May I suggest you repost this in General as you will probably get more response there as not everyone visits this section, it was a great introduction by the way and very thorough.
Like countryroad said, get Camps Seven and I would also get Caravan Parks Australia wide. Both also have Hema maps of every State, but not as detailed as state maps suggested by countryroad, but enough to get a general idea of routes etc. See;
It is going to be very hot and humid up north at this time of the year and I would be more inclined to travel in the south, but that is a personal choice.
I will leave others to comment on the rest of your questions.
Firstly would like to introduce us .. we are originally Ex Rhodesians most people know us as Debbie & Richard, ( Note I have put Debbie's name first , being the gentleman I am )
We have been caravanning for a few good years now ( on and off - holidays etc. not on a permanent basis) have done some years in our early days around Rhodesia in the end of the 80's, then twenty years around South Africa, 9 years in Europe based in the UK and now we have been blessed to have arrived in South Australia in 2009- Wudinna of all places :)) during that time recon we have had 11 caravans, 3 motorhomes, 1 camper trailer, a few good tents cant remember how many! and Km's travelled well I lost count of them back in the early nineties in South Africa when I kept a diary of every trip, fill up of fuel etc. and then our Ute was stolen along with our Diary and maps etc. was really cheesed off, Memories wow we do have a heap and because of them here we plan to go again.
We came out from the UK in 2009 to join a major John Deere dealership group on the Eyre Peninsular , I managed the 5 dealerships in Wudinna, Kimba , Cleve, Cummins, Crystal Brook as Group Aftermarket Manager responsible for 65 staff in the Parts and service departments for the last four years,
Debbie is an aged Care worker and has been doing loads of community work for the "Grey Nomads" who can unfortunately no longer travel about in Cleve ( our home town now)
Well out of the blue last month I was made redundant, my Boss is under the impression that he can now carry on with my work now that I have the departments up and running at a good smooth pace! Ha Ha Good luck!!
Our widowed 30yr old daughter is out here from the UK on a 1 year working holiday visa with her two little kids for some R&R after the sudden loss of her husband due to a stroke at 29yrs of age!
Debbie & I have decided to turn this bad situation into our advantage and take our 2011 Jayco Sterling Outback 17ft van and the Nissan Patrol on a road trip for how long we don't know?? Have been reading so many fab stories about you all having a great time and we do miss meeting lots of good folk having been working flat out for the last few years.
Christine Our daughter has been kindly offered the use of our friends 15 ft. pop top caravan so she can come along with us she has an X - Trail.
We plan to start our Independence trip " Adventure before Dementia" on 11/11/2013 ( funny thing in fitting with the day Ian Smith declared independence in Rhodesia 11/11/1965) from Cleve SA and head up through Coober Pedy - Alice - Darwin then over to Cairns and then work our way down the East coast through Queensland - NSW - Vic - Christine has to Return to the UK in July 2014
Well that's enough about us for now... recon you have an idea who we are by now Lol
I really could do with some travel advice what we should do regards...
our Post, Mail
Internet access for emails
Independent camping places , is there a good book or web site?
must see's ,Do's, Don'ts
temp working jobs
and really any other tips re ,( Yip we are still in the working class bracket) so will need to pick up some short term casual work along the way.
I hear you say Cairns in December!! will be hot n humid as hell ya we have heard that but with out typing up another two page Essay on why its this way - anyway everyone else recons that it will be quite and not a mad house, Mmmm time will tell.
I must say that this site has some great stuff and many good folk adding their comments so hopefully I will get a few replies too,
Welcome to this entertaining, amusing, generally very friendly, did I not say informative forum. Not that I can help you but if you look above at the top blue line Middle, you will see Search, click and enter, type mail service and click and no doubt every topic that
has been discussed regarding that subject will pop up, and will be there for you to peruse at your leisure. The same with Internet.
Various coverages for camp sites...Buy Camp 7 book abt $50-$60 buy from camping type shops, some swear by Apps on ipad etc everyone thinks what they do is best. I would suggest you get paper maps of where you want to go say map of each state or
just aus. use the above search, probably someone else has already asked your question or place name. There is a lot of new folk have probably asked everything you are asking since this forum commenced.
Well thanks to you Countryroad, Duh, Mongrel & Dougwe for a warm welcome,
I must confess after pressing the post button I did think more about suppose many new dudes have asked the same old questions,
Already have bought the Caravan Parks Australia wide ( second edition) last week and will hunt down the camp 7 Book. I like books to read...
I recon that I must acquire a better web site Nick - name I see you all have some really interesting ones, they say you can you can tell a lot from a persons nick name but I have not yet mastered that skill!
Have had a look at the suggested links and all great, my minds a buzzing with all this info and I feel the adrenalin starting to flow again sort of getting that warm fuzzy tingle , or it could be the glass of red wine I just had, either way its good Ha ha.
Hi and welcome to the site- I'm sure you will find a lot of good info on here. Everyone has suggested lots of things - but maybe heading East through Victoria, up through NSW then on into QLD, across to the NT and down from there - that way you get the summer in the south, and will be heading north in the winter - throughout the QLD winter there are thousands of travellers who come up from the south, because it is dryer in QLD in winter, and warmer. My opinion anyway.
Camps Australia Wide issue 7(affectionately known as the travellers bible or camps 7) is a great publication for free camps, and low cost caravan parks, showgrounds, rec grounds etc., - it also gives a listing of dump points, very important. I find a mix of paper maps to plan the journey, camps 7 and maybe Wikicamps on phone or tablet is the way to go.
Plenty of info on this forum, in all of the sub sections - you will learn a lot just browsing through!
Get out there and enjoy it!!!! Hope to see you on the site posting away very soon!
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jules "Love is good for the human being!!" (Ben, aged 10)
Hi Jules47, slip sliding away, Greg and Katen, Barry n Pam,
Thanks for your kind words and friendly welcomes, would be great to meet up with some of you all along the way, who knows Australia is not actually that big.....is it?? Lol.
Jules47 thanks for your much appreciated comments we have thought long n hard about the way to go and I agree with your idea about summer in the south and winter in the north, we would like to maybe settle down in mid to upper Queensland so to have their summer the way it would be to some extent would give us the opportunity to experience life as it would be, we also have to go this way due to our daughters travel plans in the early part on next year.
Hey anyway what ever the weather we gonna have a great time!
Welcome from us too Rich and Debs. There's lots of helpful advice on this forum. Sometimes you can find out what you're looking for by typing it in to the 'Search' bar at top of the page. That should bring up posts that answer questions.
Hi & welcome R&D
Not sure about mail direction but internet well thats my game. I travel with both Optus & Telstra mobile broadband modems as some times one company works in one place the other in another place and most times both work in the same place, I do the same with prepaid mobile phones I carry an optus my with carries a Telstra the Optus gives 15gb for 12 months $130 + modem the Telstra 10gb for 12 months $180 + modem. Hope its been some help