Hi everyone,  We have just sold our house and would like to do the grey nomad thing around Australia. We are looking at buying a 4x4 and camper trailer but unable to purchase this until we have the money from the house so would like to know if anyone has had experience in purchasing vehicles with no permanent address. Also any other tips any one has. We are presently living in Victoria 

At least it will be cheaper to register your new vehicles(s) in Victoria than NSW or ACT. Can you use the address of a family member, or where you are currently staying? Welcome to the forum Trish, I'm sure somebody will have info for you.

Thanks for the welcome and info. We are both looking forward to our new "adventure" and I am sure it is going to be well worth while. Cheers Trish and Peter

Hi trish , welcome , we have friends that travel all over and they use a member of their family , as long as they have a home and live there permantly sort of thing. better in vict. no yearly road worthy thingo..Good luck

Hi Trish and welcome. try using the search feature and you might come across topics of interest regarding no permanent address etc.

Hi Trish and welcome to the fold, I use an address in Qld for the same reason, it's cheaper and no annual roadworthy and no seperate green slip rubbish to worry about. Hoo Roo Happy Days Grumps

have you considered and realised what a nightmare a camper trailer can be like to setup every night or when it rains. Think of the horrors of unpacking and setting up in the afternoon and demobilising and packing up in the morning and then think of the rain and cold weather.  There are a million camper trailers for sale for those reasons. you would sell the camper trailer after two months and buy a caravan. raining who cares with a caravan you open the door step inside everything in place and you are dry.
the other thing get your thinking cap on and think about showering and toilet. Travelling around full time without shower and toilet will quickly drive the lady to drink.
you need to think really carefully otherwise you can spend a lot of money getting it wrong. if you are of a grey nomad age you will not tolerate no shower and toilet for long.

-- Edited by Paul-NSW on Thursday 9th of September 2010 06:08:41 PM

I agree Paul... it takes tough people to live long-term in a camper-trailer. I loved it for a while but it wore off after a couple of trips. It suits some though...

Gerty Dancer wrote:

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At least it will be cheaper to register your new vehicles(s) in Victoria than NSW or ACT. Can you use the address of a family member, or where you are currently staying?

Welcome to the forum Trish, I'm sure somebody will have info for you.

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How much is rego in Vic? If you are a pensioner in nsw its free. One vehicle per person == a car for him & a van for her.

 

Hi Trish,

As others have said before, welcome to the forum. Yes, we have a camper trailer 1992 model, and bought it pre-loved, so can afford to have it sit in the garage for some little time, but only for a couple of off road trips ie. Cameron's Corner and The Cape - these being relative short trips, around 8 week mark. Our main mode of comfort is our caravan for the same reasons as mentioned above. Although we didn't use the shower a lot this last trip, the loo sure was used first thing of a morning when it was 0 deg outside.

Another thing we have been advised to do when we plan to hit the road full time, is to register with the Electoral Commision as an 'itinerant' voter.

Of course mail is another thing to think about - if you have a rellie - fine, use their address, but if you will be like we will be, we have a post office box, and the post office will forward on our mail for the cost (every so often) of a post bag. Just bear in mind, with this method, you are likely to get a note included saying how green with envy they are of what you are doing.

Ah,can't wait to join you - just got to get 'imself to give up work!

-- Edited by Pejay on Thursday 9th of September 2010 07:58:30 PM

why not a slide on camper ? thats my dream set up ,
you can go bush with the pop top versions and sitll have shower / toilet,
and you can leave your camper at a site and go looking around
http://www.freedomoffroad.com.au/poptop.php

Thanks Milo Have checked the freedom of road website looks a great idea, only the website gives no prices and we are on a tight budget, this is why we are looking at a camper trailer as you can get these fairly cheap. This could be worth looking into a little more. for me the idea of a toilet more than a shower sounds really great. We bought a tent and put it up at home had so much trouble putting it up with just a light breeze decided that was out. If it rains we would be soaked before we had it pitched, not trying to make this a marathon, as I am over 60 probably do need a little more comfort, but I have seen some really good camper trailers that have just about everything. Cheers Trish

from memory , the poptops freedom off roaders are $29,990 with shower toilet,
but you can get them from around $25,990 with out shower toilet and just
have an external shower , and one of those porta loo things..
would still be better than farting around with camper trailers etc..

this is a virtual tour of the pop tops with shower / toilet,
gives you an idea any way

http://www.rwgraphics.com.au/remotevrt/freedomoffroad08/pages/NorthStar_850SD_Living_85_86.html

-- Edited by milo on Friday 10th of September 2010 04:15:42 PM

I called into the caravan/campervans sales in Geelong when I was there last week looking for a poptop. The salesman said to me, See that group of campervans over there behind that fence. Yep there were heaps. Well, he said, they are all ordered and waiting for people who have sold their house and waiting for their money to come through so they can get out on the road. So many. He did try to talk me out of a poptop but it is still what I want and will keep looking.

