My husband and I are heading north from Adelaide at the end of May. We are stallholders at our local markets and wish to take our stall on the road until November. Ideally, heading up the middle to Darwin, then across to QLD, making our way slowly down through NSW and VIC, to arrive in Melbourne just in time for the Cup.
If anyone has done this, I would really appreciate some ideas/suggestions etc on where/how to start planning this! Its a little overwhelming as there are so many markets, and of course we have no idea if theyre good or not etc. Alao, we need to know which markets accept travellers rather than just locals (which is fair enough, but this isnt always made clear on websites) etc.
Any advice/tips/suggestions would be awesome! Thanks in advance
Welcome to the gang Rosie and Mr Rosie, enjoy here and out in the playground.
There will be heaps of markets around as you move through the different areas to keep yourselves amused I'm sure. I hope to be in Townsville from early May to early September all being equal and health gods co-operating. There are a few markets up there that are always a good walk through.
If you see me around say hi. Ya can't miss me, I am an old Indian Chief with only one feather now.
Keep Safe on the roads and out there.
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TUG.......2014 Holden LT Colorado Twin Cab Ute with Canopy
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We are full time on the road and have been since 2014. My better half is quite creative and makes cards etc. In our initial year and once only time set up a stall at the Sunday markets in Mildura. Did not make enough to cover costs and only sales were to local stall holders who felt sorrow for us.
They pointed out that unless your local and known the effort will bear little fruits.
Hi there, May I enquire what type of goods you sell? Is it handmade stuff by yourself or bric a brac type of stuff as this will determine in some cases if you are accepted into a particular market. The Handmade Expo Markets at Ipswich, Forest Hill and Toowoomba (Qld) have markets all through the year but these are for made by yourself items. I've only been to the Toowoomba one for a look and it was well patronized and lots of stall holders are from out of town. Craft Alive is Australia wide and is for suppliers of goods - mostly quilting and paper craft (again only been to the Toowoomba event run over 3 days). The Eumundi Markets is a very large market on the Sunshine Coast but again for handmade/baked etc. Runs 2 days a week every week. The Cabarlah Markets are near Toowoomba Qld. and are held last Sunday of the month. Went and had a look at the November 2018 one and lots of people and lots of stall holders selling anything and everything. You can also camp on site the night before there. Some markets will want to know about what type, if any, insurance you have. Depending on what you have, Swap Meets may be another idea. Good luck and enjoy your trip.
Thanks everyone for your input. JohnR, I agree that having a following definitely helps - we actually travelled to the Mildura Antique Fair last year and did really well (the nature of our goods I think) but wouldnt have been worth the travel costs from Adelaide, park fees etc if we hadnt already been going that way on holiday if you know what I mean.
Guru, we make unique, handcrafted jewellery from broken china that we source from our travels, mainly old homesteads and ghost towns etc. We also get our shards from op shops etc. We are a registered business and have our own insurance etc. You can see our work on our Facebook page at
www.facebook.com/brokenbydesign.au
Moose2, thats great advice re tourist centres. Thinking itll be hard to book too far ahead as you never know where youll be, hat opportunities come up etc.
We get an awesome response everywhere we go here in SA so fingers crossed we can find a few markets interstate to help fund our travels a bit. Toowoomba sounds great so we will definitely check it out, thanks! Otherwise I will need to pick up some work as we go, which is fine too! I am a teacher so intend to get my qualifications recognised in QLD and NT and VIC if possible so that I can maybe pick up some relief work as we go. But happy to sweep floors and clean toilets as well - whatever keeps us on the road!!
I've seen someone set up a couple of tables along side their caravan and selling stuff like gemstones/polished rocks and jewellery. Not sure if it was homemade or not but it was well done and the setup was not intrusive for other campers. Mind you this was in a largish free camp. I imagine donation camps would be ok too.
A lady who lives in a van at Atherton sells hand made paper flowers & other quicklynick-nacks from her van. Most towns throughout the Atherton Tablelands have markets on intervening weekends. A bloke sells & hires out metal detectors at the Clermont CP. I guess you'd have to ask the caravan parks' permission.
Townsville's Cotters Market (In Flinders St, Sunday mornings) is run by Rotary, I recall. There is a Friday night market on the Strand - not certain who runs it - try the council. It is certainly nice & cooler than hanging around in the suburbs! Also the Willows Market (also Rotary) is on Sunday mornings.
All the best on your travels! If you get stuck & need an answer, check out the "Search" button on this forum.
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Warren
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If you don't get it done today, there's always tomorrow!
We used to have a mobile Laser Engraving business, initially we traveled from market to market but found a lot of country markets where very low in attendances. So, we shifted our focus to Festivals, Expo's and Country Shows, only attending the occasional larger markets and never looked back.
Our only claim to fame was having the first mobile laser engraving service in Australia, OR the only one's stupid enough to put a 60 Watt Co2 Laser in the back of a ute & tow a caravan behind it.
Best advice I can give is to design a flyer aimed at supporting your application to the different events and push the fact that what you do is unique. That way you'll push yourself as being a draw card ratter than being just another stall holder. After our first 6 months, we were being invited to events which saved the tedious process of applying for them.
Steve, Di & Ziggy We named our Motorhome "Roadworx" because on the road works "On The Road Again" Ford Transit with 302 Windsor V8 conversion, C4 Auto, 9 Inch Ford Diff All Lighting L.E.D., 260 Amp/h AGM, 530 Watt Solar + Kipor Backup Gen.
