Time to Roam Magazine Issue 13 - February/March 2015 | Page 37

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tried + tested camper review

THE CAMPER WORTH
WAITING FOR
TRIED
+
TESTED
Tried and Tested Aussie Swag Ultra D RRP $59,400

There’s a wait of four to six months for a new Aussie Swag camper,
but buyers aren’t complaining. DAVID COOK explains why.
A wise man once said that success lies with
doing what you love and doing it the best.
It is at the core of some of this nation’s great
success stories, and forms the basis for the
pre-eminent position of Aussie Swag campers
in the rear-fold hardfloor camper trailer market.
Aussie Swag was one of the earlier players in
the camper trailer business, starting in 1985, in
Alstonville, in northern NSW. Noel Fernance and
his wife Julia had been caravanning and camping
for most of their married life and hit on the idea that
a tent on a trailer seemed a good combination.
Noel became aware of the concept, which
he says was developed in Denmark under
the name Combi-Camp in the 1940s.
“We bought one about fifth-hand from a guy in
Brisbane to use on weekends and I was intrigued
by the concept,” admits Noel. “A version of it
was later produced in New Zealand under the
name Camp-o-Matic, which was later brought to
Australia. Cub had become involved prior to that.
“I started building them as a sort of semihobby, which a lot of people in this industry
seem to do, and it was very promising. We
moved to Brisbane in 1987 and established a
factory there, which we still occupy today.”
Camper Trailer manufacture has something

of a mercurial aspect to it, especially since the
influx of inexpensive Chinese campers over the
last seven or eight years, but Aussie Swag is one
brand which has continued to forge its way ahead.
Noel puts this down to a combination
of quality and back-up service. He says
that 11 years of renting campers, with up
to 40 on the road at any time, soon taught
him what worked and what didn’t.
“Because we only sell direct, with no agents,
it’s very important that everything is perfect.
For some it’s the agent’s job to fix up any little
problems that haven’t been fixed in the factory.”
All Aussie Swag campers are in the rear-fold
format. In the mid-1980s both Cub and Camp-oMatic, the only other brands on the market, were
very basic. In those days the jockey wheel and
the mattress on the Aussie Swag were options,
but then they also only sold for $1650. Since
then, as with all campers, they have become
heavier, more complex and much pricier.
“We continue to say we must go back to a
more basic format, something that’s cheaper, but
we simply can’t sell them,” says Noel. “It doesn’t
cost that much less to build a smaller model
but people expect, say, it will cost only half the
price, and you simply can’t afford to do that.”

Aussie Swag campers aren’t really
built for people who want to go camping
in caravan parks on the weekend. These
trailers are built for those who seriously want
to go offroad in security and comfort.
The waiting time for an ordered Aussie
Swag varies between four and six months,
which speaks to the reputation of the brand.
“We know it costs us customers on occasion,”
Noel says, “but we won’t take short cuts. It’s
not easy to get skilled people who can do
the standard of work you want in production,
and even then they have to be trained to
the actual job at hand. We’d rather focus on
doing the best possible job with the skilled
people in our crew rather than trying to rush
and sell campers simply for the sake of it.”
Aussie Swag campers are in the all hardfloor/
rear-fold format, meaning the top of the trailer
folds over to the rear and forms a hard floor up
off the ground behind. It’s a concept which is
relatively quick to set up – about a minute to this
stage - as the unfolding floor pulls the tent behind.
From there it’s essentially a matter of setting up
the awning, if needed, and pulling out the kitchen.
Aussie Swags are built on a very strong hot dip
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Issue 13 Feb/Mar 2015

37