My favourite chair is by our sound equipment. I had succumbed to jazz in high school. Most of my journalistic output had been jazz related. At the time I made the decision to pursue my later passion of motorhoming by forming a national club I was in a jazz journalism revival period, writing and producing a monthly newssheet for listeners to a Brisbane FM radio station. As I sat in that favourite chair, headphones in place and pen in hand, my jottings alternated between Fats Waller and Winnebagos. They soon veered more and more down the motorhome road.

Late '85 was an intense period of deliberation and planning. It has never been my nature to rush into anything and this club was to be no exception. I wanted it to go and to go well. Initial decisions would be of vital importance. Ideas and alternatives spilled onto page after page of notes. I couldn't wait for Erica to arrive home each day to air my latest thoughts. What should the Club be called? How can we best find fellow enthusiasts and influence them to become members? Where will the money come from? What membership subscription will cover start-up costs but be seen to be reasonable?

My every marketing sense told me our Club name should be capable of incorporation into a logo design for universal use - letterheads, badges, flags, stickers. My original logo sketches were for "Motorhome Club of Australia." The shorter name would have been preferable on several counts but we eventually decided it must be a campervan and motorhome Club if all types and sizes of motorised living vehicles were to feel welcome. Even "campervan and motorhome" later proved inadequate to cover the field. I had quite a job persuading some early members with beautiful bus conversions that they were driving "motorhomes" and not "buses" and that they should refer to them that way.

Our research had revealed that there were already a few small campervan clubs in various parts of Australia. We were in no way put off. Ours was to be a National Club, seeking membership and offering services nationwide, so "...of Australia" seemed appropriate. The Campervan & Motorhome Club of Australia it would be. It had a quite impressive ring to it and we were out to impress!

1985 was a good year. The Whitworths again had a campervan. In 1977 we had moved to Tweed Heads. We had enjoyed 80,000 miles in the Campmobile but had sold it at the end of 1981. It was too sad to watch it gathering dust from lack of use as Erica and I pursued workaday lives. The kids, of course, had long outgrown travel trips with Mum and Dad.

Our new magic carpet was not quite new. It was an '83 HiAce pop-top by Leader of Melbourne. The Whitworths were the beneficiaries of other people’s disappointment.Melbournebuyers of the Leader HiAce had done just over 13,000km before surrendering to campervan incompatibility and trading it on a sedan from a Tweed Heads dealer. The HiAce was "as new," but I was aware of different State registration requirements for campervan and motorhome conversions and I made the dealer responsible for switching Victorian to NSW plates. There was considerable delay while engineer's report was done but blessing was finally given for yellow plates. It was ours. The world looked good and distant places beckoned.

The thoughts of a club came tumbling in again. One idea would crowd out another, then another took its place. I had finalised my business involvement and while Erica had resumed occupational therapy activities with a Tweed Heads nursing home and NSW Department of Veterans Affairs, I needed a project. A moderately successful period of freelance journalism had contributed to my failure to completeUniversityofQueensland Commercestudies. Later business involvements were always sales and marketing oriented. My motorhoming enthusiasm was feeding on a background of writing and people persuasion.

I was convinced there were heaps of people who enjoyed motorised living vehicles as much as the Whitworths who would love to share their enthusiasm with like-minded people. It had been happening in other parts of the world for years. Why not here? The overseas clubs' modus operandi was fairly clear from my avid reading of their magazines. Neither the British nor theU.S.model would be completely Oz-appropriate. Difficulties came easily to mind along with the enthusiasm. The big question, of course, was why should I bother? Why not jump in the HiAce and head for North Queensland… or Ayers Rock… orCapeLeeuwin… or anywhere! That's what campervans offer. Isn't life there to be lived to the full... while we can?

***

Small events often tip the scales. It was a sparkling August afternoon. I vividly remember driving the HiAce into the Tweed Mall parking area as a similar colour and model HiAce pop-top was driving out. I had never seen the driver before but he smiled and waved. I waved back and made the decision. I would do it. A club for Australian campervan and motorhome enthusiasts was on my drawing board in a serious way.

Even tourists who can't bear to be more than an hour or two from a Hyatt Hotel come home fromNorth Americaaware of the popularity of the motorhome. In the first half hour of a trip along any freeway in any state ofAmericayou'll run out of fingers and toes counting the motorhomes.

