Tips for RV travel

You are ready to hit the road?

Ok, so you are ready to hit the road with your RV, whether it be an RV caravan, motor home or whatever. You have done your mechanical checks, and packed the vehicle.

Now what? What do you need to know? What do you need to consider to make the trip a success whether it be a couple of weeks, months or a couple of years (or longer.)

We all need tips, hints and advice from time to time. Here's my 2 cents worth!

Where to? It is a good have a general idea of where you are going and make no hard and fast plans or as little of them as possible. It is best to be flexible, you never know who you might meet along the way that might influence where you stay and how long for.

Be casual: By having a destination or general area at least you won't be running around in circles like a chook with its head cut off. If you have a rally or people to meet up with then use this to tie you in a bit more. You can always come back to a place if you have to quickly by pass some great places to get somewhere by a certain date.

Research: Take advantage of camping/RV forums. There are websites that are useful, including Explore Oz and Trip Advisor. Also use the Information Centres whenever you can, not forgetting you can access these online too!

Follow some blogs of other RV travellers as they will post about their stays at various places especially those that have been in the areas you are likely to visit soon. Most of all, talk to people you meet on the road whether it be in caravan parks or free-camping. They are a huge well of information. We have been to places we had never heard of on the advice of other travellers. On the other hand also, listen but don't pay too much attention when someone says "don't go here or there" as we have been to places others rave about and we get there and go "errr... ho hum" and I am sure others have thought the same thing about places we just love. We are all different and have different experiences & expectations. Some love scenic places, other love a place for the people they met at that spot. You get the drift, I am sure.

Food: I suggest you work out at least a week's menu and buy food accordingly. Always have on hand something that won't spoil in the pantry (not the fridge which could break down) and make sure it is quick and easy to whip up in case all else fails. Eggs, tinned tuna & salmon are my fall backs. Try my Salmon and Pea Frittata recipe. I haven't tried any of the freeze dried packs. Maybe someone could advise me on these!

Communication: In Australia, Optus or Telstra based companies or even Satellite are the main carriers with others effective in specific areas. These preferences depend a lot on where you plan on going. Remember that just because a company says they service 95% of Australia they mean 95% of the population. As you know 90% of Australia lives in cities on the coasts. There are vast tracks of land and road that is not covered by anything less than satellite. Having said that we have only used our sat phone about 4 or 6 times in the last 8 months and all but one was for practice, the one was for a non emergency call for information we had been awaiting. But we felt comfortable to know we had it with us as we knew we were going to be in some very remote areas. Accordingly we have a prepaid plan, which might be more expensive per call but cheaper for us in the long term.

Assumptions: I am assuming
you have considered things
such as power needs, toilet, personal hygiene, water requirements, garbage disposal when you bought your RV. These need to be taken into consideration esp if you are free camping as it will affect how long you can free camp and even what type of free camp sites you choose. Eg with or without toilets. Most don't have showers. Will you have enough power to run your appliances or can you exist with a billy can and a fireplace? Don't forget that not all places allow open fires! (Especially at certain times of the year.) A butane gas cooker is an ideal backup and cheap, especially if you stock up on the cans in the bigger cities. As a basic guide, I found that we use 1 can per day for brekkie, (We usually have cold cereal), lunch and dinner and a few cuppas.

Questions: If you have specific questions then ask in the comments below and I will answer you as soon as possible.

What tips or hints have you discovered to be helpful?  What did you find to be the most helpful when you were on the road.
Most of all, enjoy your travels

Michelle