The Big Lap - caravan vs camper vs hybrid

also look at the Tvan , Trakmaster and trayon

We have both a camper (Aussie Swag) and a caravan (Bushtracker) Usually drag the camper through the forest tracks but we took the van around Australia.

I note you have 4 persons to find a bed for. My thought would be a van that has bunks. Most campers are ideal for 2 but you would have to add extra addon rooms etc for extra sleeping. While this is possible for base camping you may find setup & pull down a pain while doing the circuit.

If you are taking your time to do the circuit then an inside kitchen will help protect from wind and rain.

My vote would be for a van with queen bed and twin bunks.

I would agree with your thoughts about changing to Diesel.

Enjoy the trip and your accommodation whatever it turns out to be.

Alan

G'day Stu.
We travelled Australia for 2 years with 2 girls about the same age as your kids.
Had an old Diesel dual cab & off road soft floor camper & we had a ball. We go seriously remote & the trailer went everywhere with us.
Had to set up 2 bunk beds for the kids but a lot of time we just slept under the stars.

Sure setup/packup was a bit of a pain but if you stop early there is still plenty of time for a relax before dinner. I remember sometimes stopping at morning tea time to setup if we found a nice place. Time for catching up on distance education school work!
I reckon don't spend too much on your setup & spend the money going away for longer.
Take your time & enjoy. Don't make it a marathon with lots of long drives & use the time to bond with your family. After all how many people can say they spent 2 years 24/7 with their partner & kids. Get out there & enjoy, we did.

Cheers
Stu

Hi stu

You might want to check out the echo4x4 kavango as well, we have taken ours everywhere, including cape York last year, the old tele track and the frenchmans track. It can sleep 4 comfortably in two queen beds, don't know how that would work for your kids. It's similar in size internally to the conqueror but more aerodynamic to tow. The dealer is in Windsor area Sydney. We just did a month In tassie, and heading to darwin this winter (6 week trip)

Cheers


Lisa

Hi Stu

With a family including growing youngsters, you will in addition to sleeping space need plenty of packing space for clothes, food, electronics, educational needs and recreational needs for your children. While a camper trailer can give you maximum living space for minimum size for ease of access to places, you wouldn't have as much storage room as you would have in a full caravan for long term travel. A 'cross-over' would also have limited packing space. If you go into the full true off road caravans, be aware of the weight and the tow vehicle required to suit.

Motherhen

A caravan would certainly be more comfortable with better storage options. Constantly setting up and heaving boxes of stuff around wears thin. Don't forget that on a long trip you are likely to spend quite a bit of time in uncomfortable weather. A few weeks in a CT in very cold and wet conditions, followed by a while in heat with lots of flies and then mosquitoes, helped us make the decision to move to a fully screened and insulated van. For long term travel, discomfort starts to build up and things that are bearable or even fun for a holiday can become very wearing.
Also think about where you are really going to go. There is an awful lot of Australia to see and a great deal of it is reasonably accessible. If you are confident that you will frequently need to drag your home to very wild or rough places then you are probably needing a small trailer rig. This plan does often turn out to be a bit of a fantasy. If, in reality, you will mostly be travelling on dirt roads rather than bush tracks, a suitable van will do well. That is what we now have and we do the rougher stuff as day trips in the 4x4 from the parked van. Good luck and have a great trip whatever you decide.Lynne

I have a 21ft outback caravan it is great for most of the time however when we need to go to rougher spots ie cape york we also have a rooftop tent with annex and awning with flyscreening this is great for side trips from the caravan and you are still quickly and comfortably set up although we have no kids to worry about
Steve

Hi Stu,
You're really gonna get a lot of different view-points here and none of them right or wrong. It all depends purely on what works best for you.
All these good people have great advise and it's what works best for them.
It sounds as though you're on the right track though.
Brainstorm and communicate with the good wife because she will have certain needs and you will have your needs.
I can say this though, whatever you choose you will have a ball.
We have bumped into so many young families like yourself on our travels and they're all having the time of their lives. All have had very different set-ups and all have soon got themselves into a routine that works for them.
The Jayco camper trailers are something I would seriously consider if I was travelling with young ones. It gives you the convenience of a caravan but packs up to a camper trailer size.
I've never had one but I've seen them getting out and about on all sorts of tracks, so they must be reasonably robust.
Good luck and enjoy the trip.

Hi Stu, without getting too esoteric or zen like, sometimes the answer to the question really comes back to how you (as a family) want to travel & camp, how you pace yourselves, and what you want to see.

For example, if you plan to say have one travel / transit day and the camp for 3 or more nights, then ease of set-up becomes less of an issue..... if you plan to dot-dash-dot-dash, then an easier set-up (caravan) may be better.

Do you want to really get off the road and remote camp? - if so, then off-road ability and ruggedness will be a premium (say Kimberly or Cub off-road hard floor or something of that ilk).

My brother (Matt-M) had 6+ months on the road with two kids a similar age (bit younger) in a Kimberly Camper. The had a separate soft-floor annex/room that could be set up for the kids, but generally didn't use if if the weren't going to camp for at least 2-3 nights, single night stop the kids slept on the hard floor.

He bought it for around $31k second hand, owned it for 2-3 years and sold it after the lap for about $29k ... overall dropped about $1.5k and a bit he'd spent on it.

Hi there - we did 52 weeks on the road with 4 kids in a Camprite. Did Cape York and more, a lot of regular blacktop places, but nice to explore further when we wanted to.

Our Camprite slept 6 off the ground, in a single set up (really does take 5 mins to set up.) Two kids in bunks, but if you wanted you could just use mats on the floor for the extra 2 kids. Our kids were aged from 4-10years. We had lots of gear - 2 x bikes, kayak, crate of books, warm gear and hot weather gear. We had a bag on top of car and swapped gear as needed - when down south we put all the beach gear up in the roof rack bag, and vice versa. Fridge was in back of vehicle.

Kitchen swings out and can be used on the road for day stops. We often didn't bother with the awning unless staying 3-5 nights, or signs of inclement weather. We did aim to stay a minimum of 2 nights in each place and averaged 2-3 hours a day driving when we drove.

In fact, we only had annoying weather about three times in the year, (wet weather - just stayed put until it cleared, but in fact, you could close up and keep the bedding dry if needed.) The whole point of travelling is to follow the ideal weather!

Schooling - only problem for us was that it is hard to do on windy days! We eventually gave up formal schooling attempts after three months and just 'un-schooled'. But friends doing their second lap have a good system - Tuesdays and Thursdays are school days and they stay put on those days. Do 6 hours of distance ed.

You said you'd looked at the Camprite in your top post. What didn't seem to suit your needs? We live on the Sunshine Coast so you are welcome to come and see ours in operation. We are just off to Cape York for 6 weeks in first week of July, so feel free to pop up before or after then. (This time we are doing a quick trip as kids still enrolled.)

Best year of our lives! Whatever you choose just do it.