Caravan Blog
Campervan Breakfast - Bacon Pancakes
When I'm on a trip breakfast is my favourite meal of the day. I have time to indulge myself, to try out new stuff that I don't have time for at home and just to kick back and enjoy the view with something nice in front of me.
One of my recent experiments has been bacon pancakes which I originally saw on the camp oven forum. Bacon and pancakes are two of my favourite foods in the world so combining the two seemed ideal. It's a really easy meal to cook if you pick up a premade pancake mix and it's decent value as well. It may seem like cheating but I'm all about convenience and this kind of premade stuff is ideal for cooking in the confined space of a campervan. I picked up a pancake mix for less than three dollars and it made 8 large pancakes which covered breakfast for two for four days.
The premade mix I used was sweet and the savouriness of the bacon gives a nice contrast. The pancakes need to go with something else to make a really filling breakfast so you can add things like eggs, sausages or grilled potatoes.
Ingredients :
Premade pancake mix
Bacon
Oil
Three simple ingredients. Ideal for no fuss cooking in the confined space.
Definitely cheating but easy and delicious.
Fry the bacon first...
... then the mixture goes on top.
Et voila. Had this one with a fried egg but it goes with all the normal fried breakfast food.
Cost of a Typical Campervan Hire in Australia
I love caravan and campervan trips for the experience. One of the more pleasant side effects is that it is also a very cheap way to see the country. Here's a run down of what it costs to hire and live in a campervan for a week in New South Wales and Queensland. This is a rough overview of typical costs but it will vary depending on what you do. I'm only going to go in to the hiring options. Buying a campervan and then selling it at the end of a trip is a whole different story.
Campervan Hire : $45 per day
Insurance : $0 per day
Caravan Park Rates: $20-45 per day
Petrol : $240 per week driving 4 hours per day
Campervan Hire
Costs vary a lot but $45 has been the sweet spot for us. There are a lot of different camper van hire companies and you should definitely shop around as much as possible. The booking process can be a bit of a pain because you usually have to email for a quote and then have someone come back to you.
Campervan Insurance
When you hire a campervan you need to take out insurance. You can either pay a daily fee or put down a charge on your credit card as a bond. If you go for the daily fee then you have to pay it each day whether there is an accident or not. If you choose the bond then it is only used if there is a need to claim the insurance. The daily fee can often be as high as the cost of the rental itself, typically anywhere between $25-50 per day. The credit card bond will be several thousand dollars. We have put down $7000 before. If you have the spare credit to put down the bond, and you're confident that you won't have any accidents, then this is far cheaper. Another thing to watch out for is a little insurance trick that can add to your costs. Some campervan hire companies charge a non-refundable credit card fee on the deposit. So if the bond is five thousand a two percent non-refundable fee will costs one hundred dollars. It's one of those annoying little charges that you don't notice and can set your budget out of whack. Not all camper van hire companies charge this so make sure you check.
Caravan Park Rates
The cost of staying in a caravan park varies. You can wild camp for free, stay in a national park for $10 with limited facilities or pay between $20-$65 for an official caravan park. Rates vary between off peak and peak seasons and are higher in popular spots such as sites in the middle of towns such as Byron Bay or Surfers Paradise.
Wild camping can save a lot of money but make sure you do your research. In many places rangers are on patrol and will hit you with a several hundred dollar fine if you illegally camp overnight. Byron Bay is notorious for this. Ozcamps is a great site listing free camping locations so it's worth checking the interactive maps there to see where you can legally camp for free.
National parks are a good budget option depending on the state. They seem to be really good value in Queensland but much less so in New South Wales. Apparently the state government raised prices to make sure they weren't unfairly competitive to local caravan parks.
I often take the wimpy option and just pay for a proper caravan park. It's secure, they are often in stunning locations and there are shower, laundry and cooking facilities. Keep the cost in mind though. If you are paying $45 dollars for campervan hire and another $45 for site rates it could work out cheaper to just book a hotel room. Of course, a hotel is nowhere near as much fun.
Petrol
We tend to go through around $240 dollars a week driving,on average, four hours a day in a campervan. That can obviously vary a lot depending on how much time you want to spend on the road or in one place.
The Grey Nomad Caravan Lifestyle
Sid from Grey Nomad 101 has a really great DVD series about Grey Nomad caravan trips in Australia. He's popped by our blog to share some wisdom from the road. Check out the Grey Nomad facebook or site for a look at the DVDs.
What has been your favourite destination and what was so special about it?
Probably Ningaloo reef in WA. You get the choice of organised sites in the Cape Range National Park near Exmouth with resident camp hosts, or roughing it on one of the stations further south. But the main thing is the snorkelling – it’s as good as the Great Barrier Reef, minus the 100Km boat trip. You just wade straight out from the shore. Sometimes it’s like you’ve got the whole place to yourself – no getting the mask kicked off your face by the dozens of other tourists that you get on the organised GBR tours. We’ve even seen clown fish on coral in waist-deep water right near the shore.
