This little trip came about when we decided on a short-term motorhome holiday out of Sydney.

Since much of the potential motorhome rental fleet had been sent to the North Coast region of New South Wales for emergency flood accommodation — a very good use — we looked for an alternative.

That turned out to be a motorhome relocation. For anyone not familiar with this, it’s something many of the motorhome rental companies offer when they have a motorhome in one city depot, and it’s required in another. Instead of paying a transport driver, the rental companies get the likes of you and I to enjoy a short holiday at a nominal cost whilst delivering a motorhome. Websites like imoova.com  periodically (depending mostly on the season) list motorhome and campervan relocations for Australia, New Zealand, North America, and Europe.

Shady sites at BIG4 Bright

PICKUP IN HOBART

A trip that worked for us timing-wise was delivering a 6-berth motorhome from Hobart to Sydney. Since the latter is our home city, we booked our flights to Hobart and spent a few days in the Tasmanian capital before collecting our motorhome, a Maui River. Hobart does have plenty of attractions like the Salamanca Market, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, and the maritime and transport museums. One thing that has eluded us in the past was a visit to Mount Wellington; a fine cloudless day presented an opportunity, and we were rewarded with spectacular views and stunning scenery. While the road to the top is generally okay, it is quite winding and slow in some places. This is alright for motorhomes, but less so for bigger caravans —there’s very limited large vehicle parking at the top. In cooler months, wind and ice can be a problem on the road.

Peaceful view of Lake Sambell from the caravan park

HEADING NORTH

It wasn’t in our travel thoughts, but this trip turned out to be slightly historic in nature as we picked up little bits of Australia’s past along the way. We opted for a relatively short time in Tasmania because we have been before and more or less headed straight for the ferry terminal at Devonport. That did not mean missing out on historic towns like Richmond and Ross. Old, beautifully built sandstone buildings are always a wonder to look at and there’s certainly no shortage of those in the island state. Life definitely moves at a slower pace in country towns. Our quick lunch stop in Ross wasn’t the fastest service I have had but was certainly worth the wait. Yes, I know, sniff the roses along the way!

Our ride to Victoria

ON THE FERRY

For crossing the Bass Strait, there’s a choice of a daytime or a night crossing. We opted for the night crossing in order to make the best use of our day travel time. Although I have travelled through a fair chunk of Australia and have the Cook Strait (NZ), the Irish Sea, and the Strait of Georgia (Vancouver Island, Canada) in my logbook, I have never been on the Bass Strait car ferry before, so it was something of a new travel experience. In Devonport, after picking up some shopping and having an evening meal, we followed the well signposted route to the ferry queue. Just a slight digression here — one of the benefits of returning a motorhome to one’s hometown rather than an airport is that food shopping doesn’t have to be quite so exact so as to avoid throwing too much away before cleaning out the motorhome.

Ferry crossing

Embarking on to the Spirit of Tasmania ferry was a matter of joining the queue of cars, motorhomes, caravans, and motorbikes and being waved on at the appropriate moment. I was a little entertained that the crew who clearly knew what they were doing assumed I did too. I did, but at one point manoeuvring around a fairly tight corner on the vessel I did wonder about the crew’s confidence. As we booked late, we ended up with a recliner seat rather than a cabin, which wasn’t as bad as I thought. A bit like a plane seat but with more room and partly because of COVID-19 mindfulness, well spread out. You are not allowed on the car decks once the ferry is in motion, so packing a small bag for all your nocturnal needs is a good idea.

Beechworth Ice Creamery

OFF THE FERRY

Disembarking at circa 6am in the morning in Melbourne was a whole lot quicker than I thought. Getting across Melbourne in the peak hour and avoiding toll roads is relatively easy. On the ferry I discovered a very helpful leaflet describing a trouble-free way (West Gate Bridge and Western Ring Road) of getting around Melbourne, which unlike Sydney’s circular M5/M7/M2 toll road was free!

FIRST STOP

Once clear of Melbourne’s city sprawl, our first stop was at a roadside service centre for morning ablutions since we did not have said facilities on the ferry. While the LP gas fired water heater warmed up, we had a leisurely breakfast from the nearby Hungry Jacks — which was somewhat better than the breakfast offerings on the ferry. We made full use of both the motorhome and service centre facilities before heading off to Lake Nagambie, a couple of hours north of Melbourne.

Lake Nagambie, Vic

AT THE LAKES

I’d been to Nagambie area not so long ago for a work assignment and was keen to spend a little more time looking around the lake region, including visiting the historic Goulburn Weir that forms a way up from the lake. Finished in 1891, it was one of the first major diversion structures built for irrigation and contained one of the first hydroelectric turbines in the Southern Hemisphere. Note if travelling there in a motorhome, your GPS may want to incorrectly take you over the Kirwan Historic Bridge — this is a problem, as the bridge has restrictions for both height and weight.

Those who have an interest in Indigenous art should make their way to the nearby Mitchelton Gallery, which has a display by over 200 Indigenous artists. Apart from being a great exhibition, there’s the bonus of the adjacent winery.

Goulburn Weir — one of the first in Australia

SAD HISTORY

On our way from Nagambie to our destination of Bright, we made an unintended stop at the small township of Violet Town. It happens to be on the main railway line from Sydney to Melbourne, and on 7 February 1969 was the scene of a head-on train crash when the Southern Aurora ran into a freight train. We wouldn’t have known about it, but an old Southern Aurora carriage draws the attention to the memorial garden where the entire story of the crash and subsequent rescue efforts is detailed on a number of information panels. In addition, there’s a fair bit of detail on early Australian rail history and the difficulties caused by each eastern state adopting a different rail gauge — ahem. But that’s a story for another day.

