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New member - T6.1 Ocean

Wembley

Wembley

Messages
31
Location
Kaltbrunn, Switzerland
Vehicle
T6.1 Ocean 150
Hi everyone, we recently bought a T6.1 Ocean (our first camper), and we’re looking forward to many adventures in it – “we” being me, my wife and our daughter (nearly 3). Before buying this our only other recent camper experience was in a converted Peugeot mobile home we used for going to Glastonbury a few years ago (pre-parenthood), so this is opening up a whole new world of holidays for us! We figured that the current covid / travel situation means we’ll be taking flights a lot less for the foreseeable future, and that the Cali would be a great way to have fun holidays, as well as visiting family back in the UK.

I have to compliment the California Club and its contributors for having a fantastic forum here! It really helped us when trying to work out some aspects of what to look for, and what would suit us best, as well as highlighting the multitude of ways we can customise and supplement our beloved new ride! We bought it from a local VW/Audi dealer, who was really helpful throughout the process. Reading some of the posts on here I get the impression that people can have mixed experiences when searching for a Cali and buying one, but I have to say it seems we were really lucky. At the showroom there was also a technician with a T5 Cali, who was able to quickly talk us through many aspects of the vehicle we were looking at. Safe to say, the Cali falls into the “don’t test drive it unless you intend to buy it” category, as I was sold on it within minutes!

We have taken a couple of trips since picking up the vehicle a few weeks ago – just 1-2 nights at a time, within an hour or two’s drive of home, but then we are pretty lucky being in Switzerland, close to a lot of lakes and other areas of natural beauty. I have a bad feeling us getting the Cali may have cursed the Swiss summer somewhat, as we have had an awful lot of rain since we bought it. Sorry everyone…..but it has at least allowed us to get experienced with setting up in wet weather, and heading downstairs to sleep when the rain got too noisy on the roof a couple of weeks back.

Thanks again to everyone for such a great forum, and we’re looking forward to learning more, and sharing info about our adventures and experiences with the new camper!

View attachment 62336
 
Welcome! What a super looking van you have there, is it grey and silver? We cannot get that two tone in the UK.
 
Welcome! What a super looking van you have there, is it grey and silver? We cannot get that two tone in the UK.
Thank you! Yes, it’s dark grey and silver - we were kind of lucky this was the one we found after a fair bit of trawling online as we really like it. The two tones in green/white and red/white also look great (and more retro), but we’re happy with how ours looks.
 
Welcome!

Great looking van. I also used this very handy forum and am new to Cali ownership hence my "all the gear and no idea" thread. Sadly paying UK taxes rather than Swiss so could only afford a Beach 6.1 which I bought in Germany. Similar sized family ( wife plus 5 year old) but yet to get out in it as I'm trying to find a spare day when it isn't having something stuck on it. New wheels last week. Engine remap today . 5 year old has named the Van "Bubble". We go to Switzerland often ( Grimentz) you are in a great place for a VW California, enjoy and post tips and photos please
 
Welcome!

Great looking van. I also used this very handy forum and am new to Cali ownership hence my "all the gear and no idea" thread. Sadly paying UK taxes rather than Swiss so could only afford a Beach 6.1 which I bought in Germany. Similar sized family ( wife plus 5 year old) but yet to get out in it as I'm trying to find a spare day when it isn't having something stuck on it. New wheels last week. Engine remap today . 5 year old has named the Van "Bubble". We go to Switzerland often ( Grimentz) you are in a great place for a VW California, enjoy and post tips and photos please
Thank you for the warm welcome!

I know what you mean about "all the gear..." - so much to learn and find out, and this really is a great place to do it. I would not be at all humble about a Beach 6.1 - in truth for us there was an element of luck in finding what we got, but if a good Beach had come up in our search I think we'd have given it serious thought. Sounds like you're already souping yours up quite a bit! We named ours Wembley, after the guy in Fraggle Rock (long story involving Hawaiian shirts), out little girl seems good with that, so far at least

I just looked up Grimentz on the map - beautiful part of the world. Well, I say that having been to Zermatt for winter sports, and also through the countryside in that area on the glacier express train route a few years back. Our trips have been limited to sites close by up until now, including Horw, Murg and Vitznau, but I'm happy to share experiences and tips on these places if anyone is interested. Hope you enjoy getting out on some trips in Bubble soon!
 
Love to see the pic of your Cali, but can't view the attachment. Just says, "Oops ran into a problem'
Anyone help? Oh sorry, welcome to the forum.
 
Thank you for the warm welcome!

I know what you mean about "all the gear..." - so much to learn and find out, and this really is a great place to do it. I would not be at all humble about a Beach 6.1 - in truth for us there was an element of luck in finding what we got, but if a good Beach had come up in our search I think we'd have given it serious thought. Sounds like you're already souping yours up quite a bit! We named ours Wembley, after the guy in Fraggle Rock (long story involving Hawaiian shirts), out little girl seems good with that, so far at least

I just looked up Grimentz on the map - beautiful part of the world. Well, I say that having been to Zermatt for winter sports, and also through the countryside in that area on the glacier express train route a few years back. Our trips have been limited to sites close by up until now, including Horw, Murg and Vitznau, but I'm happy to share experiences and tips on these places if anyone is interested. Hope you enjoy getting out on some trips in Bubble soon!
Please share the trips, you’re in an area we don’t know so any perfect spots to park up much appreciated. Will google Wembley/ Fraggle Rock
 

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