Volunteer Coordinators
Paul & Jenny; Phil & Lyn; Neil & Merrisa are your volunteer hosts.
TIP: Volunteer names & mobile numbers will be available in the “Member’s Booklet” which will be provided to each caravan at the start of the trip.
Communicating with Tagalong23 members
All emails will be sent to members via the Bailey Tagalong GMail account.
Please use the email address BaileyTagalong@Gmail.com (click to send) to “formerly” contact the Tagalong Admin team.
Facebook Messenger
As in previous years, a Tagalong23 Facebook Messenger account has been created and all members will be added to the account to facilitate general communications between members.
Name Tags
Each member of the tour will be provided with a name tag at the start of the trip.
This is a great way to get to know each other. Some people will be new faces to others so remembering names may be quite a challenge!
The name tags will be printed and provided in plastic card holders with a lanyard, to hang around your neck. Examples shown below…
A slight difference in the tags has been made so Tagalong23 coordinators have an ORANGE background on their name tags and the Tagalong23 participants have a GREEN background on their name tags.
Likewise, a laminated A4 size poster has been supplied with your Members Booklet. We ask that this be displayed in your caravan front or passenger front side window, with the BluTak provided. This enables tour members to find your caravan! Remember there are many similar looking caravans in this tour!
Members Booklet
As in previous years, we will be providing a “Tagalong23 Member’s Booklet” for each caravan at the start of the trip. The majority of its content will also on this website.
Means of communication during the Tagalong
There will be several means of communication during the Tagalong:
- Briefing sessions, usually held at 4:30pm in a communal gathering area (e.g. camp kitchen) on the day before we move onto our next location.
- The website will be kept updated when/if there are changes made to the itinerary.
- Facebook Messenger. Please refrain from sending messages between the hours of 9:00 PM and 9:00 AM. Nothing worse than a phone pinging with a “like” or a “thumbs up” at 2:30 AM!
- Some areas may not have mobile reception and in such cases it will be by word of mouth.
Fruit Fly Warning
 | WARNING!! South Australia has restrictions on what fruit, vegetables, plants and plant products can be brought into the state and Riverland. Avoid an unnecessary fine by checking the travel restrictions for fruit and vegetables before travelling. You will be fined if you are caught with restricted fruit and vegetables at the Yamba quarantine station or random roadblocks - read more on this South Australia Government website |
Briefing Meetings
At the briefing before moving onto the next location in our itinerary, at approximately 4:30 PM, we will meet at a designated location in the Caravan Park we are staying at (camp kitchen, BBQ area etc.) for a briefing to cover any issues and to discuss any highlights for the following day. This will be followed by our traditional “Happy Hour”.
We would love to hear from people who may have local knowledge about the route we are travelling. We’re looking for ideas about places to stop at along the way, which may be of interest to the group. It may be a great bakery or scenic lookout or known road conditions. Please do not hesitate to contribute to the discussion as it will benefit all.
PLEASE NOTE: Please be punctual to the daily briefings (pre-happy hour) as there is generally important information being provided about the next day’s location and activities.
Schedule for departures from Caravan Parks
As there are 17 caravans we cannot just all “roll-out” of a Caravan Park all at once so we are proposing a schedule to spread-out our departures from 8:30am to 10:00am on the days we leave.
The simplest method is, at the team briefing on the night prior to leaving, invite volunteers to nominate their departure time. The organising team are suggesting we will have 3 caravans departing every 15 minutes from 8:30am to 10:00am.
At least one of the organising team will leave with the 1st 3 caravans and another member of the organising team will leave with the last 3 caravans.
PLEASE NOTE: This is only a proposal and we will discuss it with all of the group at the first team briefing, in Renmark, to arrive at an agreed process.
Driving
Some members may not have experienced travelling as a member of a group tour. Road courtesy would suggest that…
- When travelling please leave sufficient space (e.g. 10 car lengths) between your vehicle and the vehicle in front, allowing plenty of space for overtaking vehicles.
- Those members who have a UHF radio in the vehicle are asked to use Channel 18 to communicate.
- The itinerary section has the Caravan Park name, address and the approximate distance to the CP
– click on the blue “Kms to” to view a Google map of the suggested travel route.
PLEASE NOTE: These travel routes are only a suggested guide & members are free to use any travel route they wish. The Tagalong organisers will not be held responsible for any issues arising from members using the suggested travel routes in the itinerary.
A Friendly Reminder
Life is so much more pleasant if everyone makes a genuine effort to be on time for departures etc. Best if we all plan on being ready ten minutes in advance! If you’ve got real challenges in meeting the stated time, then please get in touch with your coordinators. Thank you for your understanding.
Arrival at a caravan park
Please advise park management of your arrival using your Name & that you are part of the Bailey Tagalong Group,so they can confirm your site number and provide keys/cards for facilities, boom gates etc.
Site Allocation
- Site numbers have been allocated by the individual caravan parks. We have provided each caravan park management with the length of your caravan and low clearance where applicable, plus your names.
- It is too difficult to cater for individual requests such as being next to another member, being in the shade, having clear sky access for satellite etc.
