Traveling around Tassie in a Motor home.
Tips for using a Motor home.
We drove around Tasmania recently in an Avis Rental vehicle called a Motor
home, the specs if your interested. while it was a pleasurable
way to take this kind of holiday it wasn't with out it moments so here for your
perusal and edification are my helpful tips on how to make the whole experience
enjoyable for all concerned
This is totally my opinion and so heed the usual disclaimers as I accept no
responsibility for your inability to do things properly.
- Firstly we chose this particular home for a reason, it had a permanent
bed above the cabin at the front of vehicle. This had a distinct advantage in
that it meant we did not need to pack up the bed to eat each morning, great idea
Nik! Worked like a treat for us slobs!
- Buy some bottled water for drinking, this preserves the stored
reserve that comes with the vehicle, and in the long run may save some grief.
- Rent the extra chairs as an option as a minimum, we would often
plonk somewhere for the night and sit outside the van contemplating the view before
retire…choice!
- Double check the way the toilet system works, if the vehicle has
one, we weren't quite sure the status of the loo when we set off, and it took
a couple of reads of the manual to work it out, no pun intended!
- Take a box or some kind of storage container for fruit and veg
that doesn't need to be refrigerated, things were a little cramped for us for
a day or two and some stuff got bruised and damaged by bouncing around and hitting
the floor. I had to wait several days til there was room to store cold beer, sacrilege!
- Take/keep a few extra shopping/plastic bags this helps too, mainly
for rubbish but also for dirty clothes, unless you plan on washing as you go,
ie will on the road longer than a week.
- If the vehicle has a built in shower with it's own hot water service,
don't leave it running all night, particularly if you are a light sleeper, the
sound of the gas going on and off all night kept me awake till I worked out what
it was! The same applies for the fridge, but instead of turning it off just turn
it down as you will be asleep and the cold will stay put, just remember to turn
it back up in the morning as you start using it again.
- If the vehicle is an automatic it'll probably be underpowered.
I got used to driving it by shifting down to 2nd on hills for example, as it was
so gutless all drivers behind you will get pissed off pretty quick if you crawl
up hills.
- Set your mirrors up correctly, this is an absolute, if your not
used to driving larger than normal vehicles like this, you'll get yourself into
trouble very quickly without well adjusted mirrors!
- Park if possible during the day with plenty of sun on the roof,
our vehicle had a solar panel, and one day we parked in the shade, left the stereo
going all day. This flattened the battery quite badly, so much so, we moved to
a powered site the next day.
Now a bit of rant about suppliers of these vehicles and service provided by
them generally.
- The vehicle we went with was rented to us by a franchise of Hertz. The service was fabulous, the vehicle was able to be picked up by us in Hobart and dropped in off Launceston, no other company would do this.
- Maui and Britz are the same company, here in australia anyway.
They have no service outside of Hobart, your pick up and drop off, is in Hobart
only. Also the Melbourne branch had a very unhelpful guy who when we made a brief
face to face enquiry with him simply stated, “sorry there are no vehicles
available for this date in Tasmania”. Now we went straight home and checked
again on the internet, and sure enough, there were several available with Britz.
We booked anyway and then cancelled later. We still aren't sure why he told there
were none available? Maybe he was on a commission and was trying to get us to
book one with him, we couldn't because they did not pick up or drop outside of
Hobart!
So, I hope these tidbits of info helped in making a choice for the right van
for you for your holiday? I certainly would be interested in sharing other people's
tips and ideas on using these vehicles. Contact
me if you have something to say. Who knows one day I may even have my own vehicle
to do this around Australia in?