Campervan hire in Tasmania

[snowyskiesau]

I'm trying to hire a campervan for about 10 days in Tasmania and it's getting very frustrating.
I think I mentioned in another thread that I'm going down for the Wooden Boat Festival and was planning to help out as a roadie on the Tawe Nunnegah (http://www.lbt.org.au/raid2011/raid2011/Home.html) .

The problem is that the TN starts at Cockle Creek (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cockle+creek,+tasmania&sll=-43.546902,146.889168&sspn=0.105012,0.145226&doflg=ptk&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Cockle+Creek+Rd,+Recherche+Tasmania+7109,+Australia&t=k&z=13) and the road into there is a 20 Km dirt/gravel road. Not allowed for camper vans despite being a major tourist destination - it's as far south as you can drive in Australia.
A similar issue with part of the journey on Bruny Island (http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Mickys+bay,+bruny+island,+tasmania&sll=-43.42263,147.201004&sspn=0.105228,0.145226&doflg=ptk&ie=UTF8&hq=Mickys+bay,&hnear=Bruny+Island&ll=-43.423378,147.194138&spn=0.105227,0.145226&z=13), it's a major road into a major eco tourist resort but it's gravel so no go.

All of the camper rental websites state or imply that there are exceptions to the 'no dirt road' rule. Some say it's OK to drive on a gravel road if it's in a national park but this doesn't cover the road INTO the national park if IT happens to be gravel.
There's an offer on the website to discuss an exception with a 'consultant' but at two companies I've phoned I've been told 'Sorry, no exceptions' Pointing out the above mentioned 'contact us to discuss exceptions' gets no discussion or an offer to ask someone who may know, all I got what a change in attitude 'NO exceptions SIR'

I wouldn't mind if I got to speak to someone who could make a decision, even if that decision in the end was no.

I've a good mind to just stay at home instead. :~

[RETIRED]

Try some of these. Tasmania Cheap Motorhome Rentals - compare discount campervan prices at cheaptasmaniamotorhomehire.com.au (http://www.cheaptasmaniamotorhomehire.com.au/results.html?search_uuid=7c68799f-ec57-45e4-8cda-2f116c23f8b8)

At least they allow you to drive on Bruny Island.

[snowyskiesau]

Thanks , that's a lot of useful info all in one place.

All of the companies I looked at or contacted, allow you to use the ferry to Bruny, it just that with some of them, you can't drive over half of the island because the roads aren't sealed. Others will allow you to drive on any recognised road sealed or not while you're on Bruny but on on the 'big island'.

The local Hertz operation (Autorent) doesn't explicitly say you CAN drive on dirt roads but there's a clause that cancels your insurance excess reduction options if you have an accident on dirt road so do I read that as a yes?.:? .

Just when I was starting to believe it was all a conspiracy to keep me out of Tasmania or at the very least making me stay in tent, I had an email from Tasmania Campervan Rentals who said something along the lines of 'Most of the roads to tourist destinations in Tassie are dirt or gravel and we know that vehicle renters will use them. As long as due care and attention is taken, it's OK' [Don't take this as their company policy, I'm paraphrasing what they said to me]
The fact that they bothered to actually answer my question rather than quoting the T&C has pretty much ensured that they'll get me as a customer :2tsup:

There are a couple of other things in their favour, the vehicles they have are automatics (haven't driven a manual in 25 years) and their prices, even with the extra insurance options, are very competitive.

Now just to select the level of comfort I can afford. :U

[My apologies if my original post sounded like a rant, it was :; ]

[Cliff Rogers]

We have hired camper vans like the one in the pic below a couple of times now.... there is a VERY good reason why they shouldn't go off a sealed road.... they weren't made for it & they are not good at it.... guess how I know. :D

When we were in the NT we took a Sprinter 2 berth to a 'locals only' beach 'cos a local told us how to find it. :cool:
There was 25Kms of gravel road, it took us 45minutes each way & stuff still fell off the bloody thing. :-

I grew up in the bush, I learned to drive in the dirt & 130KPH in the dirt doesn't faze me one bit but there were places that I couldn't do more than 17KPH in that thing. :no:

The next time we go to the NT we will do it in a 4WD so we can see some of the places we had to skip.

