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1. Enjoy the freedom to explore at your own pace
When it comes to getting the most out of a holiday, motorhome road trips are hard to beat. With your very own home on wheels, you’re free to seize the day, stop wherever you please for however long you please, and simply take in the scenery.
When you explore Australia by campervan you can take the road less travelled. You’ll be able to wander at your leisure, just like some of our recent travellers did. They rented a travel van to do a six-week road trip of the Australian east coast and Northern Territory and loved every minute.
They loved the freedom it gave them, stating “At one point on our trip, we came across a road that wound its way through the Daintree Rainforest. We spontaneously decided to take it and were rewarded with a spectacular sight of a carpet of green stretching its way into the distance. We could not see another soul in sight and the detour would have never happened if we were on a bus tour”.
2. Plan your trip as you go
The great Australia road trip in a motorhome means freedom and flexibility. Fall in love with a spot? Stay an extra night. Want to explore new places, do it. You can set your own schedule and experience the hidden gems.
While travelling through the Daintree, our intrepid couple decided to spend a couple of hours enjoying the isolation. “While my wife relaxed with a book in the shade of the camper, I explored the surrounding forest. With no timetables, flight check-in times or deadlines pressing us to race to our next checkpoint, I could live in the moment. When I eventually made it back to the campervan, we prepared a quick lunch and then were on our way again. The flexibility of the campervan allowed for such a day to be possible”.
3. Take your creature comforts with you
Get off the beaten track yet take all the comforts and convenience with you. You can travel comfortably with a warm bed and a place to relax. As our six-week road trippers told us, “my partner made our camper our home-away-from-home, and it took no effort. She simply brought our pillows and blankets from our bed at home as well as my favourite drinking glass”.
Campervan travel ticks all the boxes for everybody. You can get those raw experiences from off-the-map trekking and develop an intimate connection with the land, local people and culture while enjoying holiday pampering.
4. Travelling by camper is an affordable option
You can stretch your money. There is the upfront cost to rent a travel van, but it’s worth it. Campervan hire costs are about the same as a car, but you’ve paid for all your transportation and campgrounds in Australia cost around $35 to $65 AUD a night, a fraction of the cost of hotels, and there are also plenty of opportunities to free camp and discover the less-visited places.
Sharing food is good for the soul, and motorhome meals are the perfect way to do it. Not constantly paying for takeaways or restaurant meals also means more money for adventure activities. Being flexible, a bit creative, and taking advantage of the farmers’ markets, roadside stalls and boutique food producers you can eat like kings and stretch your budget.
Maui motorhomes sport a full kitchen, so go where you want and just enjoy the scenery while pulling meals together. No reservations, opening or closing times: simply park up whenever you feel peckish, whip out the table and chairs, raid the fridge and enjoy the views. And if a wee siesta to sleep off slightly decadent lunches is needed, then just do it.
5. Join the best community of travellers
Yes, van travel is about discovery and the freedom of going where you please, but the real reward comes from the people you meet. The campervan community is a friendly and welcoming bunch.
Rather than ending up in a characterless motel room, or soulless restaurant, you can find yourself sitting around campfires or dining tables, bonding with new-met friends, sharing travel tips, stories, laughs, and the odd cold one.
You get to meet people from all walks of life, ages and cultures. Our road trip couple told us of an experience on their drive down the NSW mid-north coast. “We were in Forster at the campground that overlooked the stunning water when our neighbours for the night introduced themselves. They were a young family and were regular campervanners from Victoria. "We use our camper to explore some of Australia's best spots to fish and surf," said Geoff, their father. I told them that we were travelling around Australia's eastern coast and that I was a keen surfer myself. He mentioned that there was a great spot about 20km out of Forster that they regularly visit on their NSW trips”.
6. Explore the many incredible holiday park options
No matter where you are in Australia, campgrounds are never far away. Although you’ll often get great tips from fellow campervanners, there’s also the internet. For an easy-to-use site either for powered camping sites or freedom camping spots with limited campsite facilities, try finder or the National Parks' websites. They’re a goldmine of detailed information on campsites.
Check out many of the downloadable camping apps like the thl Roadtrip App, or to stay on private property, try hipcamp.
Wherever you do roam, travelling with a fridge and a gas hob means cold beverages and hot coffee are on tap. There is nothing quite as magical as waking up in the morning and being greeted by a stunning sunrise through your motorhome window, starting your day’s adventure lounging around with coffee and having breakfast right where you’d parked. As the day unfolds, you can pull over and get out the chairs, and then enjoy a quiet brew, or something a little more chilled, in front of stunning white beaches, verdant forests or friendly kangaroos.
7. Enjoy a more immersive travel experience
Van travel can bring about a deeper appreciation of Australia through cultural experiences. In our previously quoted traveller’s words, “I have always wanted to find out more about Indigenous Australian culture and traditions. It was on an Aboriginal cultural tour just south of Darwin that I had one of the best experiences of my life. The tour explained the connection the Aboriginal clans have with the land, and I even got to blow a didgeridoo. Afterwards, we were invited to stay in a local Aboriginal community.
We drove the camper to the community and there we swapped stories all night with the local people about our experiences in the area. We then simply retired to the campervan for the night before saying our 'goodbyes' to those wonderful people in the morning”.
8. Get in some valuable bonding time
Shared experiences bring couples and families together; they make the stuff to talk about until you’re wrinkly(er) and old(er). On the road, you get to share new experiences and stunning scenery all the time. Hiking gets you outside, exploring, and enjoying each other and nature.
To bond even further, why not pull out board games in the evening and battle to the bitter end? Campervanners have told us they love a good game of Upwords and Sequence is a game that’s great to play with other travellers on the road.
The people you’re travelling with will dictate the number of beds you need. Maui motorhomes can fit up to six, but even if there are two of you, you might prefer a motorhome that sleeps four. It will give you more space to relax and curl up in your own corner from time to time.
9. Snap up the many photo opportunities
Australia presents photo opportunities quite unlike anywhere else in the world. Whether you’re an avid Instagrammer, you’re wanting to make friends and family green with envy via Facebook, or just like to take the odd pic here and there for posterity, on a camper holiday, you can just hop out and take a photo whenever inspiration strikes.
The 234-kilometre-long Great Ocean Road with its gorgeous coastline, koala-filled national park, and ocean-side camping is a vanning photographer’s dream. Driving your campervan along the 140km Grand Pacific Drive you’ll see breathtaking cliff faces and the Sea Cliff Bridge where you can even spot whales. Or what about a drive down Watermelon Avenue which runs next to Lake MacDonnell, South Australia’s very own pink lake?
10. Save time packing and spend time exploring
Done with a location? Pack up and go to the next without all the stressy packing that normally goes with holidays: simply close the door and drive away.
Travelling by campervan means choosing what to take and what to leave behind is less of an issue. While you can fit a lot in maui vans, you shouldn’t go too crazy and you should pack your gear in soft bags as they are easier to store. Other packing tips? Ziplock bags and stackable plastic containers to keep the fridge ordered, a pack of cards, your favourite games, the all-important manual espresso maker, a milk frother, and a picnic blanket.
Go on your next Australian road trip with maui
If you’ve never taken a road trip through Australia, what are you waiting for? Explore Australia with maui and you’ll get away from it all yet have it all with you. You’ll have the freedom and flexibility to take your time and you’ll get to places a lot of others simply can’t. A maui campervan holiday in Australia will guarantee a home-away-from-home adventure and an experience you’ll never forget.
Book your maui campervan online and then take off from your nearest maui branch.