Camper van travel - general advice

breadmonkey

Greetings from Sydney!

We're picking up our van tomorrow morning and taking it up the coast which I must say Im very excited about. After months of buses and trains and all the associated hassle I just can't wait to bomb around the place entirely under my own steam.

Anywhoo, we've gone for the cheapest rental we could find but the van itself acutally has a lot more than I was expecting (I was expecting just a van) including a power socket! I'm sure that many of you out there have travelled in a similar way and must have picked up a lot of stuff to make your life easier/more interesting so if you'd be willing to share that would be great!

Actually, I'd be specifically interested in what meals you managed to concoct. We won't have a fridge but will have an array of pots, pans and utensils.

Woohooooo!

hussey

Buy a cooler box/small esky

when I did it we shoved in fridge food in there and keep very well, and pretty much had standard food

spag bol / indian / chicken etc

nothing to fancy

The_B_Man

noodles, chicken soup.

buy a torch.
any caravan park will have power outlets to charge ur phone/laptop/gameboy.

if ur pullin over to spend the night somewhere, make sure theres a toilet near!

all camping areas have BBQs too, jsut stick in a dollar and go. so ya can cook steaks and stuff on them, or roo-burgers, or whatever takes ur fancy.

The cooler boxes\eskys can hold your milk and ham and cheese and all that, so cereal is an option, as is sandwiches. its gairly handy. theres not much you cant have. just remember to buy ice in petrol stations every day or 2. costs 3.50.

also, every campsite will provide a gas refill service for like a tenner to fill up your gas stove. takes 10 minutes.

also, buy loadsa plastic cutlery!

we drove down from cairns to sydney about 2 months ago in 3 wicked vans. was warm when bright out but freezing cold at night. we were wearing 2 hoodies and a coat to bed, then sweatin to bits in the morning. we had sleeping bags and bought pillows from woolworths so our van was comfortable. we also had the laptop and a portable telly for when there was nothing to do.

brendansmith

Get a 5 litre bottle of water for refilling and showering with in campsite without facilities. You will have a sticky gouch after a day of driving in the sun lemme tell ya!

The_B_Man

pfft, showerings for gheys! If we parked in carpark by the sea, our only requirement was a toilet (since we were travelling with 3 wimmins's).

Ya cant be a backpacker and still smell nice! Its like being a student!

breadmonkey

Thanks for all the advice. Did you generally just find a random spot to pull over? Any hassle? Difficult to find places in bigger towns? Don't know if I want to spring for campsites etc.

The_B_Man

ye ya can park anywhere for the night pretty much. The places you cant, are all signposted telling you otherwise. Ya can even legally park in any car parking space, according to the local police we asked.

we even parked in a car park that closed after 11pm and didnt reopen til 7am. Sure we were sleeping there so it didnt bother us. we also did spring for a good few caravan parks, just for the electricity and showers and stuff. you're talking less than 10 dollars each (2 to each van).

also, wickedcampers.com.au are doing a big thing in 3 weeks i think. a big road trip with all their vans from brissy to cairns, and they;re even offering free relocations on a 5 day trip, ie they need to get vans from point A to point B, so they get ppl to drive them for them. They're not usually free but are used an as alternative to flying. like in a plane to cant see the sights along the way, same with this, its too short to stop anywhere so its literally just for getting from point A to B