On another note, I have done that road to Cockle Creek & it isn't bad BUT... knowing what I now know, I wouldn't do it in a Sprinter. :rolleyes:

http://www.campervan-australia-hire.com/images/stories/new-sprinter2.jpg

[snowyskiesau]

Cliff,

Thanks for the heads up. Trouble is most, if not all, of the vans offered are Sprinter (or VW) based.
There are a few of the larger ones that look like a Fiat Ducato but they're all 6 berth vans and there's just me that will be in it.

It's also the insistence that the van has a toilet and shower that's guiding my choice. :B



[The 2 or 4 berth motor-homes in this list (http://www.tasmaniacampervanrentals.com.au/html/campervans.html) are the candidates.]

[Cliff Rogers]

OK, so, if you are going to do it & not tell them.... if the road is flat, you will get there, it is just going to be a veeeerrrrrryyyyy slow trip.
If there are pot holes that you can drive around, you will also still get there but it will be even slower still.
If there are pot holes that you can't drive around, expect to drag the water tank several times & maybe even get stuck or (like I did) bend the water tank protection plate hanger. (it didn't leak {much} but I am very glad that the young girl who inspected the van when we returned it... was young.... & a girl. :- )

[Cliff Rogers]

....
It's also the insistence that the van has a toilet and shower that's guiding my choice. :B....
My wife insisted on that too the last 2 times & out of a total of 18 days hire (2 trips) I personally used the shower about twice & the loo about never but I was still the dill that got the job of dumping & cleaning it. :rolleyes:

Next time will either be in a 4wd camper & we camp near a loo & showers/clean creek/river (with no crocs) or we will just take a cheap rental car & stay in hotels/motels/cabins.

[snowyskiesau]

My friend who going to be driving the support truck and trailer for the Tawe Nunnegah thinks all this is hilarious. She loves roughing it on a camping trip and can't understand my reluctance to give up the basic comforts.

And I still have to arrange Internet access for the trip :U



[cleaning, I'd forgotten about that ....]

[snowyskiesau]

I finally found a rental company that have a much more flexible attutitude (and policy) on driving on dirt roads in Tasmania. As long as I'm not using a fire trail or driving on the beach, I'm covered.
Company is Tasmanian Campervan Rentals (http://www.tasmaniacampervanrentals.com.au/index.php)

Booked this little beauty (http://www.tasmaniacampervanrentals.com.au/html/4berthmotorhome.html) for 10 days next month to coincide with the WBF (http://www.australianwoodenboatfestival.com.au/).

http://www.tasmaniacampervanrentals.com.au/images/4BerthS.jpg

I've since found out that my friend's daughter will be documenting the Tawe Nunnagah (http://www.lbt.org.au/raid2011/raid2011/Home.html) on HD video and I'm 'IT Support' (unpaid and uncredited). Now I have to take my laptop along - after I add some serious disk capacity to it.
Next thing to arrange, wireless broadband.

And they call it a holiday :doh:

[KevM]

Next thing to arrange, wireless broadband.



Check the coverage maps for Southern Tasmania before selecting a wireless provider.

[snowyskiesau]

Check the coverage maps for Southern Tasmania before selecting a wireless provider.

Thanks Kev,
I've been doing this most of the morning (when not helping the budding film maker choose her camera and accessories).

It looks as if Telstra is who I'll go with. The coverage seems best, fastest speeds and I'll get a better deal than listed by bundling it with my land line and mobile. There are better deals with data quotas from some suppliers but the coverage seems a bit sketchy.

If you can offer any advice as a local, I'd be grateful.

[KevM]

Thanks Kev,
I've been doing this most of the morning (when not helping the budding film maker choose her camera and accessories).

It looks as if Telstra is who I'll go with. The coverage seems best, fastest speeds and I'll get a better deal than listed by bundling it with my land line and mobile. There are better deals with data quotas from some suppliers but the coverage seems a bit sketchy.

If you can offer any advice as a local, I'd be grateful.

The other carriers are slowly catching up but the Telstra coverage is probably still the best at this stage even if a little more pricey.

[snowyskiesau]

The other carriers are slowly catching up but the Telstra coverage is probably still the best at this stage even if a little more pricey.

Optus is the only one with close to the coverage of Telstra but their plans are limited.
Vodafone coverage only just goes as far south as Southport.
I'm only going to be the far south for a couple of days this trip but for the future, it's a consideration.
No one comes close to Telstra's (claimed) speed. It will be interesting to see what sort of speeds I can actually get.

[rsser]

FWIW when back of beyond (must inc. all of Tassie!) I use a cheap Telstra blue tick prepaid phone as a modem hanging off the laptop. Samsungs are good.

