NEW Wicked Campers 5-SEATERS! (features of the Nissan El Grand)

Introducing the Nissan El Grand - the new 5 seater available at Wicked Campers! Perfect for your roadtrips, this pimpin' vehicle has it all: dual air-con, power-steering, CD player with i-pod adapter, table, chairs, cosy bed and a kitchen out the back (complete with gas cooker, kitchen sink, cutlery, plates, cups, bowls, frying pan and saucepan).

The new fleet of Wicked Campers are painted by Indigenous Aboriginal artists, to give you a truly unique Australian experience.

I created this video, with the help of Steph and Daz at the Brisbane depot, Ross our graphics dude, Farley the photographer and Nathan, the Wicked artist featured in the clip. Thanks guys!

Competition madness

It's towards the end of January and the New Year's hangover's seem are all over, businesses are back on board and Wicked is joining the party!

If you fancy your luck we have three competitions running in February.

Fancy a free trip around Australia?
Wicked Campers are assisting with Surfin' Steve's Australia tour by providing 2 personalised vans for the tour. Surfin' Steve is expanding his entourage and looking for a sexy assistant. Someone fun, outgoing and up for any challenge (knowing Steve this will probably involve a lot of nudity!). You have 4 days left to submit a video, letting Steve know why you're the girl of his dreams! Enter the competition here.

Fancy yourself the next Spielberg?
Wicked Campers are teaming up with Philip Island Nature Parks to find an Australian budding film-maker! Hop in your campervan, film your Wicked experience and submit the link to us! 3-parks pass tickets to Philip Island Nature Park will be given out every fortnight to the best video, whilst the major winner receives a $500 camera and a life-size stuffed penguin!

Fancy getting away over Easter?
The Great Noosa Campout is a 3-day music and cultural festival held in the Noosa Hinterlands over Easter. We have 2 doubles passes (valued at $320) to give-away. All you have to do is click here and answer a verrrry simple answer about Wicked. Aussie icon Daryl Braithwaite (one of my faves) will be performing at the festival along with other super acts including Colin Hay from 'Men at Work'. If you attend the festival in a Wicked Camper, you also receive 1 night of free camping!

You gotta be in it to win it!

Now for something positive!

As most of you all know, Wicked have copped a bit in the media recently. Since the story appeared we have taken measures to make our van safety more transparent. The most recent addition is the introduction of a 'safety checklist' (which includes major mechanical components such as tyres, brakes, seatbelts, windscreen, headlights, oil, water and fuel, as well as a road test and full under-body check). Both mechanics, cleaning staff and customers will sign this sheet - to ensure all is in order before the customer leaves on their Wicked roadtrip!

Since the story appeared we've received a nice amount of compliments from previous customers, here's a sample of the feedback:

Hi Everyone
I just wanted to comment on the unsafe vans story, which was on our local news recently. My husband and I are in our 40's and 50's, with a fair knowledge of mechanics. And we hired a van off you guys a couple of years ago. We thought it was a fabulous van. And not once ever did we feel it was unsafe or unreliable. It was a very memorable trip with NO van problems what so ever. We would not hesitate to hire another one ASAP.
Regards
A happy customer, Katherine NT

Hey you Wicked children, just got back from an awesome road trip with one of your vans! Even though the CD player didn't work (no Bowie to help us along the way!) we had a great time. AND at the end of the trip one of your workers was kind enough to drive us to the nearest train station so we didn't have to pay for a taxi. So lots of luvin' and thanks, the dreaded Canary can deem you unroadworthy as much as it likes but you're still the best things on the road!!

Best way to travel from Brisbane to Hervey Bay!! We got a free upgrade which was nice and the staff were really friendly. The van took a bit of getting used to but was fun to drive and we got loads of attention! Prior to getting the van, we had a car, tent etc.... We'd spend ages every night/ morning blowing up therma ...rests, packing/ unpacking the tent and getting ourselves sorted.... with the wicked you can just rock up, rearrange a few things and go to sleep. We would definitely recommend it!

Our adventure tok us from Sydney to Cape Tribulation over 10 days... It involved a few speeding fines, being jumped by some gay folk from Mackay and picking up some hot French girls...

and my favourite:

the trip was awesome but one month later I'm still waiting for the fotos of my picking up when I was naked.... Could I get them one day??? cheers

The Wicked Van Blues

Here it is! Direct to Youtube and hopefully hitting the radio stations soon.. Rob Imeson's "The Wicked Van Blues".

Rob is a Yamba musician who contacted Wicked Campers last year about his song, which was gaining a huge response from the backpacker crowds at the local YHA. The second we heard this song, we knew we had to share it with the world. It really sums up what most Aussie blokes think when they see a Wicked Camper drive past; not only that - but its incredibly catchy too.

The track is currently storming up the Triple J unearthed charts - the more people that listen to the song on Triple J, the more of a chance we have it hitting the airwaves - please listen to it by clicking this link (http://www.triplejunearthed.com/Charts/). Its currently #11 on the overall chart (leapt up from #661 last week) - we want it up at #1.

Congrats to Rob Imeson - you're a musical genius; and Heaven Recording Studios for putting the music video together.

Business as usual for Wicked Campers

Brisbane‐based Wickers Campers currently has 944 rental campervans operating in Australia,
including 611 Queensland registered vans currently on the nation’s roads.
Wicked founder and director John Webb said today the safety of the company’s vehicles was its
absolute top priority.

“Wicked Campers takes the safety of its fleet very seriously and we have co‐operated closely with the Queensland Department of Transport to ensure all our vehicles are safe,’’ Mr Webb said.

“We have recently voluntarily deregistered around 50 vans and are also in the process of introducing 500 upgraded vehicles over the next year. This will phase out all pre‐2004 vans in our fleet.’’

Mr Webb said he was very disturbed by reports suggesting that most of the company’s vehicle fleet had been taken off the road.

“In contrast, about five percent of our fleet has been voluntarily deregistered, which is generally in line with car rental industry standards,’’ he said.

“Wicked has almost 950 vans still on the road around Australia, including more than 600 registered in Queensland.

“It is very much business as usual for Wicked – providing a safe and fun‐filled holiday for thousands of tourists.’’


For more information contact:
Ella Riggert, Big Splash Communications, Ph (07) 3395 0772 Mob: 0411 871 451

To all our Wickedees on their summer roadtrips - hope you're having an amazing time!