Hi Anne and welcome to the forum, we are still travelling in a toyota hi-ace camper and we love it,
 
I see no reason why you would have any difficulty in free camping with your a-van 

all you need are lights and maybe a little power to run a telly or radio, perhaps an onboard 100 amp hour battery would be the go, 

you could easily run these things off that through an inverter 

and to recharge the battery maybe a small 80 watt breifcase solar panel,
 
this setup would allow you to easily spend a week in a lovely spot 

your fridge and stove are gas so I see no problem at all, 

in fact we have been using this system for free camping for the last twenty plus years in our toyota 

I'm glad you like the site and it's warm and freindly atmosphere

just one other thing if you grab a copy of "camps australia wide"  (preview here http://www.campsaustraliawide.com/ )  you will be able to find the free and low cost camps much easier,
 
if you grab the one with "camp snaps" then you can see exactly where you are going before you get there, 

anyway whatever you decide just take your time and enjoy the life



-- Edited by dave06 on Tuesday 24th of March 2009 01:48:00 PM

Hi Helena,
              We to have a A- Van Camper and have no trouble free camping in fact we would sooner free camp,have battery for lights,run fridge on gas,cook out side with bbq or open fire.
We have never had any problems yet and trying to keep it that way.



                                 Roamin.

Hi Dave,
      Thanks for the advice we have used the camps 4 was our bible on the road we are getting the van connected to the car for 12volt whilst driving and have a small genie which we don't like using much don't want to annoy anyone. Anne.

Hi Anne, I dont see any problem with a setup like that, I'm really glad you have a camps book and you are already a convert to free camping

you will quickly see the benefit of having an onboard battery in the van as you free camp more but try as hard as you can to keep it simple, and please be aware not alarmed at the camps, most people are great

I love the attitude with your genny, people who consider other people in camps are becoming rare, others in here think that I hate gennys, far from it I hate the people who have gennys and dont consider others

if you leave the van connected to the car and you use the power from the vehicle please put a couple of safety issues in place

(1) a low voltage cutout as a means of saving your vehicles battery from total power loss

(2) just a little voltage meter in the line somewhere so you can moniter your batterys condition, doesnt have to be expensive I got mine off ebay I think it cost me about $6.00 and it has only two wires, red and black so it was very easy to set up any where in the line and it does it's job well

nobody here, especially me wants to see you or anybody else stranded in a free camp with a flat battery so please keep an eye on it

anyway Anne if I or anybody else can help you in any way just give us a hoy about anything at all

Hi Roamin,

What model A Van do you have we have the little sportsliner but find it so comfortable although storage is limited.
Anne.

Hi Roamin,
True you can only take what is necessary we have been on a few short trips to National Parks and loved using the van just got to fine tune what we take and what we leave at home.
Helena