Do we go in a camper or a caravan?

Hi Kerrijoy

We have travelled for three months several times using 1. Jayco Camper 2. Evernew 17ft Poptop 3. Tracktrailerwith two children

Lessons learnt: Each one had advantages and disadvantages.

2+3 were very easy to have the kitchen available for cuppas and lunch, jayco needed to have the roof lifted to gain access to fridge, stove unavailable without fully setting up.

Evernew was the easiest to setup and pack up but was limited to were we could go.
Jayco took 5 minutes to setup and packup, although supposed to be offroad, it too had limitations.
Track trailer took about 10 minutes. Each person was alotted their tasks to do and after a few days the setup and taking down was simple. Even quite young children can learn to be useful. The biggest advantage was if the 4WD went there so did the track trailer.

The Evernew shined the most when it rained, but on all the trips we have done we have only had a few days were the rain was a problem when setting up or putting it away.

Keep the Heaslip, organise the kids, have a great trip and if it pours rain have a night in a cabin or a motel with the money you save not changing the trailer to a caravan.

Regards Ray

Hi Kerrijoy
We did 8 months and 25000kms in 2003 with the 3 kids (then 9, 5 & 3) in a 10yr old soft floor and had a ball.
The kids learnt heaps and the family is now a lot closer.
The CT allowed us more freedom than a Caravan and we just made sure that we tried to stay more than an overnight on most stops. When a single night stop was required we just got use to doing a half "make camp" and got up and went early.

Go the CT - you wont be disappointed.

also covered in post 25596

Well, consider us brave and stupid - we are heading off in 8 more weeks, with four kids in a camper trailer, for a year or more - however long it takes and however well it goes for us....

We chose the camper trailer (a WA design, a new CampRite), as it can sleep all 6 people off the ground, provides good headroom and a sense of space inside the camper when set up, some storage, also, kitchen swings out for easy access at any time. We decided to get the annexe to attach to the camper, so that when we stop for more than 1 day we can set up extra space if we wish - thinking here of schoolwork, playing with some toys, food prep etc, if we want extra shelter for these activties we've got it.

Our kids are aged 10 (well, turning 10 on Friday!), 7.5 and twins aged 3.5 yrs.

We chose the off road camper and a landcruiser, so that we can see all those interesting tracks and places that just aren't accessible by 2-wheel. We chose a camper trailer rather than a tent or caravan type pop-up, as: we didn't want to be setting up the full tent regalia (tent pegs, finding a smooth site etc) on those times where I'm sure we'll be tired and late to reach camp. Also, I liked the idea of everyone up off the ground and in the same space. We didn't go for a regular caravan pop-up as we wanted the off-road capability and compactness of the camper trailer for towing.

We plan to keep our sanity (and costs down!) by not travelling every day. OK, some sections we'll be setting up daily and then moving on for a few days in a row, but mostly we intend to find nice places and stay for 2-5 nights at a time. This will give us time to walk, relax, do a bit of school work, keep fuel cost down etc.

We are getting REALLY excited now as it is only a few weeks to go....

Liz and David
Fremantle,WA

(Heading off to Ayres Rock for our starter...)

hello. we have a trakshak 4 sale. It is the hybrid with all the options including solar,boat rack,ect ect. It is only 4 months old & has to go due to a recent back injury. www.trakshak.com.au

Thank you to those who have responded. My hubby is feeling a little more reassured, although for some reason he still thinks he'll get stuck doing all the work, never! I'd say we'll keep the camper, but maybe reassess our timing and our route.

Kerrijoy