Has anyone got any experiences of a long trip living out of a Kamper? Tossing up the idea of buying a late Bay when we leave la la land up here in North East Arnhem Land and spending 3 to 6 months making our way slowly back to NSW. We will have a 4 and 2 year old with us and are wondering if it will be too much spending that long living out of a kamper?
The wife and I really like the idea of it and the kids would love it, but it would be great to hear pros and cons from others who have done it before.
Thanks in advance
Dave

I have had a few married couples from Germany travel Australia for 12 months and not had problems.

Couple - easy
0-2 yr old. Possible. They don't know any better
4 yr old. That is going to be tough.

Still. I would give it a go if you and your partner are prepared to do it

No experience with the kids but I'd say go for it. You'll have a trip to remember whatever happens

Leave the wife and kids behind and go yourself,no probs then.

I have to take them, if i dont she will chop up the Beetle and the kids will crap on the seats

But seriously, I have been trying to come up with an angle to add another Dub to the family and the wife came up with this idea all by herself
This whole idea is looking more and more to being as reality starting mid January 2014.

buy a syncro ..air con , heater , 4x4 and plenty of room inside

My wife and I and our 2 teenage boys did one month from qld to Tassie and back.
Most memorable holiday we have had! (and for all the right reasons)
Go for it!

Ours was in a 1970 Dormobile.
We are going for a week in the snow at the end of June in it and will do another month raod trip at Xmas.

Quote:

Originally posted by vassy66T1 My wife and I and our 2 teenage boys did one month from qld to Tassie and back. Most memorable holiday we have had! (and for all the right reasons) Go for it! Ours was in a 1970 Dormobile. We are going for a week in the snow at the end of June in it and will do another month raod trip at Xmas.

We put a tent up for the boys when the stops were more than 1 night.
For an overnighter they would sleep up top.
Our annexe was a very basic one (tarp with rope and clips etc)

Cheers Marcus, I was all keen to get the tent/annexe setup from JustKampers but the wife kept telling me we need to keep it as simple as possible. Seeing as we already own a tent its probably stupid to get another just because it will look better Anyway that is a great idea and the missus will be very happy to hear how you guys did it. Thanks

Make sure the young ones can see out the windows...they are not blocked by cupboards and cap gear. My old panel use to drive my grommies nuts as they couldn't see, and long trips they would get very bored quickly and car sick!

I gotta start writing a list, this info will definitely help with the whole sanity factor I am thinking

we're thinking the same thing except got 3 x kids aged 4, 3 and 10 months. We're looking at getting a teardrop camper to help with storage and quick cooking if needed. Looking at heading away towards the end of the year, start of next. Might do a few tester trips first for a couple of weeks then return home for some space.

Did a trip around NZ South Island 2 years ago in a larger van that had shower, toilet and cooking facilities and after a couple of weeks we hired a house for a 3 days to spread out before we all lost it. It was during winter though and i think the cold was more a factor than the cramped conditions.

Same thoughts, small box trailer for quick setting up. Missus only just realised that you arent likely to get a/c in a 70s Kombi, some quick talking needed to get her to realise that this trip in anything newer would not be the same adventure. Told her that all Kombis come with 2 50 a/c so all will be good

Adventure is way more inportant than A/C!!!

The family will remember it always

Mr Do,

Me and the boss take our two girls away for a week and my van is bulging at the seams and it is a T3 syncro pop-top camper.

We take an Outwell Awning for my big daughter to sleep in as she seems to need to visit the ammenities at least once per night and this stops her disturbing out beauty sleep.

Our syncro only has the rock'n'roll bed, and the large 110L upright fridge built into a cupbaord.

We also have a roof basket built into the poptop front where we fit a roof bag and put pillows/ sleeping bags to remove them from the inside. Plus we have a bike rack for the kids bikes.

Still the syncro drives well with this load and I would much rather this than tow a trailer.

This is our syncro almost fully stuffed:



This is with the roof bag on and about to venture off last Christmas:




Here is the Outwell Awning which is fairly easy to set up and handles the weather very well:


I would suggest getting your van, your annexe what ever that may be and doing a few trial short trips to test if it works then adjust as required before the big trip.

Cheers,

Scott

Yeah Skott,but your mad after a week and want to go back to work!
It wont be long...

Thanks Scott, great pics. That is a cool looking camping ride (must be the whole VW love affair coming out of me!). At this stage we will be leaving Arnhem Land then spending time at the inlaws farm, Northern Rivers, which is where we will be looking for a camper. Plan is to find one make sure everything is up to scratch then hopefully we will be able to do a couple of trips to test it out before the big one. Thanks again for sharing your pics and experiences

Been trawlin the net to see whats out there, finding that there arent too many campers regoed as 4 seaters. Whats the go with people kids sitting in the back? is it just a case of seat belts being fitted to the rock and roll seat? or should I just narrow my search to a Kombi camper regoed as a 4/5 seater?

Mines actually registered as an 8 seater even though it only seats 5. It was like that when I bought it so I didnt argure - must be the Caravelle heritage.

You can get them registered as 4/ 5 seaters if your rock'n'roll bed is ADR compliant - custom kombi do one that is ADR compliant for splits bays and T3's are almost ready too.

You can also get a crab bar to provide a safe baby seat/ child seat attachment.

Looks like this trip is locked in , the wife is already starting a potential route map. Plan is to purchase a late bay from SE QLD/North Coast NSW early next year, set it up with a trailer and hit the road. I don't know if I,m more excited about the trip or searching for another VW to buy

Buying another old VW is crazy but enough to keep an old VW nutter from going crazy!

Go for it and you even have the wife's blessing so you cant beat that!

Next question for our quest...automatic tranny behind a 2L, good, bad or much of a much compared to a manual? My only real experience of autos behind pre efi vehicles (unmodified) is weazy 186/202 red motors trying to get old Kingswoods moving. But the wife (shit, I hope she never reads this thread!) aint the sharpest when it comes to juggling a clutch pedal and a gear stick. Basically what are the autos like to live with?

The excitement is getting out of control!,,,,Only 4 months till we need to have purchased a Kombi, been looking half heartedly on the net now need to get serious. Will be looking in the north coast NSW SE Qld area but willing to travel( I love that shit), if anyone has or knows of something that would be good for a family to travel in(for at least half a year), let us know... Must be pop top or the kids will kick my shins!!! Preferably mid 70

Been a while since I've been on here.

I've got a 1800 Auto, doesn't set any speed records but that's why you drive a Kombi. Driven it fully loaded and have never had any problems, can get up to 100km, even faster with a tail wind and down hill. Up hill can be a killer though. I've never towed with ours but heard that a 2lt manual is the way to go if your towing.

As far as seating goes, a lot campers were only registered as 2 seaters. Ours had the back seat converted to the full width rock and roll seat when we bought it and was told it was registered for 4. When baby number 3 came along we got it approved by an engineer to seat 3 in the back, went to VIC roads to get reregistered and found out it was still only registered as a 2 seater. It cost us about $800 to get it all approved.

Heres our ready for action, good luck with the search

In my experience kids are very flexible, they can adapt to different situations better than most adults. Have a great time on the road, it is a blast.