we pondered this exact question a million years ago and settled on a tent to begin with, now in comparison to todays tents it was massive, it took two wheat bags to cart all the gear, the posts and rails were 1 1/2"  wood, the tent itself was ex army and about 18 feet long by 8 wide it was huge, it took about an hour to put up, 

in todays standards it was absolutely ridiculous a bit like the price of todays off road camper trailers we toured for a while like this but would not consider an overnight stay, if we put it up we stay for at least a couple of nights 

when that trek was finished we immediately destroyed the tent, bought a reasonable secondhand trailer and made up a self erecting camper trailer out of the heavy canvas tent, the difference was chalk and cheese, all the stuff that we needed to carry (and it is a lot) went in the trailer, the lump of foam that was our mattress got retired and we bought a "proper" innerspring, oh the joy, and as for erecting the thing well undo the ropes (later replaced with cable strainers) and stand back, it erects with just a little tug, (that brings back a strange memory that I just cant clarify) we could stop for one night without a divorce,
 
the campers that one sees now, compared to ours, are fantabulous having absolutely everything on board, but the price reflects that if you dont want to tow and you are happy in a tent with only primitive surroundings, and a hell of a lot of people are, then do that, its a personal decision and one that you will make over time 

if left up to me it would be a reasonable camper trailer, but it doesnt have to have all the bells and whistles

-- Edited by dave06 at 17:10, 2009-01-07

Hi Tony, We have had a camper trailer for a few years now (inherited from my dear old dad) and are now looking to upgrade to a slightly bigger, off-road version for our big trek (in the planning stages). I think they are fantastic... the comfort of a decent bed, plus the ease and speed of setup is truly wonderful. Personally we don't want to travel in a caravan, and prefer to have the "feel" of camping as much as possible. I reckon the camper trailer is the way to go. Morag

Camper trailers don't have to be expensive.They start around $5000 and go up to about $40000 depending on what you choose. Ours cost around $8500 with full annexe and good annexe flooring. ours is a light 4x4 ie extra ground clearance but not the treg coupling etc. as we don't intend going too far off the tar. We have had ours for 2 years and hubby put slides in the trailer part and we have varying sizes of plastic containers to hold everything. Hubby is now building the kitchen as it is much cheaper than the ones you can buy. You also get it the way you want it. After camping in tents with air beds it is lovely to sleep off the ground in a proper queen size bed. It takes us about 1/2 hour max to be fully set up and about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from falling out of bed to hitting the road the next morning.Pack up can be quicker if you need it to be by pulling annexe down the night before etc. If you don't want to tow a camper perhaps you should go to the camping shows and look at the other options such as slide ons or roof top ones. There are many to choose from these days. good luck with whatever you choose, Pam

Hi Tony

We did our first trip to NT and the Kimberley with a tent from the back of our ute. We decided on the trip that a CT was the way to go and we are very happy with our choice. I admit it is not the cheapest available but then nor is it the most expensive. As Pam says they start very low and you can add your own gear.

I have 50 days 18 hours 36 minutes 15,14,13 seconds to go to retirement and the Ct is to be our home on the circuit for as long as we can last.

-- Edited by cito at 20:25, 2009-01-07

Hi there all - haven't been around too much over the last couple of days - dying of heat exhaustion

We have done the rounds - we sarted with the tent- upgraded to a wonderful, wonderful campertrailer which we had for 5 years and travelled the length and breadth - did over 10,000 on one trip alone without so much as one iota of any problems. 

It comes a time in your life when the need arises -(in our case anyway - the inability for me to help Barry too much with the set up even though it was was of the simplest of its kind) - so one of the biggest considerations for us was the ease of use and access and as time went on and my physical limitations became more apparent it came time to upgrade.  So we now have a little 12 foot - custom built  off road van - with everything we need - solar panels, extra battery etc etc.

But now with us just waiting on the sale of the house to retire we have purchased a Kedron Van - This decision was made taking into consideration that our initial plan is for 5 years, then all going well try and make it to 10.