An onsite coffee caravan at BIG4 Bright, what’s not to love?

BRIGHT THINGS

Located in the subalpine area of Victoria, the town of Bright is often associated with winter snow sports, but it’s actually much more than that. As we discovered, it’s a very popular place to visit, especially in early autumn when nature’s brilliant colours are on display. We’d opted for the Bright BIG4 caravan park since it was close to town but failed to book ahead. Fortunately, we were able to secure a three-night booking, but it just meant changing sites every day. Not really a problem in a motorhome since we were usually moving around during the day. I was just a bit entertained by the number of offroad, built for travelling off the-grid caravans that were also ensconced in the caravan park. 

Bright has much to offer, but one of our prime reasons for our visit was to cycle along the rail trails that have been well established in the area. Once part of a branch line that ran off another branch line to Yackandandah from the main southern line. Certainly something for rail history buffs to check out, it’s all for walking and bike riding, and includes  the newly established trail to Harrietville that wasn’t part of the original railway line but offers an excellent ride and an even better pub lunch. Bright has a number of bike hire establishments, offering everything from road bikes to serious offroad bikes to electric bikes. Something for everyone and a great way to see the countryside.

Gastronomic, fine wine, and craft beer desires will be readily satisfied in Bright and the surrounding areas. There are plenty of restaurants, cafes, coffees shops, and wineries to satisfy every taste. Even if tasting beers is not really your thing, the Bright Brewery has an excellent restaurant which offers a fine and very affordable fare indeed.

Beechworth, Vic

HISTORICAL TOWN

In a break with tradition, we booked ahead for our stay in Beechworth at the Lake Sambell Caravan Park. This was certainly a great little find — very spacious, and in our case with a site that overlooked the lake, a very pleasant and quiet location. Firewood was available for those who desired the full camping experience. Part of the Murray to Mountains Rail Trail, Beechworth (like Bright) offers some great experiences for both cycling and culinary fans. Just noting one, the Beechworth Bakery is clearly a popular establishment, judging by the queue alone. History is very much part of the Beechworth experience and, if nothing else, a walk around the town reveals some fine old and well-preserved buildings.

Beautiful historic buildings in Beechworth

HOME RUN

Almost time to cut and run, for our delivery deadline was approaching. On our last night, having crossed the New South Wales/Victoria border, we stayed at a friend’s farm near Lockhart, west of Wagga Wagga. You can make decisions like that when you turn up unexpectedly with your own accommodation and facilities. What caught my attention the next morning was the local council caravan park, where we stopped by to empty the grey water tank. Cleary the Lockhart Shire Council has been doing some upgrade work in recent times, and that was obviously appreciated by the surprising number of overnight campers.

Our travels to Sydney were now mostly on the Hume Freeway but we did make a detour to see the dog on his tucker box at Gundagai. The rest area did have a slightly neglected look about it, but the dog is still there, the local cafe served an excellent sandwich, and any number of travellers were taking a welcome rest stop. Next day we cleaned out the motorhome and returned it to the Maui depot near Sydney airport. Sydney being Sydney, I couldn’t easily avoid all the road tolls unfortunately. Apart from that, we enjoyed our relocation drive. We’ve done several before in different countries and would certainly do it again. Where can we go next?

Gundagai, Dog On Tuckerbox

RELOCATION TIPS

• Be flexible with travel dates. Relocation bookings are usually only two or three weeks ahead.

• For fly/drive trips, pack a soft sided travel bag, which are just so much easier to store in the motorhome when travelling.

• As for any rental motorhome trip, pack a four or six outlet power board. It’s often handy for battery and device chargers. Also, take something like a Leatherman multitool (hold luggage only on a plane). Small but well-equipped, I’ve used mine on more than a few occasions.

• Devise a rough plan for your trip. There are at least two reasons for that — one being that motorhome rental companies usually have a kilometre allowance and while it’s often generous, it can get used up by unnecessary driving. The second is that given the current popularity of travelling in Australia, it might be necessary to book caravan park sites ahead of arrival. In popular areas, caravan parks are often booked out even in non-peak times. Given a ferry crossing was involved for us, we needed a booking for the Spirit of Tasmania trip across the Bass Strait.

• Just a word on ferry bookings: Maui took care of the booking for the motorhome and driver, but extra passengers were at our expense. I tried to get my passenger on to the motorhome booking but a helpful booking person told me it was cheaper to do a separate booking which was done very easily. Book as early as possible. We tried to get a cabin but were too late, ending up with a recliner instead. All things considered, not too bad.

Well-preserved buildings in Yackandandah

MOTORHOME RELOCATION - THE FINE PRINT

Conditions of undertaking a relocation drive vary between rental companies and also between countries. All charge a daily rate somewhere between $1 and $25 per day. Some offer a fuel allowance, some don’t. All specify a ‘days allowed’ time, but extra days can often be purchased at the normal daily rate. Kilometre allowance is also specified. That’s usually generous enough for a direct drive plus daily side trips along the way. There is usually an extra kilometre charge if the allowance is exceeded. Convenience kits, that is, bedding, linen, and cooking equipment are usually included but occasionally at a cost. There are the usual insurance excess charges. Any ferry charges where a ferry is necessary, e.g. Bass Strait in Australia and Cook Strait in New Zealand are usually paid for by the motorhome rental company but it’s prudent to check. Certainly, bookings are usually necessary.

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Written: Wed 01 Jun 2022
Printed: June, 2022
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