Although the California-based Good Sam Club catered for trailer owners (caravanners) as well as motorhomers, Good Sam was the firstU.S.recreational vehicle club of which we became aware. It happened to be by far the biggest. They talked in excess of 400,000 members and 2,700 Local Chapters! The Whitworths became Good Sammers No. 1772574. A second monthly overseas motorhoming club mag. soon started arriving. Good Sam's "Highways" was much bigger and brighter than "The Motorcaravanner." It was A4 size and had much more advertising. Good Sam was unashamedly commercial. While Local Chapters were run by elected committees of Chapter members, Good Sam Club headquarters was part of Trailer Life Inc., the publishing group for "Trailer Life" and "Motorhome" which were big circulation newsstand available magazines aimed at a similar market to the club.

There was much the Whitworths could learn from the Good Sam Club. Australian enthusiasts should really have something similar!

TheLondonbased Motorcaravanners' Club, founded in 1960, was (and remains to this day) the only U.K. Club specifically for motorised camping vehicles as distinct from "tenters" and "tuggers." The possibility of a similar club inAustraliakept floating in and out of my mind. Membership of overseas clubs seemed a good idea and the Whitworths became members of the Motorcaravanners Club in 1984.

Each month, their glossy magazine, "The Motorcaravanner," arrived from England full of news of rallies past, programme of rallies to come, letters from members telling of their travel experiences, no-charge advertising for members wishing to sell or buy, articles on new vehicles and equipment ... a specialist magazine for people like us. We devoured it with delight.

It was obvious these people were enjoying their motorcaravanning much more than if there had been no club to cater to their passion. Australian enthusiasts should really have something similar!

Few Australians had heard of campervans or motorhomes in the early sixties.Brisbanemanufacturers agent Don Whitworth and his occupational therapist wife Erica were newly married and part of the unaware masses. When a fully camper-converted VW Kombi with its tiny pop-up roof appeared at the Brisbane Motor Show it caught their attention but there was no earth-moving elation. Establishing their Indooroopilly home, getting a family started and keeping careers intact were life filling.

***

Their family grew, careers waxed and waned, and in 1968 the Whitworths moved toSydney. Many of their contemporaries had undertaken the European Grand Tour before being locked into the constraints of marriage and kids. The "motorcaravan" was becoming a favoured way. A "Go See Australia" campaign in the early 70's reinforced Erica and Don's inclination to show Ian, Caroline and Jennifer their own country first. Motel costs were beyond the budget. Anything necessitating towing was disqualified by Don's memories of a disastrous childhoodNorth Queenslandcaravan journey. Tenting would be low cost but of unacceptably high discomfort levels.

The North Ryde VW dealer, "House of David," ran a fleet of "Campmobiles' for hire. This could be the answer! The weekend in a House of David VW at Blue Lagoon Caravan Park at Bateau Bay was not without traumas, but within weeks the Whitworths had invested $4,500 in a brand new 1971 VW Campmobile of their very own. It was the start of the motorhoming love affair that was to conceive the Campervan & Motorhome Club ofAustralia.

***

The Whitworth's first major campervanning adventure was a mid-1972 two month trip. They crossed the Hay plains to Port Augusta and shipped the Campmobile and themselves on the old Ghan to Alice Springs before heading to Ayers Rock, north toDarwin, across North Queensland and coastward home toSydney. Thereafter most school holidays were spent in shorter jaunts of the campervan kind.

Having become thoroughly captivated by the pleasure and economy of motorhome travel, Don began dreaming, researching and planning an ambitious overseas odyssey. 1975 looked to be the year. Ian was 12, Caroline 10 and Jennifer 6. None were in critically important school years. Conference with teachers confirmed Don & Erica's thoughts that a lengthy period out of class and around the world would do more educational good than harm.

So it transpired that during April to July 1975 the Whitworths roamed 13,000 miles through twelve countries of Europe andU.K.in an 18ft Ford Transit C.I. "Landliner." August and September saw them exploring many of the magnificent National Parks of U.S.A. as they followed a carefully planned 9,000 mile route westward fromToronto,CanadatoSan Franciscoin a "Superior" 22ft A Class motorhome.

Amongst their souvenirs was a small round sticker from a South Carolina campground that read "Go Motorhome, Go First Class."