Australian Grey Nomad caravanning holidays
Share stories around a campfire under an Australian Outback sky that is free from light pollution and full of stars. Participate in exciting outdoor adventures far away from he hustle and bustle of city life and create unforgettable memories. These reasons and more are why Australia is a popular destination for recent retirees who have been far too busy with their careers for far too long.
A caravanning holiday is one of the best ways to experience Australia’s great outdoors. Travelling around Australia with a caravan in tow provides a plethora of experiences, leisure, and countless opportunities to explore locations that many people will never visit in their lifetimes. It’s one of the best ways to explore new places at your own pace and enjoy the pleasure of seeing everything Australia has to offer without being faced with too many restrictions concerning how, when, or where you do it.
Towing a quality all-terrain caravan around Australia with a dependable tow vehicle like a Toyota Land Cruiser, Ford Ranger, or Isuzu MU-X (to name a few) gets you to where you are going with comfort and little fuss. Caravanning holidays allow you to explore the less-travelled beautiful areas of Australia’s vast and diverse landscapes without too much concern about where you need to sleep at night.
Caravanning adventures for retirees around Australia
Caravanning around Australia is extremely popular among the retirees and these people are often referred to as Grey Nomads. Grey Nomads are different to most people on short duration holidays in that they spend extended periods of time (multiple months at times) travelling with their caravans in tow and they will cover vast distances. Grey Nomads typically enjoy a combination of camping and caravanning as this provides a tremendous sense of freedom, adventure, and flexibility. After all, if you’ve been working for around 40 years or more and finally having all of the free time in the world to do whatever you want, why not consider a caravanning and camping holiday?
Grey Nomads can choose whatever travel destination they want. They can mix their time between enjoying the stunning beaches along the coast, the rugged outback, or some of the many charming and picturesque country towns.
Given the money that Grey Nomads inject into the Australian economy, I’m sure that the Australian State Governments and Shire Councils could do a lot more to accommodate Grey Nomads. Australia attracts Grey Nomads from all over the world and has something to offer every type of caravanning traveller, so why we don’t to more to cater for this market is beyond me.
If you have the time, good health and a reliable caravanning adventure set-up, Australia certainly is the country that can provide you with a wide range of experiences. Imagine waking up to breathtaking sunrises over beautiful beaches in Western Australia’s Cape Range National Park or being surrounded by lush greenery in Queensland’s Daintree National Park. With a caravan in tow, you can immerse yourself in these beautiful settings and truly appreciate Australia’s natural elegance.
Recording your caravanning adventures on a GoPro Camera
Travelling with an all-terrain caravan behind your suitably matched 4×4 tow vehicle not only provides you with comfort and convenience, but it also allows you to create more than normal lasting memories and take hundreds of amazing pictures. If you don’t wish to rely on your memories or still frame pictures to remember these journeys then you can additionally capture your journey via a dash cam and a few strategically placed GoPro cameras in your vehicle and caravan.
GoPro cameras are fairly easy to mount and you can often do so via an adhesive or suction cup mount. You can also use a GoPro as a Dash Cam as well and you would normally use the adhesive mount to stick your GoPro onto your dashboard and position it close to the centre of your dash to get a natural driving viewpoint. Make sure not to block your driving view, otherwise you might find out the hard way about how seriously Australian highway patrol police officers consider this particular rule. It’s best you do you own research on the drivers view rather than take advice from a Blog article but if you mount the screen as far down on the windscreen as possible and towards the centre and to the left of the driver, this should limit obstruction to the driver’s field of view. Ideally, the screen should be mounted towards the centre of the windscreen and to the left of the driver. If this is not possible for some reason, then I would imagine the next best bet is far right side bottom corner of the windscreen.
When using a GoPro camera to record your adventures, you need to understand that the small storage cards in these devices (MicroSD cards) have a capacity and cannot continuously record data forever.
You will need to occasionally cut and paste the data recorded onto the MicroSD card in your GoPro onto your laptop or onto an external drive connected to your laptop. The frequency of this task depends on the storage capacity of your MicroSD card and the bigger the capacity the better off you will be.
You don’t want to spoil your journey by having to do this every couple of hours, so by using the latest GoPro Hero 8, 9 or 10 black, you can use a 256GB capacity MicroSD with them. If you use 1080p resolution, 60fps (frames per second) rate and a high bitrate, you can get nearly 8 hours continuous recording on your GoPro. So you can just cut and paste this data onto an external drive each evening around dinner time. Be sure to purchase a new good quality laptop with a couple of Thunderbolt 4 ports that support USB4, Display Port 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0, you should then plug in a 5TB (Terabyte) external drive to it and also be able to transfer your 256GB of MicroSD data at a rate of around 40GB per second.
To transfer the recorded data from your GoPro to your laptop or external drive, remove the MicroSD card from your GoPro, insert this card into what is called a an SD adapter and then insert the adapter into your laptop. Your laptop will automatically recognise the MicroSD Card as a drive letter on your laptop, you then just need to copy that data onto the drive letter for your external drive.
