What if a caravan expo wasn't just a place to buy a van — but a full festival weekend with onsite camping, motocross shows, fireworks, live music, and food trucks? That's exactly what Caravanning Queensland is bringing to Willowbank Raceway this August, and Steve sits down with the team behind it to find out how it all came together.

Joining Steve are Ben Menzies, Business Development Manager at Caravanning Queensland, and Jason Plant, CEO of Caravanning Queensland (CTIAQ) — along with MDC's Event's Coordinator, Leah Chevis. Together they unpack the thinking behind the 2026 Let's Go Ipswich Caravan & RV Expo (28–30 August, Willowbank Raceway), why the traditional expo format needed a shake-up, and what the caravanning community stands to gain from a new kind of event.

The idea has been 8–10 years in the making — conceived before COVID and finally coming to life at a venue big enough to pull it off.

They also dig into the broader industry picture — why younger buyers are entering the market, how caravanning stacks up as a genuine value-for-money alternative in a tough economic climate, and why events like this are one of the best ways to get new people into the lifestyle.

🎟️ Get tickets to the Let's Go Ipswich Caravan & RV Expo: https://www.caravanqld.com.au/show/2026-lets-go-ipswich-caravan-rv-expo/

🌐 Explore the full MDC range: https://www.marketdirect.com.au — Escape with Confidence

🎙️ Catch Jason Plant's previous episode (EP 36): https://www.marketdirect.com.au/mdc-podcast-season-2-episode-36/

📻 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2522398.rss

🔔 Subscribe so you never miss an episode — new episodes drop every Tuesday.

📍 MDC Showrooms nationwide: https://www.marketdirect.com.au/showroom-locations/

Escape with Confidence

What happens when the grandson of the man who built the original Land Rover starts making the hitches that go on the front of your caravan? You get Cruisemaster — and one of the most quietly impressive engineering stories in Australian off-road history.

In this episode, Sam sits down with Andrew Goddard, Managing Director of Cruisemaster and AutoPacific Group, alongside MDC Managing Director Vaughan Hindley and General Manager of Commercial & Product James Field. Together, they trace the Goddard family's engineering DNA from post-war England all the way to Brisbane — and into the front of more than 40,000 MDC caravans currently out on Australian roads.

Andrew pulls back the curtain on how the DO35 came to be, why the patented Checklock cap exists (spoiler: a caravan came off the back of a car at 100kph on a test Run), and what it actually takes to build a product tough enough for the tracks Australians are increasingly headed down. Vaughan shares why MDC made the call to switch to the DO45 for the new Gold Class AC22C — and why, across 40,000-plus units, they've never once had a DO35 failure in the field.

In this episode, we cover: the Goddard family engineering legacy and the original Series 1 Land Rover connection, the evolution of the DO35 from fabricated prototype to V3 Plus, the move to the DO45 for MDC's Gold Class range, why real-world testing beats the lab every single time, the RAT Run origin story and what's been learned in the field, and how Cruisemaster has kept its identity after joining AutoPacific Group.

Explore the full MDC range at https://www.marketdirect.com.au — and don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode.

Escape with Confidence

Escape with Confidence

From remote tracks to breathtaking campsites, they share the real stories, hard lessons, and honest tips that only come from life fully on the road. Whether you're planning your first big trip or already out there chasing the horizon, this one's for you.

In this episode, we sit down with Daniel, Steve & Rolly who share their experiences of living off grid for long periods of time and doing it with an MDC caravan built for exactly these kinds of adventures.

🎧 Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts — search Off Grid Down Under by MDC
📱 Follow MDC:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mdc_caravans_and_campers/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MDC_AU
📻 Full podcast playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjsVAcWloYAYA64q9ewHGiJ5uhgEGBJYZ

Escape with Confidence