Heading to Australia in June

wotzgoingon

What type of weather is there in NSW Sydney in June? I know it is the winter there but it can't be too bad can it?

I will hire a camper van and travel up to the gold coast and stop at various locations along the way. Coast and beach locations.

Is it expensive to stay at campsites and are there many along the way?

Also I was reading it's against the law to stop at the side of the road for the night. Surely if I find a good remote place I could pull in for the night just as I would in Ireland if I was in a camper. The police hardly drive the roads out looking for such people.

Anyone ever made the trip how much roughly would it cost on food and petrol?

Sorry for all the questions I am just weighing up the pluses and negatives.

minzabud

Winter can be suprisingly cold at night and early morning, you will still get a nice afternoon but it will get dark early.The further north you go the nicer it will be and a lot of people holiday on the Gold Coast that time of year in search of sunshine.

There is an app you can get which lists locations of free campsites all over oz so look into that but your not going to get anything in bondi beach or Byron bay, mostly out of the tourist areas.

Pulling into a caravan park can cost anywhere from 20-50au for a night depending if you want power or not, big4 is the name of a group with caravan parks all over Australia.


It's about 2500km from Sydney to cairns, cost me about 350au in petrol to drive a wagon last October and obviously a ban will cost more, if you are traveling alone I would suggest going along the east coast via the greyhound coach and getting a package deal for your trips and hostels along the way as you can save a fortune, it cost my partner and me over 7k for 3 weeks including Fraser Island,whitsundays,barrier reef etc..... And that was staying in hostels up the coast, I think 21day packages start at 1500au with Peter Pans.

pete4130

Check out imoova.com for free camper relocations. They might cut costs and work out for you.

You can put ads on gumtree for ride shares and there are ride share sites. Mostly backpackers. I drove from Cairns to Sydney about 4 years ago and it cost me $40 in fuel as all the people I had to ride share along the way chipped in and covered most of the costs.

If its an inconspicuous camper, then you can pull in on a residential street and park up no problems once you are discrete.

There are locations around place such as Byron Bay, Newcastle beach area that overnight parking is illegal for any vehicle regardless if occupied or not to stop people camping out over night.

There are plenty of truck stops on the highway but the truckies can get annoyed at non truckies using them, so expect horns blasted etc.

I generally find a quiet spot or sleep on residential streets. My camper is stealthy though.

Fuel is cheap at the minute, like $1 a litre of petrol there abouts. Average camper van would probably do 10L/100km so thats about $100 per 1000km as a rough guide.

As has been said, winters and early mornings can be cold, expect frost. By 8am it'll be warm and during the day should be fine.

Noo

Keep in mind it easily drops into single figures during the night in winter....you will get cold camping, be prepared.

Also regarding the cops finding you....i wouldnt bet against it, they love their fines here and theyre damn good at dishing them out.

wotzgoingon

Also a quick question. Say I pull up at a beach(not staying the night) do I have to pay for parking? As I was in Wales a few years ago and all the places had pay to park, much the same way all small towns in Ireland now are.

pete4130

Depends what beach and how popular it is. Some are free, some are not.

For example Bondi is about $7.90 per hour in summer, about $5 in winter, max of 4 hours.

Manly is about $8 an hour, max of 4 hours....and they love giving out tickets.

Places like Wollongong/Wonoona are free.

Just read the signs before parking up.

astonaidan

pete4130 wrote: »

Check out imoova.com for free camper relocations. They might cut costs and work out for you.

You can put ads on gumtree for ride shares and there are ride share sites. Mostly backpackers. I drove from Cairns to Sydney about 4 years ago and it cost me $40 in fuel as all the people I had to ride share along the way chipped in and covered most of the costs.

If its an inconspicuous camper, then you can pull in on a residential street and park up no problems once you are discrete.

There are locations around place such as Byron Bay, Newcastle beach area that overnight parking is illegal for any vehicle regardless if occupied or not to stop people camping out over night.

There are plenty of truck stops on the highway but the truckies can get annoyed at non truckies using them, so expect horns blasted etc.

I generally find a quiet spot or sleep on residential streets. My camper is stealthy though.

Fuel is cheap at the minute, like $1 a litre of petrol there abouts. Average camper van would probably do 10L/100km so thats about $100 per 1000km as a rough guide.

As has been said, winters and early mornings can be cold, expect frost. By 8am it'll be warm and during the day should be fine.

Really regret not taking a van and doing what you did

CabanSail

I recently did a Motorhome relocation from Brisbane to Sydney. We got 4 days to do the drive and they refunded $100 of fuel. We chose to drive the New England Highway as it was between Xmas and NY so the Pacific Highway would have been the full on holiday disaster. Driving down the NEH was very pleasant. We stayed each night at a camping site mainly to avail of mains power and it allowed us to use the A/C. The sites cost between $25 and $45 a night. If I were to do it again I would probably stay in some roadside places some nights just for the quietness and to get some really dark nigh photo's

There are plenty of accessible beaches along the coast where you will be able to stop. Just avoid the ones in towns etc.

I searched on Transfercar to find the relocation but ended up doing the booking directly with the company (Apollo Campers)

The other cost can be the insurance but the hire car excess is included on good travel insurance policies.