Super Fat Hookups Road trips across Australia Browse all topics

Topics

The archive is organised by what is currently worrying you, not by geography. Most people arrive with one of these four problems.

Routes

Drives long enough to be worth planning, with the stops that actually change the trip.

  1. 5 November 2026

    Great Ocean Road in a Minicamper: What a Small Van Changes

    What a small camper actually changes on the Great Ocean Road: parking, the Otway bends, timing the Apostles, and why the road is not a distance problem.

    9 min read
  2. 5 November 2026

    Darwin to Broome: Five Decisions Before the Long Middle

    Darwin to Broome is a chain of decisions rather than one road: surface, season, vehicle, water and where you may sleep, and how to take them in turn.

    9 min read
  3. 5 November 2026

    Alice Springs to Adelaide: Spacing, Roadhouses and the Turn-Back

    The Stuart Highway as a spacing problem: where the long days fall, why Coober Pedy and Woomera split the drive, and the rule for turning back.

    9 min read
  4. 5 November 2026

    Brisbane to Melbourne Southbound: Coast or Inland, and Who Each Suits

    Brisbane to Melbourne southbound is a fork, not a route: Princes Highway coast against the Newell and Olympic Way inland. What each is for, and who it suits.

    9 min read
  5. 5 November 2026

    Seven Days Inland: A New South Wales Loop Without the Coast

    A one-week inland New South Wales loop: the Blue Mountains, the western slopes and the Hunter, and why a loop beats the coast when you only have seven days.

    7 min read
  6. 5 November 2026

    The Albany Loop: Shape and Spacing on WA's South Coast

    Albany, Denmark, Margaret River and Augusta form a loop, not a line. How the south-west corner is shaped, where the drives fall, and why direction matters.

    9 min read
  7. 5 November 2026

    Crossing the Nullarbor: Two Days of Arithmetic

    The Nullarbor is a distance problem, not a sightseeing one. How to plan the crossing by direction, fuel spacing, fatigue, quarantine and legal nights.

    7 min read
  8. 5 November 2026

    The Gibb River Road: Deciding Before You Commit

    The Gibb River Road is a decision with consequences, not a list of gorges. Three tests to run before you commit, and the rules for turning back on it.

    7 min read
  9. 5 November 2026

    How Far Can You Drive in a Day in Australia? A Method, Not a Number

    There is no universal daily distance for Australia. What actually consumes a driving day, and a way to calibrate your own limit before the trip starts.

    10 min read
  10. 5 November 2026

    What an Unsealed Road Does to Your Itinerary

    Corrugations, dust and water crossings do not just slow you down: they change how many nights you need, what you can carry and whether you can keep going.

    7 min read
  11. 5 November 2026

    Roadtrip New Zealand: what this page is, and where to go instead

    This was a short 2014 note about campervanning New Zealand. It is not current advice. Here is what changed and where the useful pages are now.

    2 min read

Camping

Where you can sleep, what it costs and which nights you should book ahead.

  1. 5 November 2026

    Wilsons Promontory: Camping at Tidal River and What a Vehicle Can Do

    Wilsons Prom is 50,500 hectares of coast 157 km from Melbourne, and the hard part is not the drive. Tidal River camping, access and booking reality.

    9 min read

Money

Fuel, food, park fees: the parts of a road trip budget people forget to add.

  1. 5 November 2026

    Is Australia Expensive to Road Trip? Where the Budget Actually Goes

    Australia is cheap to drive through and expensive to be entertained in. Where an Australian road trip budget actually goes, and what is optional.

    10 min read
  2. 5 November 2026

    National Park Entry Fees in Australia Are Not National: How the System Works

    Park entry in Australia is set state by state, and often park by park. What a pass covers, what it never covers, and which agency to check before you go.

    10 min read
  3. 5 November 2026

    Choosing Your New South Wales: Coast, Mountains or Inland

    How to pick which part of New South Wales suits the length of trip you actually have, and where the costs really sit in each of the three regions.

    7 min read
  4. 5 November 2026

    Where the Money Goes in Tropical North Queensland

    Reef days, long fuel distances and wet-season closures that force paid rooms: where money goes in far north Queensland, and which self-drive days stay cheap.

    7 min read
  5. 5 November 2026

    Cheap Campervan Hire: What 'Cheap' Is Actually Comparing

    Cheap campervan hire is a comparison, not a price. What the word hides about class, dates, direction and distance, and where the operator's real figures are.

    3 min read
  6. 5 November 2026

    Campervan Hire in Australia: What the Depot Decides

    Choosing a campervan in Australia starts with the depot, not the vehicle. What each end of the country changes about your quote, and where the rates live.

    3 min read
  7. 5 November 2026

    Book and Save: How to Read a Campervan Quote

    The old booking page, replaced by something more useful: what a campervan quote is built from, what it leaves out, and where the operator's own rates live.

    3 min read
  8. 5 November 2026

    Travel Deals Australia: Telling an Offer From Advertising

    The old deals page was affiliate copy for someone else's tours. This one explains how to test a campervan offer, and where the operator's specials live.

    3 min read

First trip

The things worth sorting before you leave, and the things you can work out on the road.

  1. 5 November 2026

    Campervan or Car and Hotels in Australia? The Trade You Are Actually Making

    Not a vehicle comparison: a choice between two ways of travelling Australia. Where a campervan wins, where hotels win, and which trip shapes suit each.

    10 min read
  2. 5 November 2026

    Your First Road Trip in a Small Camper: What to Sort Before You Leave

    Booked your first small camper? Five things to sort before you drive off: what the van includes, packing small, fuel and water, legal sleeps, and pickup day.

    9 min read
  3. 5 November 2026

    Planning Australia in the Right Order

    Season, then length, then coast, then vehicle, then nights. Why the sequence matters more than the answers, and what goes wrong when you book a van first.

    7 min read
  4. 5 November 2026

    Driving Down Under: The Rules an Overseas Licence Does Not Teach You

    Australia drives on the left, but the rules that catch overseas drivers are the state ones: speed limits by road type, roundabouts, school zones and phones.

    9 min read
  5. 5 November 2026

    Outback Motoring: Whether the Remote Leg Belongs in Your Trip

    A decision framework for outback driving: whether the remote leg earns the days it costs, what changes when it does, and the turn-back rules to set first.

    9 min read
  6. 5 November 2026

    Driving to an Australian Event: The Arrival Problem

    Gate times, on-site camping versus a town bed, arriving after dark and leaving in a queue. The logistics of driving a campervan to an Australian event.

    7 min read
  7. 5 November 2026

    Mitzi's USA road trip tips: an archived post, and what still holds

    A 2015 guest post about driving from Vancouver to Los Angeles. Kept as a record, with an honest note on which of its tips are safe to rely on.

    3 min read