Inside this newsletter👉
- The first thing to do before you even unhitch
- Power, water and gas — in the right order
- A few tips that make the whole thing faster
- Tim's maintenance schedule guide​
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Good morning from Adelaide - where we'll be for the next few months while we wait for our new van to come along! (Yay!!)
Tim here this week — camp setup is one of those things that feels chaotic the first few times, and then suddenly clicks.
We've put together a step-by-step guide that walks you through exactly what we do, from pulling into a site to sitting down with a cuppa. If you're new to this, have a full read. If you're already a pro - let us know what we could add to help others :)
Quick question, would you like our weekly destination emails too? We cover the unique, scenic, adventurous locations and interesting facts.
The setup order that works for us
Once you've found your spot:
- Chock and level first — use bright yellow chocks so they're easy to spot (and harder to accidentally drive over!). Stabiliser legs stop the van rocking — they can't actually level it, so get the level right before you put them down
- Power — at a caravan park, connect your weatherproof extension cord to your site's power box. Off-grid, check your battery monitor and set up any additional solar panels if you need them
- Gas — turn on the correct bottle (easy to turn on the wrong one if you have a two-bottle setup!) and switch appliances across as needed
- Water — at a powered site, connect your hose and run it through an inline filter. Off-grid, switch your water pump back on — we always turn ours off while driving
- Awning — peg it down even if there's no wind. Wind comes up fast and a loose awning can cause serious damage
Read the full step-by-step guide here →How to Set Up Camp Like a Pro​
Do a test run at home. Set everything up in your driveway so you can sort out any hiccups before you're at a campsite hours from nowhere. The first few times take longer than they eventually will — that's completely normal.
If you're interested, here are a few articles to have a read:
If you do find anything that needs replacing - hopefully before you've left your house! We use and recommend Caravan RV Camping. They have fast delivery and great prices.
Have a lovely day
Tim & Margie
PS Tim has created a great maintenance schedule guide checklist - from pre and post trip checks, 6 monthly checks and professional checks to help find any possible problem while you're in your driveway (and near a Supercheap or something!) and not in the middle of nowhere!
​Check it out here ​
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