The 2018 Ultimate Off-Road Campers Queensland Muster was one of those events that we could have quite easily filed in the “too hard” basket. The timing was terrible! We could have easily let my study get in the way. I (Trinity) was finishing final assignments for my Masters degree until late Friday night. Besides, we’d only had the off-road camper trailer a mere 16 days! However, not being the kind to back down from a challenge, we put our names down to attend, bright eyed and bushy tailed.
What is a Muster anyway?
Ultimate Off-Road Campers hold annual meet-ups in each state, organised by owners, called Musters. They’re a chance for owners from around the state — and country — to gather together. An opportunity to swap ideas, to put some faces to Forum and Facebook names, and make new friends. The 2018 Queensland Muster was held at Kin Kin in Southeast Queensland from May 24th to 28th. A few planned events took place over the course of the weekend. On Friday attendees had the opportunity to do a beach drive from Noosa to Rainbow Beach. On Saturday a local theatre showed a silent movie, and in the evening we all headed to the local pub for a meal. Ultimate Off-Road Campers generously donated some raffle prizes which we drawn after dinner. We topped off a great weekend with a shared breakfast on Sunday morning.
As brand-new owners of a brand-new off-road camper trailer we were keen to hear all the tips from other, more experienced owners. We’d already picked up a few tricks from the Ultimate Owners Forum and the Facebook group that we were keen to try out, too. We’d been told a good mattress topper was an easy way to dramatically improve the comfort of the standard mattresses. Someone else had suggested trying the Ikea Grusblad “All Seasons” quilt — lightweight and heavier quilts that clip together to create one very warm winter quilt.
Our first Muster experience
Roughly 50 Ultimate off-road camper trailers were at the muster, with more than 100 people coming along to the event. Due to study and work commitments we could only attend on Saturday and Sunday. Jokes ensued after we’d informed others via the Forum and Facebook groups of our pending late arrival. Claims that others would save us a spot in the middle of the campground, watching us set up with stop-watches in hand, were all in good humour. The Ultimate community is incredibly friendly and welcoming. When you purchase an off-road camper trailer from Ultimate other owners welcome you to the “family”. And that is exactly what it feels like — a close-knit, friendly and supportive family. As new owners we really appreciated this — we were made feel just as welcome as any other attendee.
One of our favourite aspects of the Muster was having the opportunity to see everyone’s set-ups. Leading up to the weekend we were interested in after-market heating options, solutions for fly-screen doors, and how others utilised storage spaces. We left the Muster with so many great ideas! Whilst the Ultimate off-road camper trailer is brilliant just the way it is, there are so many little customisations people have done to suit their needs. We’re strong believers in the idea that diversity is a good thing. How boring would life be if we were all the same? We all travel a little bit differently, and we all value different things when we’re camping. By embracing that diversity and creativity we can each make small modifications to our campers to make them perfect to suit our own unique travel styles.
After spending the weekend swapping travel stories, jokes and camper tricks with the other attendees we felt like we’d transitioned from strangers to being a part of the big Ultimate family. We are so grateful to those involved in organising the event for all their hard work. Ultimate Musters are certainly going to feature on our calendar each year as events we look forward to. This might have been our first, but there will be many more to come!