Happywanderer wrote:

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I called into the caravan/campervans sales in Geelong when I was there last week looking for a poptop.

He did try to talk me out of a poptop but it is still what I want and will keep looking.

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Must be great to have plenty of cash to buy the wrong rig first up and sell and rebuy, or plenty of self suffering to put up with discomfort for an extended period of time.
Personally can't take pain and unecessary suffering for so long. The only mistake we ever made was buying a poptop.

 

Slide on campers for extended periods are a  N i Gh T  M a  R   e

slideons are terrible for handling and top heavy.
there is insufficient space for living
insufficient carrying capacity for equipment and water.

you will discover quickly and early on how easy it is to make so many wrong descisions.

so many choices, which is the right one for you?

-- Edited by milo on Friday 10th of September 2010 08:05:24 PM

Not sure of your comment Paul-NSW, why you referred to that particular comment of mine. I don't have any cash so to speak. My son is very generously buying me a campervan so I can follow my dream. I am a 62 year old widow and don't want anything bigger than a poptop. I need to be able to manage it on my own. Can you tell me whats wrong with that. I have only ever driven very small cars and don't need to haul a great rig on my back. I know I will be as comfortable as I need to be, thank you.

i agree happywanderer.. i am after small pop top only has me to fit in it and same as you i would like to be able to handle the van on own ... i am actually looking for about 12ft easy to tow with my car and easy to put up and down ..i hope we lady,s can park our small lovey vans in a circle one day and celerbrate they we got of our bottom and are living ""'our """ dream

One comment all ways look at the weight of any rig you are thinking of buying pop top can be heavier than a full van of the same length , it is because the pop top roof is very heavy

brickie, I'm talking about a drive van pop top, not a tow van pop top. Like a little Toyota or Nissan etc lilly, I do look forward to meeting up with the lovley ladies I have met since joining this site. We will have so much to talk about, mainly about the courage to get out on the road and follow our dream. Not forgetting the men too, don't want to be deemed sexist. Look forward to meeting you all, sometime somewhere.

ive been thinking about the poptop/ hi top camper van, my dream set up would be the slide on , or a motor home , smaller than my dads, though.. i too want to go travelling and live on the road for a while but got some things holding me back at the moment ,

Marj sorry I did miss understand the meaning of Van in your case , but with a van which you want could be a big advantage having a poptop for quick cool down with being able to get rid of build up of hot air and could be left down in winter to kept it a bit warner

Seems I have started a bit of a discussion about campers and caravans. I think it is a case of courses for horses, we are all different (thankfully) and we all prefer something different. Its good though to hear other peoples opinions as it helps to be better informed. I hope when we do start our travels we will meet some of you on the road and that we have made the right decision about our accommodation

Thats right brickies, I asked a lot of questions when I first joined here and worked out the pop top driver campervan would be best for me as when its hot at night you can open the vents up in the top and let the breeze cool it down. Also better for winddrag when driving. The thought of the hiace tops doesn't thrill me at all, they seem so high in some cases. A pop top can be down when being used as a home vehicle as I will only have the one when I buy and it also has to fit into my car park at my unit plus be used for around town vehicle when I am home. Which takes in normal shopping and general home use. Taking all into consideration I feel I will be most comfortable in a pop top drive campervan.

Why is it when you type in campervan in ebay you get all the caravan pop tops and a lot of other things that have no connection to a campervan at all. To me a campervan is something you drive, not tow. The rest are either caravans or camper trailers.

Trish you are spot on we all like what we have so one type dose not fit all , but it is great that we can express our own point of view but still respect other point of view and in the process we all learn something

Welcome to the forum Trish.... you are entering the stage of life where you want to enjoy enjoy enjoy. There are many decissions to make, seek the help on this forum and listen to their advice... get it right and you will enjoy -- get it wrong and you will learn by costly mistakes.. research books such as caravan and motorhomes good book lots of advice monthly issue but all that said and done the end decission is yours be happy, enjoy. There will always be a smiling face at your next stop....

Happywanderer, I did all that research about 2 years ago. I would rather have had the campervan too..ie: Toyota Hiace or similar. I didn't buy one because I thought of the extra cost to buy it, and the extra fuel it'd use, because it would be my permanent vehicle too. So I bought my i30, then later bought the camper trailer. I'm a bit sorry now that I didn't stick with the van idea because I often feel it'd be a helluva lot easier. (Although I'm a youngish grey nomad at 56, I'm on DSP.)

I'm not planning on being on being a permanent grey nomad..only doing trips as I'm able, money wise and physically.

BTW..I too would love to meet up with the 'ladies' who go it alone. I live in the Brisbane area if anyone's ever passing through.

Happywanderer, try looking at www.rvpoint.com.au and in the drop down menue select motor home and campers you can even search at the price you wnt too