Caravanning the Outback this winter? Tips others learnt the hard way!
You may be a grey nomad, a professional travel blogger, a family on holiday or working away from the office. Never before have we spent as much time appreciating our own beautiful country. Here are some ideas you might enjoy – and some tips from families who have done it the hard way.
NB – Don’t wait to get out in the outback before trying NIVE BEEF JERKY – Order https://nivebeef.com.au/ with speedy delivery – and get ready for your outback adventure.
Charleville Visitor Information Centre has great ideas for you. You’re going to love Charleville ! and you can’t visit here without treating yourself to NIVE BEEF JERKY made locally. Amazing flavour and totally nutritious. It’s worth the trip on its own! Buy Nive Beef Jerky at the Charleville Visitor information centre, when you drop in at the Railway Station, King Street and tell them Doug sent you! #charleville #nivebeefjerky
See – https://www.outbackqueensland.com.au/news/10-things-to-do-in-charleville/
CARAVANNING TIPS 47 TRAVELLING FAMILIES WISH THEY’D LEARNED SOONER – with thanks https://abigpeacheyadventure.com.au/
We asked the question:
“What’s one tip about travelling in a caravan with a family you wish you knew before you hit the road?”
Let’s find out what they said:
- BUY DARK COLOURED SHEETS FOR YOUR CARAVAN’S BEDS
Like it or not:
When you’re a travelling family your caravan’s beds will end up being used as couch space.
And the kids’ feet will get on your light coloured sheets.
Rachel’s caravanning tip is that you should expect to be a bit grubby, and that’s okay…
…but at least if you buy dark sheets it’s not so obvious!
- MAKE A CHECKLIST FOR WHEN YOU LEAVE THE CARAVAN PARK
If you sit around a caravan park around 10 am you’re likely to see a van take off with the antenna up.
Or the step down.
[We’d always forget to turn the gas off]
Caravanning Tips – Caravan Towing Checklist
And it’s worse when you’ve got kids trying to chat to you while you’re packing-up!
So we made a simple checklist that we kept in our phone:
We’d run through it before we took off.
And even though we’ve stayed in over 50 places in the last 2 years… we’d still forget things.
The checklist would save us.
Read: Caravan Towing Checklist: 16 Things To Check [Every Time You Tow]
- GET MORE FREEZER SPACE (IT GIVES YOU MORE FREEDOM AND PAYS FOR ITSELF PRETTY QUICKLY)
Amanda’s tip is: get more freezer space.
It’s the one thing the Lovells on Tour wish they’d had… especially when free camping or heading to more remote places.
Having a bigger freezer lets you:
Stock up when things are cheap
Have more meal options in your rotation
Not need to buy as many meals ‘out’
Spend more time free camping
We started without a car fridge:
Big mistake.
So we ended up getting one that doubled as extra freezer space.
It cost us about $480 from eBay… and paid for itself after about 6 weeks of travelling
- STOCK UP ON WINE BEFORE YOU GO TO THE NORTHERN TERRITORY
If you’re from a part of the country where you’re used to decent $5-$10 cleanskins then be prepared for a shock:
Wine is VERY expensive in the NT.
And, if you’re caravanning, you’ve probably made the switch to cask wine.
Caravanning tips – cask wine
(If you haven’t yet, you probably will… it’s not as bad these days)
But would you spend $30?
Probably not.
Now, we’re not recommending you start some prohibition-style bootlegging racket here…
…but floor pricing is a real thing.
- TAKE A BUCKET WITH A SCREW-ON LID FOR DOING LAUNDRY
Have a mini washing machine in your caravan?
Plan on just using the caravan park’s laundromats?
Either way, you’ll more than likely end up doing some hand-washing.
A collapsible tub works well, but a bucket with a screw-on lid works better.
You can put your dirty clothes in there. Add some water and detergent.
Caravanning Tips – Large Bucket With Screw on Lid
Screw on the lid… and drive.
Once you reach your destination, the washing’ done.
Read: Washing Clothes While Caravanning: The 5 Best Options
- BOOK EARLY FOR THE SPIRIT OF TASMANIA… BUT DON’T FORGET TO BOOK YOUR RETURN TRIP TOO
The Spirit of Tasmania is booked out for months in advance.
So if you’re thinking of going:
Book now.
Spirit of Tasmania
But do some research first.
You need to know how long you want to stay when you book.
We know of more than one travelling family who got stuck in Tasmania for weeks longer than they’d planned…
If you try to book your return trip while you’re there it might be a 4-6 week wait.
- HAVE A ‘PLAN B’ IN CASE YOU CAN’T COPE WITH NOISY SLEEPERS
Natalie and her family over at Curious Campers started off with everyone in a hard floor camper…
…but quickly realised the kids were noisy little sleepers and they couldn’t all sleep in the same room.
They added a dome tent for the rest of their 7 month trip.
It worked well for them… and to be honest?
Knowing how noisy our caravan can get overnight with a little one, it sounds peaceful being outside!
Might be a good solution for adult snorers too…
- DON’T BOOK ACCOMODATION UNTIL YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR DESTINATION
Making Trax with Max’s approach is to just wing it and go with the flow.
Making Trax with Max
Their caravanning tip is don’t book accomodation:
They’ve pulled into places expecting to stay a week and have stayed a day.
(and vice versa).
We agree with this one big time…
…it usually works out A LOT cheaper doing it this way too.
- KEEP A SPARE KEY TO THE CARAVAN IN THE CAR (AND VICE-VERSA)
This one should be pretty self-explanatory:
The worst place to keep a spare caravan key is in your caravan.
We didn’t even lose keys… but relied on this caravanning tip more than once.
If one of you goes out to get milk and the rest of the family are off on a walk when you get back?
Then this can be handy.
- YOU CAN SAVE A LOT OF MONEY (AND FREEZER SPACE) BY COOKING AND FREEZING MEAL-SIZED PORTIONS
Cooking is the last thing you want to do after a long day of travel.
Especially if you’ll be on the road again in the morning.
It makes it tempting to just buy dinner…
…but this can add up, and quickly become your largest travel expense.
Make the most of opportunities to do a cook-up, and put them in your freezer in meal-sized portions.
Then you have some cheap, easy (and often better-tasting) meals on hand.
- USE GOOGLE MAPS WITHOUT HAVING PHONE RECEPTION BY USING THE ‘OFFLINE MAPS’ FUNCTION
Google Maps and smartphones killed the GPS device industry.
But what happens if you’re travelling and you don’t have decent phone reception?
Caravanning Tips – Download Google Maps Offline
The good news is you can download offline maps pretty easily
(and the maps update automatically when your’e connected to Wi-Fi)
- SAVE YOUR $1 COINS: YOU’LL NEED THEM FOR THE LAUNDROMAT
Now, you might have an awesome mini washing machine in your caravan, or a great hand-washing set up.
But whether you like it or not:
You’ll probably need to use the caravan park’s machines at some point.
Towels. Linen. Blankets.
Sometimes you just want to do a large load to catch up on a family-load of washing.
The $1 / $2 coin is the currency of caravan park washing machines.
- DOWNLOAD THE WIKICAMPS APP
One of our biggest caravanning tips is to get WikiCamps:
and we added our own Number 14- Don’t wait to get out in the outback before trying NIVE BEEF JERKY – Order https://nivebeef.com.au/ with speedy delivery – and get salivating for your outback adventure.