The van - being seriously off road will allow us to do all the off road stuff first, in a few years we will assess where and what we want to do and at this stage we may upgrade to a mobile home - afterall it is going to be our home for quite a while...so I guess what I am saying is ...that it depends on what you really want, and how physically able you are and how long you think you will be on the road.

yep agree with all that, being a nomad is a metamorphic thing, what suits today may or may not suit tomorrow, times change and if we dont change with them we stagnate and die

Had a camper a few years back,good as gold for the time I had it ,Buuuuut Was down at the corner of this big country one windy day and the wind got it from the side as I was pulling it open, twisted the frame really bad ever been in the CP at Malacoota, make sure your back is to the coast, the caravan offside or the camper offside I mean If the wind comes up it will blow you inside out, also saw an annexe from an old van go flying Another good spot for a break, make sure the school hols are not on is the small inlet near the Nambucca river, called Boultons crossing, turn right heading north on hwy 1just before the bridge at Macksville M& J enjoy your sunrises

this is the setup that got twisted in the wind, had a hell of a job trying to striaghten tubes

Hi Tony
I just read your comment about hiring a camper trailer and it reminded me that before we did buy our camper trailer, that is exactly what we did.

On one holiday we hired a real off roader and another we hired the on road version (it wasn't the one we ended up buying).  It was the best thing we ever did, especially now when we look back.  We found out that the off road type was the way to go for us, but not that particular one.

I don't think you will regret the decision.

Cheers

yep I laugh at it now as well and it would have been as funny as a hat full of backsides to watch but I swear to all and sundry I wasnt laughing at the time I would imagine if you kept an eye out in the paper or on ebay, you would pick up a good second hand one for between $3,000 and $5,000 another one to consider if you dont want to tow is the rooftop models, I seen quite a few of them up north and they seemed happy with them

I think the tent in a box trailer type ones are quite practical and spacious. The ones like the "Ultimate" are both expensive and not that practical if you are touring as they take so long to erect.
lightweight tents are great too depending on what you want I have a "fanmily dome" type one and it is great if you just want to slip away... We use it maily as cheap accomodation if we are going somewhere that takes longer than a day and we can get all the gear we need in the Jazz for a few nights away...

if memory serves me correct, the ultimate was either originally constructed by ex boat builders or someone out of the boating industry, I think they are the only ones that actually "float" being fully sealed underneath a very good unit but like all of the top of the line units cost not only an arm and a leg but, as two bob said, your first born as well I love the little stove in photo number two, is it a home built one or shop bought, seen a similar one at arkaroola but not as sophisticated

dave06 wrote:

---

if memory serves me correct, the ultimate was either originally constructed by ex boat builders or someone out of the boating industry, I think they are the only ones that actually "float" being fully sealed underneath

a very good unit but like all of the top of the line units cost not only an arm and a leg but, as two bob said, your first born as well

I love the little stove in photo number two, is it a home built one or shop bought, seen a similar one at arkaroola but not as sophisticated

---

Yes they are built now at Moruya I think, they are a good unit but now very expensive and the basic model when compared with the tent in a trailer style is a tad confined. My mate has the fully optioned version complete with "nookie" pole cost him around $45,000 and takes about 2 hours to get set up. Horses for courses I guess, they will go where many won't but the limited fridge and cooking facilities mean they are suitable for 2 people at most.....You' need a seperate fridge to cater for happy hour LOL
I wonder when someone is going to cross Bass Straight in one?

unless you are going to set off around australia for an extended period (in excess of two years) and there is only two of you, I really cant see the warranted expense, these things are more often than not seen in caravan parks, I see more of the modified box trailer (spring/axle/tyre configeration altered) so as to give more ground clearance and better "off road" tolerence than these blokes, I see a lot of families having an absolute ball in an off the shelf standard box trailer ($1,500) with a camper setup on top ($3,000 - $5,000) (commonly known as the camper trailer) total expenditure less than $10,000 including bits and peices, you would be hard pressed to get bigger smiles and better memories than the ones that I have seen in these genuine enjoyment machines, the kids will never forget and they will grow up as contributers to our community and not a drain I keep banging on about keeping it simple in ALL things, buy small, add on as your needs change

dave I think they called the lil fire thingy a *piggy*...hot plate slides over the top for cooking on.....Our CT all up including new annex.and lots of gear.including waeco fridge set us back. $13,000.also included Solar Panel.battery etc..My mate bought a offroad version side over for around $3,800 new.box type campertrailers are the way to go for cheap accomedation Dave

yep that sounds about right with the panel and battery, I like the look of the little piggy, might have a scratch around in my shed to see what bits I've got

Unfortunately i don't have any photos of our camper that we had, but have just found one for sale in Newcastle with some great photos which will give you an idea.
These campers are one of the best and now priced at around $14,000 brand new with all the bells and whistles.  We absolutely loved it and found it so versatile and the set-up - in minutes or at the most about half an hour for full set up.  Took it over the Simpson Desert . took it all round Tassie and many many more miles did it do.

check out this site

http://www.campertrailers.org/camper_trader284.htm

heaps of second hand campers for sale