10 best Australian road trips to do with a caravan

Best bucket-list destination: Uluru, NT

Your caravan is not properly initiated until it has a red-dust patina from the Red Centre. This bucket-list journey to the figurative and geographical heart of Australia is one every caravanner should make at least once in their lifetime. Despite its isolation and the vast distances required to get here, Uluru is highly accessible to “blacktop” (bitumen) tourers. Ayers Rock Campground has powered sites with all the trimmings (including a pool), and the broader resort village of Yulara is well stocked with essentials. Your itinerary must include a walk/ride around the base of Uluru, sunrise and sunset viewing, the Valley of the Winds and Walpa Gorge at Kata Tjuta, the Wintjiri Wiru drone show and the Field of Light. Take your time to soak it all up.

Best island destination: Kangaroo Island/Karta Pintingga, SA

Not only is it possible to take a caravan on the SeaLink ferry to Kangaroo Island, but it’s also the best way to explore KI’s remote corners without having to backtrack to your accommodation. Australia’s third-largest island is home to hidden turquoise beaches, curious rock formations, myriad wildlife and a thriving food scene (the clifftop views at Dudley Wines are staggering). KI has a handful of caravan parks and many campgrounds suited to off-grid campers. Join a ranger-guided tour at Seal Bay to see Australia’s third-largest sea lion colony, go sandboarding at Little Sahara, marvel at the rock formations of Flinders Chase National Park, and sand hop between beaches on KI’s dazzling north coast.

Best beach campsite: Perlubie Beach, SA

Why camp by the beach when you can park up right on the sand? Perlubie Beach on the Eyre Peninsula is one of those pinch-me beach camps where you can fall asleep to the sounds of the ocean. Views like this would come with a hefty price-tag in any other accommodation style, but camping at Perlubie costs just $20 a night. Cue long days on the beach, swimming, fishing and firing up the barbecue with sand between your toes. There are public toilets in the carpark at the beach entrance, but you must otherwise be self-contained. A four-wheel drive is a very good idea.

Best off-road trip: Gibb River Road, WA

It’s known as the “caravan killer” but if you’ve got a robust rig and a lust for wild places, the Gibb River Road is calling. This bragworthy 660km teeth-rattler between Derby and Kununurra is a springboard to the most rugged and wondrous reaches of the Kimberley. Ancient gorges, thundering waterfalls and red-dirt wilderness – punctuated by cattle station homesteads – are your reward for the sometimes-punishing corrugations. Be prepared to leave your caravan behind on the final journey to Mitchell Falls. Other highlights include El Questro Station and Bell, Manning and Windjana/Bandilngan gorges.

Best winter road trip destination: Cairns, Qld

Escaping the southern states for northern climes is a thing, especially among grey nomads. And if you’re a vanner making the winter exodus, Cairns is hard to beat. It’s easy to reach at the end of the Bruce Highway, and has a range of bells-and-whistles caravan parks for those who don’t like to rough it, including BIG4 Ingenia Holidays Cairns Coconut (hello, massage cabin). Here, you can enjoy the resort life or step out and explore the Great Barrier Reef and majesty of the World Heritage-listed Wet Tropics. Visit the mountain hamlet of Kuranda on the Skyrail and scenic railway, swim in a rainforest-fringed lagoon at Crystal Cascades, and chase waterfalls as you eat your way around the Atherton Tablelands.

Best caravan park for nature lovers: Potato Point, NSW

It’s not every day you find kangaroo poo in your shoes. But Beachcomber Holiday Park at Potato Point is not your everyday caravan park. This beachfront hideaway just north of Narooma, on the NSW south coast, is nestled in Eurobodalla National Park between the ocean and a towering forest of spotted gums. The park is perfect for caravanners who want the off-grid vibe without, well, being off-grid. Kangaroos and red-necked wallabies throng the grounds, and the ocean provides the soundtrack. Best of all, you can unhitch on the beachfront and enjoy a campfire under the stars.

Best road trip for families: Dinosaur trail, Qld

Who says the Sunshine State is all about beaches? Outback Central Queensland is the dinosaur capital of Australia, home to an extraordinary trove of fossils and footprints dating back 100 million years. Winton is the epicentre of the dino action, where you can see the bones and footprints of 30-tonne sauropods and view the aftermath of the world’s only known existing dinosaur stampede. At Hughenden and Richmond, which were once submerged beneath a great inland sea, you can meet giant Muttaburrasaurus Hughie, see ancient marine fossils, and even go bone fossicking in genuine fossil beds. The whole trail is more than 550km long, on mostly sealed roads. There are caravan parks at each of the three towns.

Best for adventure: Karijini National Park, WA

Karijini, in WA’s remote Pilbara, is arguably Australia’s most-dramatic national park. It’s a semi-arid landscape of red dirt and spinifex that conceals an almost-subterranean underworld of plunging canyons, waterfalls, icy pools and sunken gardens. The best way to explore the park is on foot, but be warned: while the gorge walks are mostly short, the trails can be very strenuous. Think steep climbs on loose rocks, stairs, ladders and even a “spider-walk” through a narrow chute of water.

Karijini is remote (1370km from Perth) and undeveloped, but well suited to adventurous caravanners with an off-grid setup. The two campgrounds are unpowered, but a site at Karijini Eco Retreat also gets you a hot shower.

Best challenging road trip: Great Ocean Road, Vic

It’s a brave first-time caravanner who tackles the Great Ocean Road. But Australia’s most famous coastal drive is achievable for caravanners with some experience behind the wheel. The drive, officially extending 243km from Torquay to Allansford, is a springboard to thundering waterfalls, misty rainforests, dramatic ocean-battered cliffs and, of course, the 12 Apostles. Make the journey slowly – taking advantage of the slow-vehicle turnout lanes, and overnight in the coastal villages of Lorne, Apollo Bay and Port Campbell so you can unhitch and explore unencumbered. Don’t miss Teddy’s Lookout, Cape Otway Lightstation, the 12 Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge and Erskine Falls.

Best festival for caravanners: Mundi Mundi Bash, NSW

Love a music festival, have a caravan? Join more than 12,000 revellers for a three-day desert jam at the Broken Hill Mundi Mundi Bash. The annual Bash is held on the outback plains of a working sheep station in Mad Max country. Far from a hokey backwater gig, it’s a major production on the Australian live-music calendar, with this year’s event (August 21-23) billing a huge line-up of big-name artists, including Missy Higgins, Hoodoo Gurus, The Cat Empire, Birds of Tokyo, The Angels and Shannon Noll. Amid the orderly rows of caravans and campers, you might see dogs in dress-ups, kids cuddling lambs in the petting zoo and revellers in apocalyptic leathers. A highlight is the Nutbush World Record attempt.