Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Hi,
We want to travel around OZ with a caravan to make our mind where we want to stay. The trip is planned to take approx 3-4 months. Now I need some advice from people who did the same or are planning to do so.

As we won’t have a residential address by the time we start our trip, how can we get our car/caravan insured?
How did you handle your mail? Is it worth to get a PO Box?
We are also bringing a dog. Where do we need to register her? At the place where we start? But again we won’t have a residential address.
What did you do with your furniture /container in the meantime?

May be there are some more things to be organised which I don't see at the moment.

Any advise is much appreciated.

Many thanks

D&W

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

hi, not travelled around aus yet myself but know a few who have, 3-4 months isnt a very long time, i assume you have some areas in mind?, australia is HUGE and you dont appreciate how big it actually is until you get here!!!
as for post, most places are ok with a po box number, but tax etc. want a residential address too, (think medicare is the same) so if you are planning to work as well as travel around, you will need a residential address to pay your taxes etc. therefore i would suggest using a friends address if at all possible. Car insurance is usually ok, i used a po box number simply because when we first arrived we lived right out in the middle of nowhere with no postman!!!! therefore po box number was the only way.
as for your dog, sorry cant help on that one, but i am sure others may be able to.
regards
vb2

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

The dealer who we bought the motorhome from has let us use their address for insurance etc until we get our own address. We have been stopping in the same place now for a couple of months, but go off on weekends so our mail is sent to the caravan park, but a couple we met had a po box which seemed to work out ok, you can also have mail sent to your nearest post office.

Bear in mind that many caravan parks will not accept pets, nor do many of the national parks allow dogs in their camping grounds.

A great book to get is camps3 which shows you all the free camping spots around the country.

We sold all our furniture before we came out.
If you are WA a lot of the side roads will be unsealed and gravel, which can sometimes make for a rough ride especially in our big van!!

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Hi, You will love doing the trip,Lots of ozzies do "The big one" we took a year out when we first arrived, started in Melbourne and stayed at Mornington caravan park until we purchased 22 foot caravan and 4 wheel drive. We had never towed before so it was a new experience. We travelled across to SA then WA for a friends wedding, travelled south WA then back to SA, up the middle to Alice then worked our way across to Townsville then down east coast before settling on Sunshine coast.
I actuactuallyscribed to caravan world (oz one) for a while in the UK very useful publication, plenty of tips and places to see.
We managed to use the address of caravan site to register car and van as we were staying there on a permpermanente for a month before heading off. We did have a po bPO 1st up but then used a mail forwarding service, you give their address and all mail is sent to them, when we got to a large enough place with post office we would phone them or e mail them with our location and they would forward any mail to care of post office and we just collected it from them, I can not remember name of the company but it was very efficient and they were based in Gosford NSW, i am sure you could find them on the internet.
As previous reply, No idea about the dog, but many caravan parks and national parks do not allow dogs, it may be worth checking before hand.
RACQ offices do very good books for trips around OZ, they had small booklets (free) that would show roads, distance and stopping areas on main routes. The stopping areas are a good thing to know, some were just small pull in areas others were large areas where you could camp overnight or a couple of days, normally with toilets and water facilities. There was previous mention about a book re camp sites, we had a couple which showed free camping areas which was great as many were on the beach or very close. Whilst going across the Nullaba plains the cost of fuel increased dramdramatically some places you had to pay for water as it is scarce. I was concerned with the road trains but they were no problem as long as you know they are there.
Hope this helps any other queries dont hesitate to PM.

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Sorry forgot that one. We left all our belongings in storage in the UK until we found where we wanted to live then sent for belongings, luckily it was on acreage so we had the caravan parked at side of the garage and slept in van for couple of weeks before furniture arrived.

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Just thought you may like to see what we did our travels in.

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Nice photo's :)

Looks like a blast to travel around in a caravan!

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Hi,

A big THANK YOU for your replies.

It helps us to get a better picture of what we need to keep in mind.

I found the details of the Mail forwarding company in the internet. I am sure we will use them as well.

Thanks again and hope to see on the Road on day, Cheers!

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

On a lighter note, you will get involved in the "Round Australia" anti-clockwise discussion, if you haven't already been dragged into it :D

Re: Going around OZ in a caravan without having a residential address
 

Wow what an adventure you will have , i would be very interested in hearing all about your trip the places you go etc. Good luck and happy travelling :D
Mandy