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| Camps Australia Wide 8th Edition |
Camps Australia Wide 8th Edition (Camps 8)
We just bought the latest edition (Camps 8) Camps Australia Wide book – the ultimate guide for budget and freedom campers in Australia. I am ridiculously excited! So many things to do and amazing places to see!
Camps Australia Wide is not on Twitter
One thing I noticed, however, is that Camps Australia Wide is not on Twitter. To me, this is quite surprising, considering the huge travellers' community on Twitter. Imagine how much potential exposure Camps Australia Wide could get if they had an active and interactive Twitter account?
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| Squeezable, non-leaking travel bottles, under 100mL |
Travel-friendly bottles for liquids
We first saw the Camps Australia Wide book in our local Esperance Camping World & Workwear shop. I love that shop – I have an addiction to travel and camping things, for example, those squeezable travel bottles for liquids. We've done a fair bit of flying around the world (in 2013 alone, I did over 30 flights and The Photographer did over 45!) and I'm obsessed with having the perfect travel bottles for liquids of less than 100 millilitres (for aeroplane carry-on luggage). Do you know how hard it was to find good quality, squeezable bottles that, (a) hold less than 100mL but, (b) hold more than a measly 40mL, and (c) are squeezable (because what's the point of non-squeezable plane-friendly travel bottles? How am I meant to get my moisturiser out if I can't squeeze the bottle to get it out?), and (d) which don't leak? A couple of years ago, I found it very difficult to find good ones until I noticed these squeezable travel bottles in airports, thanks to GoToob – absolutely genius!
Camps 8
So, getting back to camping, rather than flying, Camps 8 is literally the ultimate guide for finding cheap or free camping sites all around Australia. It's perfect for budget-conscious backpackers and people with fully self-contained recreational vehicles (RVs).
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| Part of the legend in Canps 8 |
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| How to read each site listing in Camps 8 |
Camps 8 has a brilliantly comprehensive and easy-to-understand key, a few of which are shown in the photo above. We think one of the most useful ones for us will be the 'Fees applicable' and 'Fees above specified limit' and, every few days, 'Showers'! Yes, we are expecting to go every few days without showers – it's just what you do when you're camping around Australia without an RV.
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| A page from the Western Australia section of Camps 8 |
'Fees applicable'
This is particularly useful for us because we want to spend as little as possible on accommodation/campsites so that we can have more to spend on activities along the way. As you can see in the picture above of a typical page in Camps 8, it's easy to see which sites have a fee and which ones don't. Not only that but where there's a 'Fees applicable' symbol ($), you can be almost sure that those camping grounds will be $24 or less per person to stay there (because fees are subject to change without notice, you may want to call ahead to check what the current fees are). I think The Photographer and I will be looking mainly for the listings that are free from any 'Fees applicable' symbols in order to get the most out of our camping budget.
'Fees above specified limit'
We will be looking out for this symbol ($+), particularly when we're looking for sites that have showering facilities. We are expecting that, if a site has hot shower facilities, there's likely to be a higher cost attached to it.
'Showers'
This could be a tricky one if you specifically want a hot shower. You may have to call them in advance to check or, if the campsite you're interested in is listed on TripAdvisor, you could find out, either in the description or in the reviews, as to whether their showers are hot or cold.
Australia is massive
There are so many places we want to visit on our trip and we're worried we may not have enough time – Australia is huge. Ideally, we'd be aiming for a whole year driving around Australia but unfortunately for us, that's not currently a realistic expectation, so we're hoping to get up to six months instead.
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| It's over 450 kilometres from Alice Springs to Uluru (Ayers Rock) |
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| It's a similar distance from Manchester to Brighton in the UK |
An example of Australia's massiveness is the misconception that Alice Springs is 'close' to Uluru (Ayers Rock) and, therefore, people tend to stay in Alice Springs, thinking it'll just be a hop, skip and jump to visit Uluru. Not quite – Alice Springs is 463 kilometres away from Uluru (on fully sealed roads). In the UK, this is similar to the distance between Brighton and Manchester.
So, you know those photos of Australian road signs showing distances of hundreds of, if not over a thousand, kilometres? Yeah, they're fairly normal around here. Suffice to say, we'll likely be taking an extra fuel can or two with us to ensure that we don't run out of fuel in the middle of the Outback, nowhere near a petrol station.
It's going to be a big road trip but it's also going to be the best way to see this vast country – the countryside in between all the towns and major tourist attractions is just as breathtaking.
Where to go?
Our plan is to visit as many places around Australia as possible, plus, visit all the friends and family we have living around Australia. Two places that I'm particularly looking forward are, The Pinnacles in Western Australia and Uluru (Ayers Rock) in the Northern Territory.
Have you taken a camping road trip around Australia before? We're open to suggestions!
If you would like The Photographer to capture some stunning photos of your Australian town, let us know via Facebook or Twitter:
The Photographer's Fiancée – Twitter
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