12/08/2024
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I was very excited to join the Uluru Convoy (June 2024). We travelled from Brisbane, and were looking forward to making friends on this leg of the trip. I booked the concierge option as it was just me and my two kids and was looking forward to a stress free camping trip.
The day before, Brooke the organiser and leader, announced that due to personal emergency she needed to pull out and designated (later I was told emplyed and paid) a young woman on the convoy to step into her place.
I strongly believe most of what went wrong on the trip stemmed from this move.
The new leader was helpful and friendly. She worked hard to do her best in the new role. However she was very inexperienced in a leadership role. I believe there was more to it than just setting up tents and taking them down next day.
There was no effort made to organise the promised communal “get to know each other” activities like evenings around fires etc. This was emphasized in the trip description and was one of the biggest selling points for me.
We were just 14 random families thrown into the same campground with no way to identify each other (a lot of times the renters and motor homers were separated) etc.
At our initial meeting spot we were checked off the list when arriving and left to our own devices. At one stage I talked to the convoy leader trying to get my bearings and was told to just go ahead when wanted to. There was no real meet up.
At this time asked if Brooke was ok, and I was told that yeah. She and her son just finished another convoy and were a bit sick of traveling. Do they were taking a break.
From then on felt that the leader was really white knuckling to fulfill her role.
As part of my concierge package, I was supposed to be supplied with a little fridge. I needed this for my daughter’s yoghurt pouches that she wouldn’t take her crucial medications without. The fridge didn’t work. It was missing a cable. And I had to resort to storing the yoghurt and anything else in the leaders mobile home fridge. Hoping they would be around when needed. Later in the trip I stored my supplies in other people’s fridges. Taking from their space.
Our tents were missing the “porch” tent poles, so we didn’t have that feature. And one of our three mattresses went down every night. We took to sleeping across them with the faulty one at our feet. The convoy leader was aware but didn’t have a replacement.
In our travels we weren’t provided the promised (and paid for) Starlink as the leader assumed we all had internet because a couple did. When asked I was told I need to ask for it. Which once we knew, we did. As the convoy leader was also a convoy participant, we were left with strict instructions to guard the equipment.
All of the above could be considered inconveniences and we could live with. But things weren’t about to get any better.
The worst trouble came once we were almost at our final destination. The truck broke down, forcing the convoy leader to drive with her mum, sister and two disabled brothers in their motor home extra 8 hours while the tent people waited around, relying on others to help with meals etc.
I understand that a truck breaking down is something that can happen. It’s just bad luck. But how it was handled spoke to volumes of the interim convoy leaders inexperience and consequent lack of skills.
The first night wasn’t too bad. When the readership motor home arrived already late, simple but comfortable motel rooms were booked for those with no tents. So after a night of food sharing we were able to put the kids to bed.
The next day we drove to the Uluru campground and spent the rest of the day waiting to find out what was happening to the tent families.
Again, we were told to borrow a pan to cook our meals. The kids (many with special needs as one of mine is) were beginning to get anxious. The Convoy FB chat started exploding. A member of the convoy and also a tent family member, tried to get Brooke to tell her where the replacement truck was, so she could relay this to her kids who were asking constantly.
Brooke kept assuring us on the chat that all is well and we will have our tents. But refused to answer the posed question with an actual concrete answers. The lady kept at it to no avail.
Eventually the simmering anxiety exploded and someone ended up being treated at the Yulara medical facility for a panic attack. Not a pleasant value add to any holiday.
By this time Brooke assured us that there wasn’t any alternative accommodation left available at Yulara and we had no choice but to wait for the replacement truck with our equipment.
Once the lady was released from medical care, her husband took things into his own hands. He found modest, albeit available accommodation for the tent families at the adjacent backpackers and booked it. I believe it was booked on the Bold Gorilla credit card.
The next day we had our tents. However things went further South when Brooke stated on the chat that she’s abandoning the group as she feels she can no longer communicate with us.
This is where threw my stake in. I felt that abandoning us will cause even more anxiety and stress. And she didn’t leave the chat. However she no longer responded to anyone, opting to play Chinese whispers through the young lady, who copied and pasted responses.
All in all, I felt the bad luck of the truck breakdown and resulting equipment issues was handled extremely unprofessionally. I felt that maybe reaching out to us and bring pro-active within information, accommodation options or even a pizza delivery for the families with no cooking equipment would have avoided so many issues.
If I felt the trouble wasn’t handled in a professional manner, I was about to find out just how unprofessional things could get.
On night two of camping at Yulara we had our tents. We were situated in a coach bay in the motorhome section, but I understand it may have been to help keep the tenters and the motorhomers together.
We had power plugs in the coach bay, but I quickly discovered the provided extension lead wasn’t long enough to reach our tent.
I approached the convoy leader asking if they have a longer and got into an unfortunate discussion about the happenings. By now I just wanted our tent and to enjoy the rest of the trip.
She went away but quickly came back with her elderly mum and a coiled power lead. Her mum gave me the lead saying that they don’t have a longer one available but I can have theirs. They would do without.
I stated that I couldn’t do that. They had five people in the motorhome, including two disabled boys. The lady got feisty and we had words. I stated that yes, I paid for a service, which included power leads and power and it wasn’t my responsibility to source them. However I wouldn’t take theirs and leave them without. I also tried to explain that my frustrations weren’t with them personally. And that I thought the whole mess was due to the actual organiser pulling out and throwing the young girl in the deep.
At this point I was told that Brooke had to pull out due to business emergency (third version of the story from the representative of Bold Gorilla) and she was scrambling to hire more staff.
It was also at this point where my confidence in the company and its staff hit rock bottom. I was told in no uncertain terms that it was due to demands like mine that the interim convoy leader and her mother were worried about Brooke taking her own life.
My enthusiasm for this convoy (and I tried real hard to foster some for the sake of my kids), my spirit and my resilience left me completely.
It is not something you want to hear on your trip if a lifetime. My heart sank to my stomach and I nearly threw up.
I walked away from the pair and tried to no longer communicate with them or Brooke.
At this stage I also considered leaving the convoy as some did, but as luck would have it, my car threw a “check engine light” and the closest mechanic to be able to fix it was in Adelaide. So we opted for the safety in numbers and stuck it out for the rest of the trip.
I wasn’t as unlucky as some. A mum with her son were left on the side of the road in a broken car in the middle of nowhere with no phone reception and the convoy leader did not stop to assist. There was a satellite phone the convoy leader had but deemed too expensive to use.
In Coober Pedy we opted for the staying in the underground campsite experience but the tents were too big. We were given the option of a motel room, which we were happy about, until we discovered we only had one bed for the three of us. (There were three people options available. We know the rooms from previous stay).
I could mention a myriad of other problems, however they all pale in comparison to being blamed for someone contemplating su***de because you’ve asked for what you paid for.
In retrospect I am glad I joined the convoy. I met some amazing people and were still in touch. Shielded from the drama and stress (timo my best abilities), my kids loved the experience and learned a lot. And I learned that other than the concierge service, there wasn’t really anything worth paying the $$ for. I could have done it all on my own and saved myself some dollars, nerves and stress.
So I would like to thank Brooke for this lesson. And if I can give her one piece of parting advice:
Honour your commitments. Don’t cut corners.
Put yourself in your customers shoes.
And don’t throw a hapless young woman into the deep end and expect things to work out ok.
PS: I have waited this long to leave this review because I wanted to be as objective as possible under these circumstances.
