Towing Vs Motorhome

and so are we and many, many others out "here" ....
It is one of the HARDEST calls to make as you really have to commit yourselfs before you leave and cant change your mind after you have done it, well not a simple thing to do anyway.
We have made a point on our last few travels to talk to people with motor homes and see in real life what they think and also when you make a decision to go someware and see something can it be done in a motorhome, there is a lot of things you will never be able to see in one as with a van you can un-hook and have some freedom, things like simple shopping becomes a problem as you cant find a big enough parking space, again un-hook the van and you can go anyware, try to do a "drive-through" at Maccas with a "home" or even a bottle shop.
Guess what you guys need to look at is what is your "lifestyle" .... want to see as much as you can, go the car n van...... want to have a very nice relaxed time and just take in the "main" places then go the "home"....
Good luck eh

Hi Jane bd

We always thought we'd end up getting a motor home, but when the time came to make the final decision, the caravan won. Wanting 4wd, we looked at 4wd type motor homes, and they were on a truck with a truck ride. My husband has a bad back and needs a gentler ride. Unless very big, they had no storage for things like spare fuel, generator, bulky tools. We saw good custom built ones - lovely, expensive, and to have room for all the needs of a round Australia trip, rather tall and long, which would limit where we could go. Climbing up to an over cab bed would have been OK when we were younger, but not for nocturnal visits and ageing knees.

With a caravan, we can leave it behind to tackle city traffic (although cities are avoided where possible). We can take a 4wd without the van down more tracks, through boggy areas and into out of the way places than a motor home (which would have to be fairly big for a long trip). Members here Peter and Margaret defy this reasoning with their OKA which has been to places we wouldn't dream of tackling with anything. We can leave the caravan and camp for a few days in hard to get into places. We can still pull into the bush to camp, and with the present full sized caravan, there is virtually no setting up to do - stop and our home is ready. Moving off in the morning is no harder than with a motor home.

Unless you tow a small vehicle behind the motor home, which rather negates the benefits of not towing, if you have a breakdown such as broken spring or wheel problem, with a motor home you are stuck. If these occur on a caravan (speaking from experience) you can use the vehicle to go and get help or parts.

When not caravaning we have a 4wd 'family car'. With a motor home, we would still need and additional vehicle at home, so two vehicles to licence, insure and maintain. Licence, insurance and upkeep on a caravan is cheaper.

Motherhen

JaneBd,

Well congradulations on your idea, it's alot of fun. Perhaps I would start by asking some basic questions and they will almost certainly supply the right answer.

What do you mean by around Australia? Are you planning to stay on the sealed road or do you want to go off road? If off road, - go straight to towing.

What are you and your husband like at towing? Do you find it stressful? - go straight to motorhome. Remember most of it will be on highway 1 and this is the land of road trains and B doubles.

Do you already have a tow vehicle? How big? fuel consumption? Impact on the holiday budget?

Are you planning to stay for some time in places? Getting shopping when stationary (as said) is one of the most annoying things in a motorhome.

I have found that just doing the lap and coming home again, a motorhome is better. But to get off the main highway a caravan and 4WD is better.

Whichever you choose, I hope you have a great time.

You often see people with Motorhomes pull up in CPs and take their Camp Chairs and Table out, put them on the concrete slab and settle down and relax then oh lets go into town or what ever, they leave their things on the slab and take off, it must be a pain in the bum doing this all the time, also what happens if they require work to be done on the Motorhome at a work shop ect and have to leave it for a day or so, where do they stay?, maybe some one with a Motorhome can enlighten us.

Cheers

Wouldn't take either Jane.

As per other replies it largely depends on your planned lifestyle and each senario fits the right couple.

For the 2 of us , we just sleep in the 4wd , camp between free spots and the odd on site van from time to time.

Not towing anything , and no big vehicle , means we can plan to maximize the off highway content of our trips and are much more flexible and costs are less.

I have pondered the same question in recent times. We tow a van currently and enjoy the outback a lot - we can take the car only into the 'pokey' places when we need to. In our travels round Oz we've seen lots of larger motor homes towing a small car with them - the smaller ones don't of course - maybe the medium sized unit owners are constantly torn between locality access and interior conveninece :-o).
I've decided to stay in a van until our outback days are done - when we decide to stay on the seal, we'll probably have a medium sized motorhome - no hitching up with the old dodgy back - lots of day to day convenience, few access compromises (and her ladyship would be happier to drive that setup).
Crikey - is there an end to this travel complexity ?

We have been through the same decision making process. We ended up with a caravan but soon upgraded to a motor home and A frame the smaller 4WD behind. Would never go back to caravan now.
The main thing is because we are full time on the road you need/like more stuff with you. This was not possible with the van. We have metal detector and fossicing gear including being able to polish stones. Plenty of books to read, family tree info to research as we travel. Most of the things you do at a normal home.

Neil

I have found the motorhome that would keep most happy, and you don't even need to tow an extra car behind.
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We have the Caravan and 4WD setup and would not entertain a motorhome and as an example of the flexibility of our setup, this year we travelled over 17,000ks with and without the van attached.
CaravanMelbourne to Erldunda (store van at caravan park for 4 weeks ) then 4WD and tent - Great Central Road - Canning Stock Route - Tanimi Hwy. Pick up van at Erldunda , then caravan - Darwin - Townsville - Hervey Bay - Gold Coast - Adelaide - Melbourne.

That is just one example of the flexibility of our setup.
There are many, many places you may want to visit on an around Australia trip such as :-Cape York, The Bungle Bungles, The Gibb River Rd and Mitchell Falls just to name a few all of which would not be able to be travelled with a normal type of motorhome.
If you are lucky enough to live in Victoria, our caravan registration this year was just $37.40.

I'm sure that there must be plenty of benefits to owning a motorhome but its not for us.

Good luck with your very difficult decision.

Jeff.

Janebd.

In 1963 I started travelling Aus in all possible combinations of vehicles, What I drive now is a Mercedes sprinter 4x4, Small enough to park in a normal car park but big enough to be very comfortable for 2. The electronic traction control is superb. They are cheaper than a large 4x4 and van to buy and to run. 10Litres /100k and very rare to have any mechanical problems. Eric

Thanks Folks. lots of sound advice and ideas.

Marcel