campervans
 

has anyone ever used a campervan instead of rental accommodation.
looking in the word travel guide,they are very cheap.
also does anybody know of secure sites where they are parked and are they plenty

many thanks,
toan

Re: campervans
 

We would love some info on campervans too as we are planning on driving from brisbane to Cairns for a couple of weeks when we land. Make it a bit of adventure for the kids.:)

Re: campervans
 

Not actually used a campervan but i have in the past spent over six months living in van parks up and down the east coast, there is absolutely tons of van sites in oz and it's seriously cheap, think a pitch for a a campervan with electric hookup and access to showers/laundry etc was something like 5-15 dollars a night depending upon where and how nice the site is.

Must admit i'm considering doing the same when i get there (visa pending) as it makes moving about and checking out locations and jobs so much easier. :thumbup:

Re: campervans
 

thanks for that,

in the booklet i was given they start at $69 per day
2 web sites are www.camper.com.au and www.appollocamper.com.au

hope this helps

Re: campervans
 

thats what i'm thinking,travel and view different areas.
hassel free from moving from accomodation to accomodation. a great adventure before we settle down, hopefully

Re: campervans
 

Have you thought about buying one?

You could possibly find a bargain camper, buy it, use it and then when your finished sell for a profit rather than spending all that non recoverable cash :thumbsup:

Re: campervans
 

This is what my wife and I are hoping to do.

Essentially, purchase a camper van and spend a couple of months enjoying the Aussie camping life in the south-east quarter, whilst we are waiting for our stuff to arrive and we have no job pressures or holiday allowance.

Having looked around at campers it would seem you can spend anything from about $4000 up to hundreds of thousands, depending on what you are after.

Personally I would be happy with a two berth simple campervan, with a bit of aircon and a few other modcons. I reckon we will get something for around $10k that will be good enough for the job.

By the way, if anyone knows of a good place to pick up reasonable campervans in the Melbourne area please let me know!

Also another note, it seems you do have to be very careful when it comes to registration regulations etc in certain states, so do alot of googling before buying anything, we have only just scratched the surface and already we have learned alot.

Perhaps we should start a thread for all interested parties? Expat Campers in Oz!?:thumbsup:

ctg

Re: campervans
 

Sounds a bit pricey to me! We used www.campette.com great vans and you wont find cheaper!

Re: campervans
 

great idea, hubby wants to do this aswell, so if any one finds any info on buying a campervan in queensland would be greatful:)

Re: campervans
 

buying is an option,but renting you get all the perks,break down cover etc.
and the good thing there are rentals linked all over,so where ever you end up you drop it off.(within reason of course)

Re: campervans
 

like ctg said think research is the order of the day.........another thing on my to do list and hubby wonders what i do all day:blink: (ok so i pop on here every now and again:o)
sorry, back to the subject of campervans;) ..............................

Re: campervans
 

We want to get one of the winnebago beasts!!
We need a 6 berth, so there goes the house money :blink: we plan to take 6 - 8 months doing the whole of Oz with the kids, we'll then use it as a home whilst we look for a rental!:ohmy:

Found this link for rv sales,

http://www.cmca.net.au/markets/marke...home_sales.htm

Big4 holiday parks
are also good for pitches.

Re: campervans
 

I think if you are only going to do this for several weeks it would be worth renting. But if you’re looking at something more long term then purchasing and selling at the end would probably be cheaper.

Now for the thread hijacking!

We are planning the same too. Me, the wife, and two kids are hoping to travel around for about 3 - 4 months. A once in a life time adventure really & who knows where we will end up (bankrupt probably).

I figured there would be others doing something like this. It would be great if we could hook something up. Share the research so to speak.

Things that need to be researched:

Where is the best place to buy a campervan, & best place to sell one?
Is there something like the AA or the RAC other there?
Do I drive around the whole country, or do I take the train for some of it?
Do I need a 4x4 campervan? Or is that just for the west?
Would a car and a caravan be a better option?
What is a good guide to the location of camping/parking sites?
Prices?

