Camper van trip in East Coast

I understand it is quite a popular image to use a camper van to travel in Australia. However I think these provide little benefit and as you indicate can be a hindrance. Generally my observations are these are rare in Australia beyond the very cheap and nasty type e.g. wicked.
However if you wish consider buying it from the backpacker car market at Kings Cross in Sydney.

The alternative I think is staying in caravan parks (every town has at least one) where you can hire a caravan or cabin for your stay. Have a look, for example, at Dunleith at The Entrance on the NSW Central Coast. To complement the caravan parks you can also stay in the rooms at what we call "pubs". There is an increasing number of restored and renovated pubs reopening their rooms. Likewise I reference The Entrance Hotel, with rates from $80/night with water views.

Consider the route to be a hybrid of inland (Upper Hunter, New England) as well as the coast to get the best experience.

Contrary to poster #1 above, campervan hire is very popular in Australia and eminently suitable to do an east coast trip. An alternative is to hire a car and stay at cheaper motels or cabins in caravan parks. My analysis is that the higher cost of hiring a campervan plus caravan park fees is about the same as the cheaper cost of hiring a car plus motel/cabin accommodation.

The with or without toilet campervan is a matter of personal preference. We hired a campervan a number of years ago (we now have our own camper trailer) and hired a basic Britz campervan (no toilet). We talked to a number of other people who had hired campervan with toilets/showers and most said they rarely use the on board toilet and never used the shower preferring to go to the communal toilet block in the caravan park.

Caravaning/camping is popular in Australia and there are lots of caravan parks up the east coast of Australia. The standard of caravan parks is very high (it’s very competitive) and even at the lower priced parks the toilet facilities are always very clean.

If you do go for the toilet/shower option I’d go for the smallest one possible as they are truck like vehicles.

During school holidays (especially at beach side towns over summer) you will often need to book ahead for caravan parks however other times you can usually drive up.

Free camping is also popular, the “bible” is –
http://www.campsaustraliawide.com/camps-8/

It can be found in most camping stores. If you are going to free camp you probably need to get the toilet option.

For things to see and do use the local information/tourist centres. Most towns have one and we have found them very helpful. They will often have a caravan park booklet for their local region.
Below is some other info. I have posted before -

There are heaps of campervan companies catering for different segments of the market, some are regionally based while others cater for the lower priced market segment (such as backpackers) where the vans will have a more basic layout, less well equipped, older (and often less reliable) vehicles.

Maui and Britz are probably the campervans you see most often on the road in Australia and are run by the same company. They are generally a reliable and professionally run company. Mauri the top price segment and Britz in the middle. The following websites give a good coverage of the upper to mid range national campervan companies –

http://www.ecampervanhire.com/
http://www.drivenow.com.au/home/campervan-hire

For the larger companies the van layouts are fairly standard, they use vehicles with lower kilometres on the clock (so are more reliable and in better condition) and they have a reputation to protect.
From time to time you hear of some horror stories with all types of vehicle hire and if you hire at the lower priced end of the market you usually get what you pay for.

Be forewarned that a number of the campervan hire companies have a base hire rate that includes an excess damage component. The excess for some campervans (such as Britz) is around $7,000. This means that if you damage the vehicle you pay the excess. All hire companies have an option for an additional charge where you can waiver some or all of the excess which can add quite a lot to the hire cost. Some premium credit cards and travel insurance policies have an excess car hire insurance component or you can take out car hire excess insurance yourself (which is often cheaper than what the hire company will offer). The automobile association in Victoria (RACV) has a good policy.
You also need to be aware that for campervan hire they are likely to require a security deposit where they will pre debit the excess damage cover from your credit card BEFORE you take the campervan. This means for a $7,000 excess you need the $7,000 credit available on your card and you will not be able to use this credit while you have the van. And if you have taken out excess insurance separately this pre debit still applies!

So you need to check the fine print i.e. the hiring conditions.

Thank u all for the tips. I'll have a look.

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