Taking your all-terrain caravan off the beaten track
Due to their construction, all-terrain caravans are perfect for off-road excursions because they can withstand harsh conditions like unsealed dirt roads. Compared to regular caravans, they are more robust and dependable due to their off-road tyres, heavy-duty suspension, and reinforced chassis. All-terrain caravans also often have the ability to be self-contained, meaning that travellers can travel off-grid for extended periods of time because they have their own power source, waste disposal system, and water supply. Camping, fishing and outdoor enthusiasts will find this especially appealing.
You will almost certainly encounter the notoriously bad Australian Dirt Roads if you plan on taking your caravanning vacation off the beaten path to discover hidden travel destination gems. Because they are not always maintained on a regular basis, you may experience many kilometres of extremely poor driving conditions. In Australia, dirt roads are frequently riddled with large holes and extremely bumpy due to surface corrugations. Some of these dirt roads will go months, if not years, without being graded and compacted; however, you may be lucky if these dirt roads are on the way to reasonably popular tourist destinations and local shire councils don’t want to lose the all-important tourism dollars.
Weather, traffic, and maintenance can all have an impact on the condition of dirt roads. It is possible that dirt roads in your home country are better maintained than those in Australia, so keep this in mind when planning your Caravanning adventure around this country. I’d even go so far as to say that driving on dirt roads in Australia’s outback can be dangerous, particularly for inexperienced drivers towing a caravan. Badly corrugated roads must be travelled with caution; the bumpiness of these roads can be harmful to your Caravan, Tow Vehicle and your body, particularly your back.
The constant vibrations caused by the bumps and ridges can cause back, neck, and shoulder pain. Back pain can be frightening when you’re over 500 kilometres from the nearest doctor or hospital, and it can ruin your caravanning vacation. By driving to the conditions, you can reduce your chances of experiencing back pain while travelling on dirt roads. Naturally, as the conditions worsen, you will need to drive slower and slower. You can also lessen the severity of this experience by ensuring that your tow vehicle and caravan have adequate suspension systems. This can be an expensive experience, but it could be a wise investment in your future health.
In addition to slowing down on bumpy dirt roads and upgrading your suspension before leaving, there are a few other things you can do to protect your body, such as purchasing a specialist seat designed to provide maximum comfort and support while driving on rough terrain. In Australia, companies such as Autolux and Seats R Us offer a few options for Toyota Land Cruisers. If you don’t want to spend the extra money on upgrading your seats before you leave, you could buy a memory foam, gel, or air filled cushion for extra seated comfort on bumpy roads. There are also speciality lumbar support cushions available for purchase.
Because you will be travelling slowly over poorly maintained roads, you will most likely arrive late. If there are people expecting you at the planned duration, please be sure to ring them and advise of your situation. When the road is rough, you must drive slowly to protect your body, the tow vehicle, and your caravan. Take frequent breaks to relieve stress on your entire body with some exercises and stretches, which will allow you to walk around your caravan and vehicle to ensure that everything is ok.
Because some Australian outback roads can damage your vehicle, caravan, and body, you may find yourself in a situation where you need to contact help immediately. To ensure that you can call for help no matter where you are, you may want to purchase or rent a satellite phone for your journey. Even if you do go to the extra expense of buying one, you can always sell it when you return home from your trip.
Purchase a Caravan that will best suit your intended journey
For all-purpose travel throughout Australia, it may be prudent to purchase a caravan built in Australia and choose from their range of off-road/all-terrain caravans. All-terrain caravans are manufactured by several Australian companies and are a popular choice due to their durability, safety, build quality, and comfort.
Australian-made all-terrain caravans are built to withstand harsh Australian conditions and are outfitted with features such as purpose-built adjustable suspension systems. They will be offered to you with safety in the Australian Outback in mind and will have above-average water storage and power generation capabilities. If your budget allows, you might want to consider the Bruder X EXP-6 GT, the Kimberly Kruiser T3, or the Bushtracker 24ft; these units are pricey, but they are also absolutely incredible. You will also find a great range of all-terrain caravans from retailers of Jayco units.
Safety and reliability should be taken into account before starting any journey that will take you into extremely remote areas. Ensuring that all of these factors have been taken into account will help to ensure a trouble-free and enjoyable trip. Make sure your car and caravan are in good operating order for your own safety. Have a certified mechanic check your set-up for dependability and safety on a regular basis. Regular maintenance on your brakes, engine, transmission, tyres, battery, lights, and other crucial outback travel components is imperative. You don’t ever want to get stranded in the middle of nowhere but at least if you do, you know that you’ll be ok whilst help is on its way.
Naturally, you must have emergency supplies on board, such as a first-aid kit, snake bite kit, fire extinguisher, and tools for minor repairs. As I previously stated, I would strongly advise you to bring a satellite phone in addition to your mobile phone. Install the ‘Emergency Plus’ app on your phone as well; this app was developed to keep travellers safe by Australia’s emergency services and companies that work with them. Telstra is the Australian mobile phone carrier with the best range for remote travel, but it will not be enough to ensure you have a signal wherever you go.
