blue mat next to the lamp post. Without assistance, it took me about twelve attempts to get the van exactly where I intended. I had avoided the lamp post and had not hit the van behind me. Without a “spotter” I had to get out of the car and check my position countless times. Well done me!
As soon as I was about to unhitch, I realised that the door of the caravan was on the wrong side. I should have parked to the left on the blue mat, not to the right. This would mean our awning would be covering the roadway. FFS!
Never mind, I will just have to move it.
Countless more manoeuvres were required to position Mobi to the left of the mat. Happy that we could now exit the van and set up our table in the correct position, I set about putting up the awning and setting up camp. Finally, I pulled out our slide out bed. To my horror it extended about two feet into next doors pitch. There was no way our neighbour would be able to park their car. Double FFS!
Just as I was about to put the last peg in the ground the phone rang and Debbie was ready to be picked up, the first thing she said was “ did you have a nice afternoon”?
I couldn’t help but chuckle at the day’s events. Despite the struggles, it was all part of the adventure of caravan life. Next time, I’ll remember to double-check my positioning before I settle in!