Describe your perfect day on a caravan trip.
Waking up with no alarm clock, preferably by the sound of birds rather than trucks on the highway. Re-kindling the fire (we’re free-camping of course!) Chucking a lure off the bank in case there’s a Barra cruising past. Bacon & eggs on the BBQ outside, then head off somewhere in the dinghy for a couple of hours. Potter around for the rest of the day doing very little, maybe an hour’s walk along a river bank. A 5 o’clock session with anyone else that’s around (and they won’t be parked within 200m in any direction). Re-kindle the fire and sit around it for another couple of hours after dinner, relaxing to the sounds of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed doing the dishes (well you did say perfect day).
Are there any time when you have been fed up with caravanning and would prefer to be in a hotel?
No. You gotta be kidding!
What are your must have items to take on a trip?
Cameras, fishing gear, noise-blocker (an ambient noise generator that does a great job of masking out external sounds like noisy neighbours or those trucks on the highway). Laptop and satellite TV (for SWMBO!)
Do you have any funny stories from your trips?
Wanting to put the rig over a weighbridge, found one in Alice run by the transport cops. I go in and ask the big bloke in the uniform behind the desk “Is this a public weighbridge?” He says “Yep”. “Is it free?” “Yep.” If I put my rig over it and I’m over the limit, will you throw the book at me?” “If I see that you’re over, I’ll book you” he says. “But I’m just trying to do the right thing, officer,” I wail. “If I see that you’re over, I’ll book you” he repeats. I get on my soap box: “Look mate, you’re not being reasonable . . .” “No, Sunshine, you’re not listening. If I see you’re over, then I’ll book you,” he smiles. “That weighbridge out there and the electronic readout in the window operate 24 hours a day. I’m only here during normal business hours!”
Caravanning isn't for everyone. What kind of people do you think are suited to the caravan lifestyle?
People who are able to relax and do nothing sometimes, and who enjoy trying out new hobbies for when there’s nothing to do. Your average triple “A” personality, hyper-active ADD workaholic probably won’t like it.
How did you come up with the idea for your DVD series and what do people most enjoy about them?
It started as a hobby project (see previous answer!). There wasn’t anything else out there like it to help us when we started out, and we made a few mistakes, so I produced Grey Nomad 101 almost as a bit of a joke, trying to lay out all the things you need to know to prepare to hit the road. A couple of friends who saw it reckoned it was good enough to sell, so I tried the market. It just exploded, and the rest is history. In response to feedback and requests from viewers, I’ve got several more out now, with further new ones planned. The most consistent comment I get back is that they like it because Sandie and I are just regular people who don’t come across like some celebrity presenter with a support crew. It’s just us, and that’s all you get – we’re the real deal. And we’re funny!
If you were to host a dinner party in your caravan what would you cook?
Cooking in the confines of a caravan presents its own challenges (check out our new DVD “Caravan Cooking 101”!) For entertaining, you need to do something that doesn’t keep the cook occupied when she(!) could be socialising. Sandie will sometimes do a roast. Otherwise we’ll do a casserole or curry (that’s my speciality) in a slow cooker. These cookers are great for this kind of thing – you do everything earlier, then serve it up later whenever you’re ready – not when the cooker tells you to!
Interview with a Inspiring Caravan Traveller
Mike and Minnette have a really interesting blog about their caravan travels round Australia. They popped by to answer a few of our questions and the replies make for a great read.
What has been your favourite destination and what was so special about it?
What makes a place special? Each of us has different criteria. I will name the places we return to year after year, Mission Beach, Monkey Mia, Exmouth, Hervey Bay, Bowen and Nelson Bay. All of these places hold a special place in our hearts. In each of these places we have met and become friends with special people and we consider this to be so important. All of the places are wonderful fishing spots and this too is a big part of our day to day life. It is really difficult to single out any one place; some are remote and some less so. Some have good facilities and some none. But the overriding factor is the people one meets and interacts with be it in a free camp in the most remote part of the Northern Territory or in a swish caravan park in a more built up location. To us it is more important to remember Steve, Ann, Don and Fay than to enthuse about the local wildlife or lovely sunset!
Describe your perfect day on a caravan trip.
A few scenarios: • Being served coffee in bed by hubby and then out for a good day’s fishing. • Being served coffee in bed by hubby, a long walk along the beach and an afternoon with a good book. • Being served coffee in bed by hubby. Getting up when I want, eating when I am hungry and sleeping when I am tired!
Are there any times when you have been fed up with caravanning and would prefer to be in a hotel?
Endless rain over a 10 day period would make the most avid of caravanners wish for the warm, dry environment of a good hotel. I must admit though that this has never happened to us as we know that the weather is eventually going to break and bring warm, sunny days when we can finally dry out our towels and clothes.
