If this was 1994 then there is a pretty good chance that you wouldn’t be reading this on-line! There was no real on-line back then. Not the way we know it anyway. Google hadn’t even been founded (it would be another 4 years before that happened), even email was a relatively new phenomena.
But 1994 was a great year for off-road camping in Australia. A turning point. That was the year that Michael & Wendy Hackett founded Ultimate Off-Road Campers.
The origins of Ultimate lie in the boat building industry. Michael was a boat builder by trade working with Australia’s leading luxury yacht manufacturers. At the weekends, both he and Wendy shared a love for the adventure and freedom of the great outdoors; Bush, beach or desert. Tents just didn’t cut it nor could their vehicle be converted satisfactorily to their requirements so, drawing on his professional background for inspiration, Michael and Wendy eventually began building their own off-road camper trailer in their back shed. By using the advanced engineering techniques, composite materials and aerodynamic principles of the boat building industry, they realised that they had created something unique and very special.
They had created an off-road camper trailer that would change the industry – they had created the best, the new benchmark, the ultimate off-road camper trailer. Naming their new company was straightforward.
When the Ultimate was launched at Rosehill, the Hacketts were somewhat taken by surprise with a steady stream of customers with cheque books (remember them!) standing patiently in line.
The stood there patiently for a reason. Because back in 1994 the Ultimate changed everything – lightweight, composite materials, sleek. The first off-road camper trailer to look great.
Two decades on and those customers are friends. Some have bought another classic Ultimate and others have upgraded to the next big leap in off-road camping, the Nautilus.
Here’s to the next twenty years. The adventure begins all over again….
