Gday from Australia

[palmman]

Gday from Australia and first of all i would like to say i have enjoyed reading the forum over the past 2 weeks and have learnt heaps of usefull
travel info,now a little background of me
As you can see by my avatar i am a caravaner as we call it here i have a 22 foot trailstar caravan and pull it with a turbo diesel ford ranger which is a fantastic
combo for me but next year a good mate of mine and me intent coming over to your great country and buying a reasonably priced RV between us and each
couple will be using it for maybe 4months and then the next will come over and use the RV and we will probably do this for a couple years then sell so i will be
a avid reader of the forum to get as much info as i can on RV size and type and best places to go, at the moment my preference is a 24 foot B class without
a slide for ease of driving and parking your thoughts would be much appreciated
Cheers

 

[Tom]

Well g'day palmman, and welcome to The RV Forum. Good to have you here.

We could sure use some help with RV'ing (or caravanning) down under, so anything you could post would be very welcome, and would probably be added to our forum library.

I've made so many business trips to Asia (many to Singapore) and wished I'd had more time to visit your wonderful country, which is just a hop, skip and a jump away. One of these days.

FWIW I was born and raised in the UK, where they also call them caravans.

 

[Kelly G]

WOW!!  How absolutely cool - Australia!!!

I look our of the R.V. and see deer...you look out and see kangaroos, koalas, and  ???  All sorts of neat things!

 

[zukIzzy]

Hello and welcome.

One of my race partners keeps his 5th wheel toy hauler at my house between races. He is also from Australia and the arrangment works out well for him. I was thinkin if you bring me a turbo deisel Ford ranger, I'll let you store your stuff here too ;D. I wish we had more small oil burners here like that.


Anyway good luck and let me know if I can help.

Wayne

 

[seilerbird]

Welcome. I think that a class B is not such a good idea to live in full time for four months. They are extremely small compared to a similarly priced class A. A small class A between 24 and 27 feet has a whole lot more room than a 24 foot class B. I have spent years living in both types. You are going to spend a lot more time living in your RV as opposed to driving the RV so I feel it is best to get one that is better suited for living in.

 

[Ernie n Tara]

Hi,
And welcome. Having driven in both places, I'd note that larger RV's are much more practical here than there. I'd suggest that you get at least a 30' Class A with slides. The gas will still be less than you're used to paying (I recall its about $7.50 US per gallon there vs. $2.50-3.00 here). I'd also think about getting a towed vehicle (we have a Jeep) so you can visit places like some of the National Parks where roads can get tight.
You'll have the driving down within a few days and will really appreciate the additional room and facilities.
Coincidentally, we just met an Australian couple who are visiting the US for a year. They bought a big Ford pick up and a small 5th wheel (Cougar for the 8' width; about 30' long). They plan to import both to AU after their visit.
Have a great time,
Ernie

 

[palmman]

Thanks for  the welcome and sound advise given so far
To TOM if there is any info i can contribute i am only to pleased to do so and to Kelly G yes we do see a lot of kangaroos , emu, wombats etc
but unfortunately koalas and platypus are very hard to find in the wild and zukizzy you have me thinking about a 5th wheeler as i had a
look on EBay today and the cost of a 5th wheel combo or TT combo looks very attractive and we have a vehicle to drive around in when not
travelling and you mentioned your race partner is that horse or car as i am a mad race car driver myself and seilerbird i am starting to agree
with you on the B class no being suitable and thank you for that but i am not shore yet on the A class starting to leen towards what i
am familiar with TT or 5th wheel and thank you all so Ernie for your input as it has made me reevaluate
Could you give me some advise as to some books i might buy from amazon to help me navigate my way to the best spots in the states
Thanks again

 

[zukIzzy]

zukizzy you have me thinking about a 5th wheeler as i had a
look on EBay today and the cost of a 5th wheel combo or TT combo looks very attractive and we have a vehicle to drive around in when not
travelling and you mentioned your race partner is that horse or car as i am a mad race car driver myself

Desert racers. You can call them cars trucks or whatever but they sure are a lot of fun.

 

[AJHales]

Welcome to the Forum Palmman 

With the help and advice of this forum I bought a lovely 30 foot A-Class Gulfstream Sunvoyager in Florida and shipped it back to Wales, UK.

I was lucky enough to spend a few months travelling in the toyoto version of the Kombi. I was living in Sydney at the time and we used it as our main vehicle, before doing a clock wise circuit (Melbourne, Adelaide, three ways, Townsville/cairns, Brisbane and back to Sydney) of your wonderful country.  8)

We loved it and highly recommend it, but now I'm a little older and I would do it in an A-Class. You can't beat the space and luxury that one of these gives you.  ;D

We are hoping to tour the US sometime in the future , and for that tour I think I'll sell our present RV and buy a larger one in Florida. Not sure what we'd do when we finnish our tour of the USA....maybe ship it to Sydney and do a full circumnavigation of Oz  :

 

[palmman]

Hi Andy, yes australia is a wonderfull country to travel in and i agree the small van would be a little cramped for a long trip but i am very interested
in any advise as a tourist in the states you could give me like was there a specific reason you bought your rv in florida or was that wear you happened
to fly into and were there any negatives to your trip. I am leaning towards a TT and ford f150 or similar chev but keen to know how you found travelling
with the 30foot A class
cheers

 

[palmman]

Well i have finally taken the plunge and bought a 2001 fleetwood flair 30ft A class towing a jeep and its all very exciting as i have bought
it with a friend of mine and we flew over and picked it up from a private seller and they were the most friendly helpfull people they just made the transaction very easy and we are just so happy with the rig. I have come back home to oz but my friend and his wife are over there and having a ball, they intend going up to Vancouver by the middle June and my wife and i will go over the end June and we intend doing a 6-8 week trip up through Dawson Creek, Whitehorse, Fairbanks and Anchorage so would appreciate any advise and good places
to see as well as any good boondocking places you may know of as we love camping in places less travelled.
I would like to thank those that gave me the advise of a A class towing a mule as it wasn't my first choice but we are so happy with the fleetwood

 

[Terry A. Brewer]

Aussie

check out this link of our 2006 Alaska trip.....    http://www.rvforum.net/SMF_forum/index.php?topic=5320.0

 

[palmman]

Thank you terry what a wonderfull blog i am only up to page 9 so far but have learnt so much and thoroughly enjoyed the journey thanks again i cant Wait to get up there

 

[catblaster]

Palmman, I would love to do just the opposite of what you did, I would love to tour Aussie-land. The trouble is I may never come back to the states. Question...what did you do with your RV when you went back to Australia?? Do you think I could hide out in the outback?

 

[palmman]

Gday catblaster yes Australia is a wonderfull place to explore with a RV and the weather is usally very good for enjoying your adventures and i have travelled most of it with my travel trailer so am really looking forward to the 30foot RV experience and as for what we do with the RV when we come back to aussie well my friends are over there at the moment and will be coming back 10th June and will leave the RV at a park in storage at Seattle until i get there in 4 weeks and when i Finnish my trip to Alaska i will find storage someware between salt lake city and Los Vagas where it will stay until my friends come over early 2012 and the cycle will continue for a few years and when we no longer want to or can keep doing we will sell and then continue travelling Australia