Should we start a new thread about this?

:confused:

Re: campervans
 

Great link.
Especialy the Members Market link on the second column.

Many thanks:)

Re: campervans
 

There's meant to be a place in Kings Cross Sydney where you can buy/sell campervans... It might be leaning towards the backpacker end of the game though... :eek: There's also a place up here on the Northern Beaches whose name I forget... I'll have a look later and post a link...

There's the NRMA here in NSW or the RACQ in Queeensland... I definitely would not consider what you are without full membership of one of these or similar from one of the other States.

4X4 van IMHO wouldn't really be needed... You can always hire a one off for Fraser Island or wherever else you particularly want to go that requires it... You'd be amazed at where people get their campervans...!

Big 4X4 plus caravan is probably the most versatile way of doing it but might cost a fair bit more in the long run...

Big4 are the largest operator of campsites in Oz... Check them out...

New thread...? Good idea... :)

Re: campervans
 

Hi all, I have set up a new thread here -

The Camping Thread

Hope it helps!

ctg

Re: campervans
 

Here you go...

Sydney RV Centre

:)

Re: campervans
 

H all,

It's great to see this thread.

We are a family of 4 (daughter 11, son 8), and are thinking of doing the motorhome bit. We currently have a motorhome over here which I have looked at shipping over to Oz, but as everybody seems to say about vehicles, it doesn't seem worth it!!!

We are going for a reccie to Brisbane in May and hopefully can then decide if Oz is for us or not.

We are currently waiting for hubbys references (he's a carpenter/joiner) for TRA to come back so its all gone a bit flat at the moment, but this post has got me fired up again. :thumbsup:

Melanie

Re: campervans
 

im up in cairns. have you considered renting a 4wd with a camper top or a troopy which has the camper coversion. if your only going to rent for a few weeks ro travel up it will make your trip a lot more interesting. much more can be accessed by 4wd. fraser for a starters.

Re: campervans
 

Hi, my hubbie and I moved to melbourne last July NO REGRETS!!!! Weather fantastic, wildlife amazing and scenery out of this world!!! Anyway, we boughyt a second hand campervan (4 berth) from Beeltlemania, Moorabbin- East Melbourne. It's a Mazda converted camper, cost us $7000, and has been taking us to national parks with no problems every- weekend when not working. Definately the best move we made since coming out here.
Best of luck anyway- if you want some more details i'll forward them-
Andrea:cool:

Re: campervans
 

Have a look on www.campsaustraliawide.com.
We got the Camps3 book a few years ago and now a Camps4 book is out I think.Covers all of Oz.Lists all point where you can stop in a camper for free or very little charge.

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I personally, would have said exactly the opposite! Have you ever tried to drive a red dust road up a slight incline in a fully loaded rear wheel drive camper van? Or just driven that little bit too far on to the sand at the beach?

Re: campervans
 

I did say you could hire a 4x4 for doing anything a little more challenging... :)

How many of all the vans you see running around Oz are 4x4...? Not many that I've seen on my travels up and down the East Coast... How do all those backpackers get on then...?

Re: campervans
 

We did. We used Britz campervans, had one for a month. No campervan is cheap. You need all the insurance as the way they do accidents here is pay now, sort out fault and refund later. Cant remember what we paid, it was either $2k or $4k, and Britz is the cheapest, so you will know which price is right if you get a quote from them. Britz have slightly older vans, but still nice, clean and reliable. Apollo are middle of the road, nearly all new vans. Maui were the most expensive (Same company as Britz !), but all brand spanker vans with lcd tv's, satellite dishes etc. Britz is fine I would say, and we saved $1k over what Apollo would have been.

Park at any Big4 park. There are loads. We parked from $15 per night, use their power, showers etc. Ensuites are more. They mostly have pools etc, and are all really nice. If you go outside of big4, you can end up in a bit of a dump, so be warned.

