General tips

Tips we've discovered, or advice had passed onto to us

  • Equipment,  General tips

    First Caravan? Things to consider

    Your new caravan will be a compromise on weight, size, storage and price. It will also need to be within the plated weight capacity of your current tow vehicle. You cant simply grab any van regardless of size and plonk it on the tow bar of any car. There are a lot of points to understand and check off. Weight is the caravaners arch nemesis The following article will add to the knowledge base required to make an informed, safe and appropriate decision for your new or ‘new to you’ caravan The very first thing you need to do is build up a working understanding all the different weight specs…

  • General tips

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Frequently Asked Questions or FAQ. First up we’re not entirely sure why these things are are called frequently asked questions.  Like all so called FAQ and their corresponding answers, ours have been completely made up and we’ve never, ever been asked any of these questions. Just kidding, three of them the questions have been asked but that was too each other just to make our FAQ list(.  Why is it “How much” is never on a FAQ list … hmmm Our FAQ are more of a collection of short statements that we’ve randomly plonked together, but when presented in the form of questions and answers they somehow feel more engaging…

  • General tips

    Everything about pees and poos

    Powdering your nose, spending a penny, call it what you like, we all need to go at some point and some methods are more appealing than others. Personally, I’m happy with a shovel and a roll of tickets. Luckily when it comes to camping, there are plenty of toilet options available to us when the call of nature arises. From the trusty shovel to the composting onboard caravan units and everything in between, you’ll find something that suits your budget and requirements. Many caravans have a built in toilet onboard and those without will always have room to store a smaller model Porta Potti. Many camp areas and rest areas…

  • General tips

    Simple Van Mods

    Van mods … its what many Van’ittes live for and its the best fun you can have with you pants on.   I had no clue what the hell I was doing in this pic but Im sure I was having a ball The bathroom fan hatch on some of the newer vans come tinted.  We went one step further and painted the hatch lid with a black rubberised paint and then silver over the top to reflect the heat.   The idea is to reduce heat transfer into the van and light.   With the vent open the light isnt much less than the original opaque, but close the bathroom is very…

  • General tips

    Everything About Water

    This article is an accumulation of information found throughout our website which combined offers our take on the broad topic of water sourcing, storage, usage and conservation. The sourcing, storage, usage and conservation of water all play an equal part in freecamp planning. Being under prepared in regards to water, or leaving water to blind luck will at best reduced freecamping to a matter of just a few days and at worst to an hour long depressing sightseeing diversion. If your plan is to stick to caravan parks then water conservation will never be an issue; and in that case it’s easy to travel with no water tanks at all,…

  • General tips

    Freecamping for the uninitiated

    First up freecamping is about as far removed from the uninformed misconception as it could possible get.    Brace yourself; freecamping is generally structured, easily accessible, often not free, very safe and very very unlikely to ever be found without a crowd of other freecamping caravaners just like you; all in search of that elusive freecamp where other people just like you … aren’t. My elderly (tour guided, 5 star, Hyatt holidaying, never camping) parents were horrified when they discovered years ago that we would risk our very lives freecamping in all manner of dark, savage, unchartered and lawless places including off the side of the road where we all…

  • General tips

    Tyre blowouts

    Tyre blowouts, particularly front tyre blowouts can have devastating effects.   Even with every effort to physically monitor tyre condition and correct pressure, a blowout can still occur.   A common cause of tyre failure is heat build up resulting from under inflation.   A slow undetected leak on a long drive will eventually result in under inflated which will in turn lead to failure from heat buildup.   Without any understanding of what to do in the instant a blowout happens, its understandable and almost expected that most drivers may subconsciously resort to instinct and react in a way which could lead to complete loss of control. The first video shows dash cam…

  • General tips

    Caravan Parks; the Theatre

    The Sydney Opera House, caravan parks and boat ramps all have one important thing in common; they are all awesome theatres where we can spend hours of  quality time in the audience watching the show.   The quality of the production varies somewhat dependant on the venue.   What we all want to see in the caravan park is the arrival of Mr and Mrs Grump and their complete lack of idea and tolerance of each other.   A good argument and dummy spit makes the ticket price worth every cent. Im no reversing expert and Im not about to impart my shallow wisdom but we have a system that works very well…

  • General tips

    Don’t Blame Us. Interesting info we’ve come across

    Travelling, interacting with other travellers and reading the adventures of like minded folk we often come across titbits and the like from sources other than our own personal experience.   Some of this transfer of knowledge is potentially worthy of passing on.   We thought long and hard about pumping up our own tyres and just claiming other peoples ideas as our own, but thought better of it when it suddenly dawned on us that these ideas might not actually work. So its with a healthy dose of All Care, But No Responsibility that we add the following How To Handle A Tyre Blowout This wasnt something I was aware of, and…