Van / Camper Hire in Tassy

Hughesy

What your've described is usual. It's been that way for many years and a complete rip off. I'm a great supporter of Tassie, but they don't do any favours in promoting the island with this sort of charge.

Hiring over there is not what you would expect on the main land. I think you'll find it pretty basic.

Regards

Kim

Hughesy,
Instead of the hassle of towing,setting up,parking etc why not just book into cabins which are all self contained for this trip.Cost wise may even be in front.
Cheers Mark

Hi Hughesy

We made it worth our while by staying seven weeks. With mostly free camping, having our own accommodation and the flexibility to travel with no schedules (apart from the ride home), it was well worth it. It cost us $1284 in 2006, Feb - April. Day crossing there and night crossing with porthole cabin for two of us on the return. Our rig was booked in at 12.2 metres.

Marcus makes a good point of using cabins. Three years ago my daughter with young family plus in-laws did a 10 day fly in tour of Tassie. She had to work out a schedule first to pre book cabins and use a hire car. She found all she needed and booked everything via the Internet. She did know where to go as she had spent a year in Tassie some time back and wanted to take her family to her favourite places.

She chose to fly in to Burnie and leave from Hobart to be able to see more places in a very limited time frame.

Motherhen

I took my camping gear with me in Dec 2006 planning to camp where I could. I then discovered that hotels were a very cheap place to stay. To give you an indication, I spent 6 nights at the Bush Inn in Deloraine at $20 a night in a very comfortable room and they even threw in a a basic continental breakfast. I used this as a base for touring that area and then moved on. The Grand Hotel in Huonville cost me $30 a night and I stayed there for 4 days and toured the Huon Valley. I also camped (just pitched a tent) in Richmond) and in Strahan. Many Van parks have on site vans that you can stay in for a reasonable price as well and I did this in Stanley, Ulverstone and Devonport.

When you consider also that as well as having to pay to take your trailer across you will have camping fees on top of this it all adds up. Tasmania doesn't have the opportunities to free camp that the mainland states do and you have toi know where to go to avoid an angry property owner.

You may also like to check out

http://www.devilcampervans.com.au/pages/campervans/camper-trailers.htm

Camper Trailer Hire

We are going on a adventure at Christmas time from Brisbane, then we thought we'd drive down the coast and spend a week or 2 in Tassie then come back. Spending about 4 weeks away.

I emailed the spirit of Tasmania for costs and for 2 adults and 3 children they came back with $3034. I could not believe it.

We have a 4wd plus Van. So quess what Tassie is off our list!!

S

I was trying to rent campervan for Tazi trip and find that prices just ridiculous. Plus you have so many restriction where you can drive it. Abandon this idea completely and we just book accommodations. Sure, you became tided-up and this is what I was trying to avoid, but Tazi is not that big and you can go almost anywhere from everywhere.

Serg

Hi Hughsey,
If you google campervan hire tasmania you will get a good choice. Tassie doesn't help itself a lot at times and that boat fee is a great example. There is a mob called Cosy cabins which are pretty good and in a few spots around the state. I hope you do make it as I first came to Tassie in 1989 and have been here since apart from a 2 year stint in Adelaide. It is a great place to live and has some fantastic scenery.
I just reread your post and that fee you quoted would be prime time sailing which if I remember is a fair rise on off peak times.
Anyway I hope you enjoy yourself and get a chance to travel around. The ExplorOz bookshop has a good book on 4WD tracks in Tassie which I have found excellent.

Rgds
nev

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions. Looks like we might just take the family falcon over and stay in cabins. I was really looking forward to getting offroad too.

Your right the accomodation cost for an 11 hour trip is extreme to say the least. We even planned to be over and back in the "shoulder" period which isn't even the "peak" rates.