Street Talk: NSW Caravan Camping Holiday Supershow 2025 standouts

Jayco’s Crosstrail Toy Hauler

A couple of days at the NSW Caravan Camping Holiday Supershow reminded Malcolm of how far this industry has come — and where it’s heading next.

I recently spent a few days (and it does take a few days) wandering around the recent NSW Caravan Camping Holiday Supershow. For the most part, the weather was kind, but there were a couple of days when being inside a building or tent was an advantage.

While checking up on something else, I came across a 2011 Victorian caravan show report. There were several points of interest. For example, the price of a very upmarket, specialist caravan was a mere $141,250. For that same caravan today, given the ‘options’ that are now standard and the post-COVID price rises, you could add another $80,000 without too much trouble.

In that same report the writer (not me, although it sounds like it) expressed concern that the caravan had an ATM approaching 3500kg and what tow vehicle would it need? We are certainly well beyond that now, with more and more US pick-up trucks appearing as tow vehicles. Also of interest was that the popularity of dual cab utes was increasingly on the rise — that is still very much the trend. Finally, the first Chinese-built caravans had appeared at the show in question. That trend hasn’t changed either. Some years ago, Chinese vans were easy to spot but that’s not always the case these days.

In many ways, the Sydney show is similar to the Victorian show and editor John Ford covered earlier this year, so I’ll do a few edited highlights of what caught my eye. Several manufacturers are celebrating anniversaries this year. Jayco is one of them — 50 years old. Naturally, the manufacturer had a number of anniversary models on the stand but one in particular caught my eye. The Crosstrail Toy Hauler looks a bit like Jayco forgot to fit the walls and roof, but it’s designed to be a toy hauler with a rooftop tent and camping essentials like a hob and a fridge.

Avida RV has been building motorhomes and caravans for 60 years. It, too, had several new anniversary models on its stand, including the Explorer LX campervan that I checked out last month. Still, on motorhomes, I was surprised by the number of caravan manufacturers who have moved into building motorhomes; New Age Caravans, Willow RV, and Kimberley Kampers all had something very new.

JB’s new Marco Polo with Smeg coffee machine

JB Caravans is not new in the motorhome world but its campervan — and I use that word very loosely — based on a Mercedes Benz Marco Polo, is something quite special. It’s about the size of a backpacker van, but that’s the only resemblance. With its induction hob, coffee maker and kettle all made by Smeg, a rooftop tent and a EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3.6kW portable battery system plus a host of other luxury features, it has a price tag of just under $160K. It’s not for everyone, but I could see one sitting in my garage as a weekend escape machine!

The Ford Transit used to be a very common base vehicle for campers and motorhomes. These days, it is rarely seen, but at least two manufacturers, Frontline and Sunliner, had Transit conversions on their stands. Both were worthy of further inspection, I thought.

THE NEXT STEP

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