What are your must have items to take on a trip?
I am going to resist the obvious “sense of humour”. Good, comfortable chairs, a Weber Baby Q bbq, insect spray and of course a “sense of humour”!
Do you have any funny stories from your trips?
About 3 weeks into our first trip we were camped in Swan Hill VIC and as one does, I greeted our neighbours with a hearty “hi, how are you?” and got absolutely no response. I thought this most unusual and rather rude as previously we had only encountered the friendliest of people. The reason for their supposed “rudeness” was revealed the next morning when I saw them using sign language – they were profoundly deaf and had not heard my greeting! Just goes to show how wrong first impressions can sometimes be!
Caravanning isn't for everyone. What kind of people do you think are suited to the caravan lifestyle?
Compromise is the key to successful caravanning. If one is unable to live in close quarters with one’s significant other then I would suggest that you are not suitable for the caravan life!
If you were to host a dinner party in your caravan what would you cook?
I would most definitely stick to the KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) principal. Our last dinner party for 8 was a delicious Thai Green Curry Chicken with roasted sweet potato. Dessert was supplied by our guests (I am not a masochist!). More recently we had whole butterflied chicken done on the Weber, green salad and boiled baby potatoes for a party of six. Better than any restaurant.
Martin Dorey - The Campervan Cook Interview
Martin Dorey's 'One Man and His Campervan' show about campervan travelling and cooking was a recent hit on the ABC network. He's dropped by the caravanparkadvisor.com blog to answer a few questions.
When did you first take a campervan trip and why has it had such an impact on you?
My first trip in a campervan would have been in about 1986 when I first started surfing in North Wales. A friend had one and we'd head off to surf almost every weekend in it. It was perfect for the way we did it: sleeping at the beach and moving around to find the best surf. But I think my love of traveling and VWs started to happen in a big way when I was 18. I went to south west France in my first car - a VW Beetle. We camped and cooked and surfed and drank a lot of red wine and it was glorious. I was hooked. My own vans, which make the lifestyle easier because you don't have to sleep on the ground or put up a tent, came later.
What has been your favourite place to visit?
I absolutely loved driving up to the Outer Hebrides last summer. We wild camped on Lewis. The weather was really kind to us and we had a brilliant time taking pictures, visiting sites, surfing and having fun. It was a life time's ambition realised to surf and camp in the northernmost corner of the UK. The sea is so clean, the surf uncrowded and the countryside beautiful. I dived in Oban, cooked pizzas on the side of Loch Lomond and went dolphin spotting off Skye. It was just perfect.
Have there been any times when you'd much rather be staying in a hotel?
We have given up just once and checked into a hotel. That was in Ireland when our youngest was just three months old. She slept in a Moses basket on the front seat. Our eldest, who was just eighteen months, had just finished a long stint in hospital and we promised ourselves a trip away. We went to the Dingle in Ireland but the weather was so bad we had to check into an apartment for a couple of days to get out of the driving, sideways rain. We were so glad of it! Having said that, once the weather cleared up we had some blissful moments at the beach with the kids. Special memories.
How do you prepare for a campervan trip? What are the must have things (cooking ingredients, equipment) that you always take with you?
My Swiss Army Knife is top of the list, always. Then it's my little spice rack, which is one of those yellow plastic containers that you find in builder's merchants filled with nails of plumbing bits. That goes everywhere with me. Then there are my knives and perhaps some smoked paprika, a stick of chorizo and some risotto rice or a bag of pasta and some pesto. That way I know at least my kids will eat!
If you were to host a dinner party for four in your campervan what would be on the menu?
Depends on what was available! How about we start with some home smoked mackerel with chorizo. That's assuming I've been able to catch some. Anyway, it's delicious. Next we'd move on to moules marinieres or thai style moules. I love mussels and pick them whenever I can and love cooking and eating them. Hopefully my guests won't be squeamish. Finally, to cap off a seaside special I'd serve up a seaweed panna cotta (if I had the time to make it)or something as easy and simple as Eton Mess.
Have you ever been campervanning in Australia? If so, can you tell us about the experience. If not, is it something you would like to do?
I regret to say that I haven't. But I would love to. I have an ambition to drive the 10 best campervan journeys in the world and the great ocean road would be one of them. It would be an epic adventure.
Why does a cup of tea taste so much better when it's brewed on a campervan gas stove rather than an electric kettle back home?
I don't know why it should, but it does! Perhaps it's the comfort of a decent cuppa in the middle of a field or merely the fact that you can wrap your hands around a hot mug and wake up slowly taking it all in. I'm on a trip at the moment and was devastated when I thought the whistle on our kettle had broken. To camp without the happy sound of a boiling kettle would be like camping without sausages wouldn't it?