Caravanning for Beginners - Step 1 - Getting A Van
- Feb 1
- 4 min read
Updated: May 6
For many Australians, and some visitors, it feels like doing 'the lap' is a rite of passage, one that as historically the primary domain of grey nomads. Since the pandemic though it appears a lot more young couples and young families are making the trip, some choosing to enjoy a nomadic lifestyle for many years.
Although I'm realistically now closer to the grey nomads in age and appearance, at 53 I feel younger than many of the more sterotypical travellers. However, I am not as fit (at least not yet) as some of the spritely 60, 70, and sometimes 80 year old travellers I've encounted.
I've always loved travel and my motivation to see as much of Australia and the world ASAP, was accelerated a breast cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatment. With the caravanning I felt that if I didn't dive in and do that now, it was more likely I'd never do it.
So, after a couple of years of on and off researching with my partner, a few trips to see used and new vans, several caravan and camping expos, and buying and upgrading an appropiate car to tow it, we brought a demo van at the Adelaide expo in October 2025. A Storm 7.2 On The Move caravan, from CaravanHQ.
Excited and anxious about the massive investment, I went back and forth about the decision for a while. It didn't help that we'd need to drive back from NSW to Adelaide to bring the van back to NSW to get it registered. Naturally it would be easiest to buy a van in the state you live in, we just weren't ready to make a decision at the earlier events. They can deliver the vans anywhere after an expo if you pay for that.
Why do I want the caravanning experience?
When I was young my grandparents had a caravan at the coast and it was the location for many lovely vacations. We never travelled in the van, but it still was associated with lots of relaxed family holiday memories.
I've seen a lot of Australia without caravanning which gives you the opportunity to stay in all sorts of different places which I love. The difference with caravanning is that it should make it possible for us to travel for extended periods of time much more affordably.
The upfront purchase of the van is a major factor which we've done part cash, part loan. However, once we've done our major van travelling over the next couple of years we expect to sell the van and hope to recoup the majority of the investment which will open the doors for other adventures.
I'm hoping the big van trips will enable us to experience more freedom, travel slower, be more relaxed, and as a nature lover I'm hoping to feel more immersed in the world around me.
Choosing the van?
After looking at a lot of van designs I wanted to go for a larger layout. I mostly wanted the rear club lounge as a comfortable place to relax, eat, and work, in any weather. I knew that could make towing a big more of a challenge, but if we were really going to be travelling for long periods and needing to work at the same time, space to do that was essential.
Other essentials for me included an inside kitchen, shower, toilet (although we'll mainly try to use other facilities), lots of natural light, the newer windows with inbuilt insect or solid privacy screens (amazing), screen door, outside BBQ, and the ability to drive comfortably on dirt roads with some clearance. The latter point led to us getting an offroad van despite not planning to do any serious offroad activities with a van that big, but I've had enough driving experience in Australia to know that in more remote areas a lot of the main roads are dirt roads, and needed to be sure the van could handle it.
To make sure it was light enough to tow comfortable fully packed the van is made from a newer composite style of material, no timber or aluminium frame.
Did we make a mistake?
On the trip back from picking up the van I was seriously questioning whether we'd done the right thing.
We were only able to get a 3 day permit to bring the van back to NSW as they expect you to get it back as quickly as possible, hence the first experiences of caravanning were setting up for an overnight stay and leaving early the next morning - 3 days in a row. This felt very stressful when everything about setting up and packing down the van was new.
On top of that as soon as we left the first location in Adelaide it was evident both water tanks on the new van were leaking. Then in an attempt to miss driving through the city we took another route that had us tackling mountain curves with a 23 foot van on day 1 of towing. This was followed on day 2 by us travelling in 40 degree heat and the car breaking down multiple times!
Planning Next Steps
After getting home we worked on getting the van fully stocked with essential equipment, compiled a list of warranty issues we've been working through with CaravanHQ, planned a week away to get to know the van in a more relaxed setting, and started work on planning the bigger trips.
Ideally we'll get in one large trip this year of 2-3 months, and then plan to tackle the majority of the coastal lap starting in January 2026. It is my hope that this opportunity to see so much more of Australia will lead to many unexpected good surprises and travel adventures I'll remember fondly forever.
