RV tips for beginners from long-time travellers
There’s a lot to be said about listening to those who are where you want to be one day. Here, we talk to some long-time RVers about advice they wish they had when they started their life on the road.
Forget perfect
CAMERON MASON
We wish we’d known you don’t need the ‘perfect’ vehicle to start travelling. We spent too long focusing on upgrades and accessories rather than learning how we actually travel. Before committing, we hired a motorhome to see how we enjoyed the experience, which taught us more than any amount of research. Once we stopped tweaking and started travelling, the rest worked itself out. Whether it’s a brand-new motorhome or a rooftop tent, the experience doesn’t change as much as people think. Everyone still pulls up to the same view.
Cameron has been travelling full-time around Australia with his partner Neil and their staffy, Zoe, in their Winnebago Jervis for the past three years. Follow them on Instagram @Off the Main Road and offthemainroad.com.au
Expect the unexpected
PETER BENSON
Fire blankets and extinguisher, spare tyres, puncture kits… I’ve got it all. I take an air compressor with me if I have to drop or raise my tyre pressure; I’ve only used it once in the last five years, but it’s there. My advice is to just take it and hope you never have to use it. But it’s no use having the safety gear if you don’t know how to use it. And you’ve got to know your limits and what you’re comfortable with. A lot of people panic and get out of their comfort zone, and that’s when accidents happen. If you can’t fix something and are getting stressed, sit back, look at it, then tackle it again. And don’t be embarrassed to ask others for help.
Peter Benson first started touring Australia on a motorbike with a tent in 2012. He now drives a MazdaBT-50 4x4, with a Jayco J-Pod behind. “It’s a classic, though my mate calls it the hot dog van. If I had the place to store it, I’d buy that 1965 Roma caravan I saw for sale online.”
Friends with benefits
COLIN KERR
Travelling with friends, in a tour group, or with an RV club has many benefits – someone to lend a hand in times of trouble, be it mechanical, accident or illness, to enjoy the comfortable feeling of safety in numbers, to share gear and to benefit from the collective knowledge of everyone in the group. Perhaps best of all, you have a ‘built-in’ happy hour group at the end of each day.
However, travelling in groups requires compromise, not least on how you drive; will you agree to stay in sight of each other, or simply choose to meet for lunch or at the campsite at day’s end?
A handy tip is having a UHF radio in all vehicles to keep in touch and share sights along the way, time your rest breaks together or maybe just pull up for a morning tea stop in a beautiful location. You might like to appoint an overall tour leader to help guide each day’s travel and activities, or share the job by appointing a different person each day.
If travelling together, keep a distance of 300 to 500 metres between your RVs so that faster-moving traffic can easily overtake your group one at a time – much appreciated by other travellers, and in particular, those hard-working truckies out there. On gravel roads where dust is a problem, make sure you travel far enough behind the vehicle in front so as to keep out of its dust and have a clear view of the road and any on-coming vehicles.
In the end, however, always remember this is your holiday and you are out there to enjoy yourself.
Colin and his wife Prue have been avid Australia-wide RV travellers for more than 35 years, first in a Bedford campervan, then a 1983 Landcruiser Troopy with an old caravan before progressing to a 4WD motorhome. They now travel in a 2012 Landcruiser with a Trakmaster off-road caravan and are CMCA members.
