Carolyn and David Blackeby of Woodville West in Adelaide South Australia took some convincing upon receiving the phone call announcing them as the winner of the Channel 9 Today Show competition. From tens of thousands of entries received, they had just won a luxury all-purpose motorhome from Avida, the manufacturer of the Australian Winnebago.
The major prize was an Avida Escape motorhome built on a powerful Fiat chassis and has so many features including the unique electric roll down bed, which, at the push of a button, moves down from the ceiling to offer a comfortable night’s sleep in addition to the standard single beds.
The single beds can fold up to the wall to create a “garage” that can transport a multitude of items such as bicycles or motorbikes and the roof racks can easily accommodate a couple of kayaks.
The child restraint anchorage points are a boon for the Blackeby’s given Brianna is so young and the children can watch a DVD on the journey, safely from their seats.
With a life-long passion for camping and the outdoors, the Carolyn and David together with their children, Alexandra 7, Kobe, 5 and Brianna aged 5 months, regularly hit the road in their well-used camper trailer “the Avida Escape is fantastic” said Carolyn “the kids are so excited and we all love camping, it’s great for the family and so much fun”. “The fact that the Escape is fully equipped with a proper kitchen and bathroom with a hot shower and toilet will make it so much easier to get away”.
The Fiat Ducato 180 Multijet is very easy to drive on a standard car licence, offering a powerful yet economical 3 litre turbo diesel engine and a 6 speed automated manual gearbox which allows most driving to occur in the automatic position, reverting to a clutchless manual operation when desired.
Featuring cruise control, central locking, electric windows and mirrors, a trip computer, ABS braking, ESP stability and torque control to assist where tyre grip is paramount, the Fiat is quiet, smooth and powerful, very much akin to a luxury European car.
Carolyn, a subscriber to the www.experiencecaravanningandcamping.com.au enewsletter saw the competition advertised and decided to enter, submitting only one entry. She gave herself little chance of winning saying that she has never won a thing in her life before and still cannot believe their luck to win such a major prize as the motorhome.
Carolyn had only one word for it when asked – awesome!
The family intend on using the motorhome most weekends and already are looking forward to a major journey across the Nullarbor to Perth to visit relatives there.