Speeds aren't fast but good enough for email and occasional website browsing.

And the phone gives you the best option for emergency calls short of a Spot 2 tracker.

Have fun over there snowyskies; it's a great place.

[snowyskiesau]

Ern,
Thanks for the tip, I hadn't thought about using my existing phone service. I think it would work out expensive as my mobile plan doesn't have much allowance for data.
There will be a number of people on the sailing/rowing legs of the trip and I'd like to be able to offer them Internet access. Even if this is limited to email, it could add up for 50+ people.

This will be my 3rd trip to Tassie in the last 12 months, next trip is one way :)

[rsser]

Ah, lucky you.

I've been over many times and would happily settle there, but the missus has other ideas.

FWIW, I use a 3 post-paid service in the big smoke. The big T is a backup for trips. Their blue-tick Samsungs, or maybe even Nokias, are fairly cheap and have the best reception. I go for one of their long-life prepaid plans (6 to 12 months expiry on credit), and I just load up some credit and out of that buy a browse pack for the phone as modem. When the browse pack drops to a pre-defined limit, I get online and buy another and top up the phone credit if needed to cover it. No sweat, unlike many other transactions with the big T.

My Samsung was $59 with $10 credit. The later models are the 5 series. They've proved to be durable and reliable.

[rsser]

Just to add; in terms of bandwidth, 50 emails without attachments amounts to SFA.

I buy 150 meg browse packs for $10; lasts for about 3 weeks in the bush; most of the bandwidth is web browsing.

Sounds like I'm marketing T but out of the capitals frankly T is the only option.

You will likely encounter service and admin of 3rd world quality if you go with T. Prob cos that's where it comes from ;-}

[KevM]

Just to add; in terms of bandwidth, 50 emails without attachments amounts to SFA.

I buy 150 meg browse packs for $10; lasts for about 3 weeks in the bush; most of the bandwidth is web browsing.

Sounds like I'm marketing T but out of the capitals frankly T is the only option.

You will likely encounter service and admin of 3rd world quality if you go with T. Prob cos that's where it comes from ;-}

Be fair Ern, only some of it does.

If you've got a post paid service you can add a $10 Browsing Pack which gives you 1GB per month, cancel at any time.

[rsser]

Fair nuff Kev.

If T is your primary service clearly that's much better value.

I'm not up with all the T plans, and have seen they now have much better prepaid plans than before, but the expiry is 30 days so for a 2nd phone/plan in my case it's no better.

[rsser]

Just to add, snowyskies wants coverage on Bruny Island it appears.

Best I can tell from T coverage maps, he'll need a GSM handheld in a phone car kit fitted with an external antenna.

Do Wifi dongles with antenna match this do you know?

[snowyskiesau]

According to the Telstra coverage maps (http://www.telstra.com.au/mobile/networks/coverage/broadband.html), Bruny and Cockle Creek are fairly well covered by NextG.
I'm getting the Tesltra Ulitmate USB modem as it will offer the fastest speed in metropolitan areas. No guarantees of how it will perform out of town.

[snowyskiesau]

Back from Tassie and even more determined to get down there to live. :2tsup:

The motorhome performed flawlessly apart from a issue with battery power. My fault really for sitting in one spot for 2 days without starting the engine to charge them. There's no battery level indicator so you only know the batteries are flat is when the fridge stops working. A 20 Km drive fixed that and most nights I was able to connect to 240V.
I think a few participants were a bit envious about my being able to have a hot shower and to make a hot breakfast every day but they got their own back by having me charge their phones, I should have kept quiet about the 240v inverter on board.

Broadband worked well at Cockle Creek and on Bruny. The only dead spot was Southport but I was advised about that before the start of the trip (http://www.lbt.org.au/raid2011/raid2011/Home.html). Phone users on other networks had a lot more issues than did I.

[rsser]

Sounds good Geoff.

Yes, your battery was prob 80-100 aH so 2 days would do it.

A $15 digital voltmeter is a good investment.

[Horsecroft88]

For sure coming down to live in Tassie is a great idea. Less of a rat race than Sydney, better value for money housing (ie, = more affordable), better climate, nice food, wine, scenery, plenty of history, less traffic. :2tsup: I could go on and on, but I could be also a little bias :D, having been born and lived here all my life, apart from all the trips I have made out of the place.

It is always good to travel, that way you appreciate even more what you have. :D:2tsup: