When I was a young boy growing up in Adelaide, our family holidays involved mum and dad hiring a caravan for a couple of weeks, hooking it behind the FB Holden and driving an hour down the road to the beachside town of Victor Harbour, where we had the most amazing holidays.
One year we got really game and ventured over to Sydney towing the van, but that was only a one-off as it severely tested the family dynamics.
Although as I got older the concept of caravanning was never really on the radar, as I enjoyed roughing in a swag or sleeping in the back of station wagons, but caravanning hasn’t really been my thing.
So, of recent years I’ve been intrigued with the incredible rise in the popularity of caravans, the increase in the number of caravans and the amount of money being spent on a caravan and generally dual cab combo’s which you see taking to our roads
According to statistics, the caravan industry in Australia contributes more than $23 billion annually to the Australian economy and has extensive local supply chains that involve more than 6,000 businesses across manufacturing, dealerships, servicing, repair, and tourism.
There are currently more than 750,000 recreational vehicles such as caravans and motorhomes registered on Australian roads, and approximately 90% of them are built here making the caravan manufacturing sector the largest remaining bastion of automotive manufacturing in Australia.
But having said all that and with fear of offending an increasing number of caravan enthusiasts, this early ‘Top Gear’ story with Richard Hammond has always appealed to me.
Richard Hammond Top Gear Caravan story – BBC Studios
One thing that has amazed me though is the increasing number of ‘Off Road’ caravans you now see. I think this is fantastic as it means that a whole lot more people are getting out and about in Australia, rather than spending their money overseas, but I do wonder how many actually leave the bitumen!
So, after scouring the web, I came across this story on caravancampingsales.com.au by Chris Fincham, which gives a good idea of where you can take some of these caravans, should you want too!!