Round AUS with 2adults+3kids in a motorhome

Hi
Sounds like a good trip, and I don't have any knowledge or experience to help. I also have no idea of your circumstances, but a hire cost of around $20 000 sound like a dampener.
Have you looked at the idea of purchasing a used motorhome, use it ,then sell it on completion?
I wouldn't think you would lose that much on resale, and if you were set up as a business, and able to legally use it in your business activities, and loss may be tax deductible.
With the alleged steady improvement in the Global Financial Crisis, you may even make a profit.
Just a suggestion you can do with what you want.
Cheers and good luck.

I dont think you can take a motorhome into the Bungles.

No Caravans and trailers only.

The day we were there our guide said it took two hours to do the 53k in from the highway so I wouldnt be keen to try.

Kakadu is mostly sealed roads anyway except for Jim Jim falls

Perhaps if you have a suitable tow vehicle you could buy a caravan for $20,000 and sell it agiain when you return.

Hire money is dead money better to buy and sell when finished.

Also would you be paying a per kilometer rate on top of the hire charge???? correct????

Is your itinerary right around clockwise That is Sydney -south -Melb -Adelaide-Perth -Broome -Darwin- Alice etc .

Going Sydney northward toDarwin would be anticlockwise ????

100 days is not long to see that much country. We have been going since Feb

and are just getting down the west coast now after doing a trip scenario

similar to yours. We have done over 25,000k and only a bit over halfway.

Its a biiiiiiiiigggggg country and a long ways between places at times.

Have fun.

Hi Guys,

DO IT - YOU WILL LOVE IT AND THE KIDS WILL TOO!
We are doing it right now with our two kids (5 & 2) so much younger than yours but all the same it is the best thing we have EVER done and thought about it for many years before it was the RIGHT time!

We are from Newcastle NSW and left end June 09, we were originally doing the trip in a new camper trailer that we bought specially for the trip but at the last minute we decided to upgrade to a CARAVAN with bunks and it was the bet decision we made. We will sell it when we return and prob get our money back easily or if not more as we got a great buy on a new van....

The caravan allows you to keep things in their place and then setup and get out exploring heaps easier and with you VEHICLE....motorhomes can be a pain for that when you think about it....many places of interest require you to drive in and look about and if you are already setup at a van park it would be a hassle to go in and out all the time....just my thoughts. Many do it though so its horses for courses....many leave their chairs and towels etc by the slab at their sites to indicate that someone is camped there as well....

I would do the caravan thing though and if you are planning to outlay all the rent on a motorhome you would be able to afford a decent caravan for the 5 of you....start looking now though and have a few trial runs....we were just lucky when we bought ours that times were slow and noone was snapping up new bunk vans in June....2nd hand ones are hard to come by in good condition and when they do they go quick so I would be checking the Trading Post online all the time and Ebay even plus your local caravan dealers etc ...sometimes you have to go a long way to get what you want.

People we have met travelling are from Sydney and they had to drive to QLD to buy the bunk van that they wanted for their car.....

Kakadu is all sealed - we did it and loved it.

Bungle Bungles you can leave your van at the entrance area or a nearby free camp like many others did with a trailer lock on it of course but heaps of campers about to keep an eye on it.

The Gibb River Rd is prob the only place we didnt do which we will do again another day with a camper trailer or tent but that would only be a quick round trip from home not a big adventure like the one we are on now....

Have fun with the preparations - we spent years looking over things on the net - this forum was wonderful for ideas and help for us....

If I can help with anything else please just ask???

We left home 89 days ago and are now in Geraldton WA - 15000km + later!!!

Cheers

Hi Michelle, you have a wonderful trip planned, my family have been to the Kimberley, Central Australia several times and top end, Kakadu and out back QLD & NSW and Fraser Island several times over several trips travelling from Victoria. So we have been to many of the places you have planned to fo to, all absolutely amazing. As someone said previously I would suggest getting a caravan if you have a suitable towing vehicle, then it can be left at CP's and you can go for day trips with out having to tow the CP. Whatever you decide to do have a great trip, your kids will have a ball!

Thanks for the advice everyone. It seems everyone is recommending caravan over a motorhome. We might need to reconsider. We understand the issue of having to 'pack up the camp site' each time you want to go anywhere in a motorhome, but our rationale is that since we only have 100 days we will probably only be spending only 1 night (or occasionally 2 or 3) in each place, and we would mostly free camp wherever we happended to end up each day. So we wouldnt have many instances of having a long term camp site. However its a good point that a motorhome will limit our access into certain places that it would be a shame to miss. To find a caravan for 5 of us will be pretty hard and I imagine it would need to be BIG! So we are a little nervous about having to tow such a big vehicle since we havent towed one before. We are not interested in a campertrailer so its a caravan or motorhome. Will keep researching....thanks Michelle

Michelle,

Travelling in a motorhome with kids for 100 days is definately not recommended. You will find that it will be extremely cramped having 5 people living in a motorhome for that period of time.