We used the van when we came here until we found a house, had a brilliant time, and was cheaper overall than a car and motels, and had loads of fun.

Re: campervans
 

there is a place in Kings Cross somewhere, my mate sold her camervan there.

Don't buy a VW is you are doing long distances....ours died on us, so did our friends...great fun though. Drove from Fremantle to Sydney, great journey.

Have fun.

Re: campervans
 

Hate to do this, but have to disagree again!

We hired our van with www.campette.com with NO upfront costs! We paid $500 for 2 weeks rental and THAT WAS IT! The reason we chose them!

Re: campervans
 

HI all

I am writing this sat in our campervan in a free wireless site nr Surfers paradise. My wife and I have been on the road for 13 weeks now and are thoroughly enjoying it.

I totally agree with The Sub Main Man about buying a camper rather then renting. We hired a camper in WA for a few weeks (cost inc insurance $100 a day) which was fine for short term. Having got the bug for it, we bought our own vehicle in Adelaide because we intend on travelling all the way round and up to Cairns. Because of the timescale involved, we would have spent the same money renting one as we would have buying one, but we have the collateral at the end.

Just make sure you buy a decent one and avoid buying of a backpacker if possible because they're generally in very poor condition. We paid about 3000 English Pounds and although it's 1988 it's done us proud and people are always commenting on what a lovely example we have.

Our top tip for wishing to buy: grab a 'trading post' paper out the newsagents, hire a car for the day and spend all day driving round looking at what you can get for your money. There's plenty out there for sale.

Re: campervans
 

HI all

I am writing this sat in our campervan in a free wireless site nr Surfers paradise. My wife and I have been on the road for 13 weeks now and are thoroughly enjoying it.

I totally agree with The Sub Main Man about buying a camper rather then renting. We hired a camper in WA for a few weeks (cost inc insurance $100 a day) which was fine for short term. Having got the bug for it, we bought our own vehicle in Adelaide because we intend on travelling all the way round and up to Cairns. Because of the timescale involved, we would have spent the same money renting one as we would have buying one, but we have the collateral at the end.

Just make sure you buy a decent one and avoid buying of a backpacker if possible because they're generally in very poor condition. We paid about 3000 English Pounds and although it's 1988 it's done us proud and people are always commenting on what a lovely example we have.

Our top tip for wishing to buy: grab a 'trading post' paper out the newsagents, hire a car for the day and spend all day driving round looking at what you can get for your money. There's plenty out there for sale.

Re: campervans
 

HI all

I am writing this sat in our campervan in a free wireless site nr Surfers paradise. My wife and I have been on the road for 13 weeks now and are thoroughly enjoying it.

I totally agree with The Sub Main Man about buying a camper rather then renting. We hired a camper in WA for a few weeks (cost inc insurance $100 a day) which was fine for short term. Having got the bug for it, we bought our own vehicle in Adelaide because we intend on travelling all the way round and up to Cairns. Because of the timescale involved, we would have spent the same money renting one as we would have buying one, but we have the collateral at the end.

Just make sure you buy a decent one and avoid buying of a backpacker if possible because they're generally in very poor condition. We paid about 3000 English Pounds and although it's 1988 it's done us proud and people are always commenting on what a lovely example we have.

Our top tip for wishing to buy: grab a 'trading post' paper out the newsagents, hire a car for the day and spend all day driving round looking at what you can get for your money. There's plenty out there for sale.

Re: campervans
 

mmmm Wot happend there:mad:
lol

Re: campervans
 

Hahahah looks like some of that Surfer's Paradise sand got into the laptop!

Thanks for the top tip, we can't wait to get out there and do what you are doing.. We are hoping to buy one. Have been checking out the Trading Post website.. thinking about something like a small motorhome or even a hi-top 4x4 or something.

Bring it on!!