CARAVANNERS Keith and Virginia Winstanley can thank an eagle-eyed member of the public for getting their $117,000 caravan back.

Police were put on alert after the 18-month-old Boroma Grandinata 745ST, chassis number BRO777, was stolen from a holding yard south of Sydney.

But within days police in the Sydney suburb of Hoxton Park received a call from a man reporting he had seen what appeared to be an abandoned caravan near his property.

And when a police patrol arrived on the scene they were just in time to see the 24.5ft Boroma being towed away from the quiet dirt road by a 4WD. A man was arrested.

"Five minutes later and the caravan would have been gone," Mr Winstanley told Caravanning News.

Although the caravan had been stripped, ownership documents and the Boroma manual had been placed neatly on the lounge and the television was off its bracket and lying on the bed.

Mr Winstanley, who is retired, believed a buyer for the luxury caravan may have already been been lined up.

The caravan disappeared within four days of the couple returning from a six-month sojourn to central Queensland.

"My heart sank when I discovered it had been stolen," he said. "I've had a couple of cars stolen over the years and it's not very nice when you come back and find them not there. We were very relieved to get it back."

He said the caravan was undamaged except for the door, which had been jemmied open and would have to be replaced.

"We are currently selling our house in Sydney and moving to Queensland because our children and all our grandchildren live up there. We'll probably live in the caravan while we buy a block of land and build a house on the Sunshine Coast."

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