Tagged: trip planning

Some routes fill your battery on the drive alone. Others quietly flatten it. Here's how driving hours, stop patterns and climate shape your DC-DC charging.

Some caravan parks and campgrounds book out 12 months out. I map the ones that catch first-time lappers and when to actually hit "confirm".

Most tourers guess their water needs and run short. Here's the litres-per-person, per-day maths I use for camp kitchen and drinking water on remote trips.

Real fuel figures for towing a van around Australia, state by state, and why your consumption changes more than you'd think once you leave the coast.

Crossing three time zones with no daylight saving in some and half-hour offsets in others causes more missed calls and confused kids than any tech problem on the road.

Not all regions treat your solar setup the same. Here's where panels genuinely pull their weight on a lap, and where you're better off planning around mains power.

Solar panels cost nothing to run but everything upfront. I've broken down the real annual cost of powering a Big Lap rig across solar, genset and fuel.

Linking the Oodnadatta and Birdsville Tracks through the Flinders Ranges works as one lap, if you get the fuel, water and timing right.

Real numbers from a family of four on the road: fuel, park fees, school stuff and the costs nobody mentions before you set the budget for a year-long lap.

A ranger's torch at 6am is how most people learn their free camp had a 24-hour limit. Here's how to actually check before you set up.

Laptop, video calls, two monitors on a bad day — here's the real power and signal budget for working from a caravan, not the brochure version.

Clockwise or anticlockwise around Australia? For families the direction you choose decides your seasons, your school terms and your fuel bill.

Not every High Country road is caravan country. Dusty breaks down which Victorian high-country routes suit a van, which need a camper, and which need a tow truck.

Free camp or powered site tonight? A practical decision method for families, built around water, dogs, dark arrivals and what your kids actually need to sleep.

Powered sites at family parks can nearly double in the July holidays. Here's what you're paying for, when it's worth it, and when to just leave.

Free council rest areas and paid national park sites look similar on the map. They're run under completely different rules, and mixing them up costs tourers money or a fine.

Redirecting mail, refilling scripts and staying connected on a long lap takes real planning. Here's the system that's worked for us over nine years.

Should you take the kids out of school for the Big Lap, or work around term dates? Here's the real trade-off in cost, crowding and learning.

Apps have made free camp hunting lazy and crowded. Here's how I actually find quiet, legal sites using maps, radios and old-fashioned local knowledge.

Solar panels are free once fitted, but running a caravan's electrics on the Big Lap still costs real money. Here's where it actually goes.

Caravan park fees are the biggest variable in a Big Lap budget. Here's the real per-night maths, powered vs unpowered, and how to cut the annual bill.

Showground camping can save your Big Lap budget and your sanity. Here's how to find them, what they cost, and the etiquette that keeps them open to travellers.

How to work out what fuel will actually cost on a lap of Australia, including the remote premium most budgets miss entirely.

Planning a Big Lap around school terms takes more than a calendar. Here's how to time each leg, avoid peak-season prices, and keep the family sane.

Six years into the Big Lap, Trev Sanders reckons the best thing he did was stop counting kilometres. Here's how to actually slow down on the road.

Three months or twelve? Marto Kelleher breaks down realistic Big Lap timelines — by rig type, pace and budget — so you can plan one that actually fits your life.

Clockwise or anticlockwise — the direction you drive the Big Lap shapes your seasons, your budget and your whole experience on the road.

How our 1-5 rig rating and caravan suitability categories work: grading surface, corrugations, clearance and water crossings to read any track page.

The camping apps actually worth having for caravanning, with honest pros and cons of WikiCamps, CamperMate, Hema, fuel apps, BOM and Emergency+.