- Unless there is a major overriding matter, we shouldn’t need to seek alternate sites from management outside of our group allocation. If there is a pressing concern, please discuss with your coordinators.
PLEASE NOTE: No-one is to occupy another site other than the one they have been allocated.
Happy Hour Nibbles Roster
The feedback survey from last year’s Tagalong was fairly unanimous about two aspects of the “nibbles” part of each day’s happy hour:
- There was far too much food and a lot was left over
- There should not be hot food as it took people away from the group to cook-up food
So, this year, the organising team have decided to have a roster for nibbles to be provided by 4 members of the group on the night before we leave at each location. This will be in conjunction with the “briefing sessions”. The other nights will be totally BYO nibbles – i.e. if you want nibbles, then bring your own. There is one exception, the 1st location (Renmark) will have 2 nights – the 1st “welcome to Tagalong23” night and the night before leaving Renmark.
What sort of nibbles should you bring on your rostered Happy Hour?
- Let’s just keep it simple with food such as potato chips, nuts, fruit or veggie platters, dips, cheese & biscuits etc.
- Moderation is the key and please no hot food
- Keep in mind there may be about 34 people at happy hour with nibbles being provided by the 4 nominated members. So get together with the other 3 rostered vans to discuss.
- There are 5 members of the group who require “gluten free” food. The roster has at least one of these allocated to bring gluten free food.
The Nibbles Roster
| Location | Rostered date | Van Numbers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 - Renmark | Fri 1 Sep 2023 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 17 |
| Mon 4 Sep 2023 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 10 | |
| 2 - Clare | Thu 7 Sept | 3 | 12 | 14 | 18 |
| 3 - Melrose | Sun 10 Sept | 5 | 9 | 11 | 15 |
| 4 - Whyalla | Wed 13 Sept | 1 | 4 | 7 | 16 |
| 5 - Port Lincoln | Sun 17 Sept | 6 | 10 | 18 | 19 |
| 6 - Coffin Bay | Wed 20 Sept | 4 | 8 | 12 | 14 |
| 7 - Elliston | Sat 23 Sept | 5 | 11 | 15 | 17 |
| 8 - Streaky Bay | Wed 27 Sept | BYO NIBBLES | |||
A separate printed Happy Hour Nibbles Roster will be provided on the reverse side of members “caravan window poster” with the allocated van numbers expected to provide nibbles on the nominated dates.
PLEASE NOTE: Please contact one of the coordinators if this causes an issue.
TIP: Happy hour is the perfect time to ensure all people are included in the fun & chats. Please circulate amongst the group so that you get to meet everyone there and make all members feel inclusive – not really a rule, just a nice thing to do. 😊
Activities
Organised Activities
This year’s Tagalong has five “organised activities” (see below) which have already been communicated to the group via email and Facebook Messenger. Bookings for these 5 activities have already been made with the people providing the activity.
These activities are…
- Renmark – Welcoming Dinner on Saturday 2nd September (in the caravan park)
- Renmark – 23rd Street Distillery & Tasting on Monday 4th September
- Clare Valley (Leasingham) – Claymore Wine Tasting & Light Lunch on Thursday 7th September
- Melrose – A visit to Booleroo Steam & Traction Preservation Society on Friday 8th September
- Port Lincoln – Disney Themed Dress-up night on Saturday 16th Sept
- Coffin Bay – Coffin Bay Short & Sweet Oyster Farm Boat Tour on Wednesday 20th September
TIP: More details about these 6 Organised Activities can be found using the above links.
Activities & things to do in each location
We have also provided a fairly extensive list of possible activities for each location as well as info for the local tourist information centre. These are listed on each location’s web page under the heading “Things to see and do in the area” (Check out the Renmark page for an example).
TIP: If there is nothing which “tickles your fancy” in the Activities & Things to do sections, then there’s also links & phone numbers for the local Tourist Information Centre to check out. The caravan parks are also a great source of information as to what to do & see in their area.
Trivia, Games & Poetry
One of our Tagalong members has offered to run 1 games/activity night in each destination.
All in for good fun and in the spirit of the Tagalong.
We plan on running these type of games during our happy hours (in no particular order) Jenga, Quiz night, Progressive Poker, Left – Right – Centre, and “Towel dry your partner” (no ping pong balls) etc
Maybe even a sing-along and some bush poem reading around the campfire too.
Most caravaner’s have their own games, such as Bocce. Make sure you bring some along to play during happy hour. On the Tagalong20 trip we had a bush poetry night which was a lot of fun where various members read poetry. The poems were brilliant, and many laughs were had. The Bob Magor poems were a hoot, so let’s continue the tradition.
On the Tagalong20 trip we had a bush poetry night which was a lot of fun where various members read poetry. The poems were brilliant, and many laughs were had. The Bob Magor poems were a hoot, so let’s continue the tradition.
Will Bailey Roo or Bailey Bear make a comeback?
On the Tagalong20 & Tagalong21 trips we had a mascot called Bailey Roo. On the Tagalong22 trips we had a mascot called Bailey Bear. Feedback from the last Tagalong member’s survey was to not continue this tradition, so there’s no mascot this year.
