New to caravanning? Nine tips to get started

Our Nine Tips for Caravanning

Let’s assume you have the basics down pat, can reverse in a car park without taking out the parking signs, have mastered your weight definitions and chosen the right tow vehicle to match your caravan. You should be excited, because caravanning is fun and you have many memories to make with your new toy. What you are soon to discover, because it’s not in the brochure or sales pitch when you bought the van, is that while it’s fun, caravanning can also be hard work.

1. Plan the Drive

Calculate your travel time to ensure you arrive at your destination well before dark. Factor in that towing a van is slower than driving without one and getting set up will probably take longer than expected on your first few tries.

Setting up camp in darkness is a recipe for frustration. Arriving around 3pm gives you ample daylight to level your van, set up the awning comfortably, and plug in leads and hoses. Many old hands recommend the 333 rule to best enjoy longer journeys. Travel no more than 300km in a day, arrive by 3 pm and stay for three nights. While that might not suit a short break, it introduces slow travel as an ideal worth adopting.

2. Zen and the art of connecting the van

The connection between the van and tow vehicle is most important because getting it wrong can cause serious problems and create a safety issue. Not locking the hitch properly can lead to the van becoming disconnected, and not plugging in the electrical leads means you have no blinkers or stop lights. 

It’s a great idea to have a ‘me-time’ ritual and a system for plugging and connecting everything. Some vans need the electronic stability control (ESC) plugged in before any other leads will work correctly, and it’s not uncommon to have more than one Anderson plug. The jockey wheel needs to be wound up and secured or stowed safely as well. Any interruptions during the process can lead to mistakes, and it is good etiquette to leave other van owners to their own devices when they are hooking up. 

It’s worth getting help at the end to check the caravan lights before driving away. For my part, I always drive off a few metres and get out to double-check that all the leads are in and the Cruisemaster DO35 pin or the ball hitch lever has locked. 

3. Make reversing a team sport

An advantage of getting to the caravan park early is you will likely miss the audience of pre-settled campers enjoying the entertainment of new members of the caravanning clan backing into a tight site. While reversing a big van into a tight, tree-lined site for the first time is a rite of passage, getting a few details sorted beforehand will make you look like you’ve been doing it from the cradle.

Help from your partner or a mate is vital in tight spots, and agreeing on hand signals and communication before you start will save the day. Clear visual contact in your towing mirrors is critical when manoeuvring into a campsite. Some couples use UHF radios to talk through the process, but mobile phones connected to the car’s radio give precise communication and leave the driver’s hands free to steer. If using hand signals, establish them early on — back in the Bunnings car park while learning to reverse the van. Forget ‘left hand down’ directions and have the spotter point the direction they want the rear of the van to turn. Hold two hands up to show remaining distance, bringing them closer together as you get closer. If all else fails, establish a signal to immediately stop and don’t be afraid to start all over. 

 4. Spring has sprung

Reversing a van at an angle can build up tension in the tyres, which may suddenly release when you unhitch the van. Caravan wheels do not steer, and a sharply angled turn can force them sideways against their natural rolling direction. The rubber tyre treads grip the ground while the flexible sidewalls twist and distort under lateral load. The resisting forces are acute when dual-axle vans fight each other around a corner, scrubbing and binding the rubber against the pavement. Unhitching frees the constrained geometry, allowing the twisted rubber and suspension springs to snap back to a neutral state, pushing or swinging the A-frame sideways.

Depending on how sharply the tow vehicle and van are angled, the movement of the A-frame can be dramatic and potentially cause a nasty fright or even injury if you are in the wrong place. If you have to reverse sharply, get into the habit of driving forward to straighten out and reverse back into place.

5. Staying hitched

Before we leave the van and head inside for a coldie, there’s one last piece of the unhitching puzzle to sort out. And while we are at it, although not essential, can I recommend getting a BOS electric jockey wheel to lift the hitch off the tow bar? Ours stays on the A-frame and makes coupling fast and effortless. The essential procedure that will save you one day is to leave the van chained to the tow vehicle until last. An unsecured van rolling into your vehicle, or worse, back down a slope, will ruin your paintwork or your day.

6. Awning warning

Relaxing under the van’s awning and taking in those memorable views is one of the reasons we love the caravanning lifestyle. Just remember they aren’t designed to survive even moderate wind. A caravan awning is essentially a giant sail attached to the side of your van, and a sudden gust can whip an unsecured awning over the roof of your caravan in seconds. This can cause thousands of dollars in structural damage and hours of work to remove it for travel. 

When camped for a day or so in the same place, get into the habit of using guy ropes, curved rafter bars and spring-loaded tie-down straps anchored into the ground. We love the Tiegear system that stretches with the breeze but is very secure.

While securing the awning will solve most problems, stronger gusts can still wreak havoc. If you are leaving the campsite for a day trip or going to sleep for the night, roll the awning away. Don’t trust weather forecasts — particularly in coastal regions that generate sudden squalls without warning.

Your site is your castle: It’s the vibe

When you pull into a caravan park and position your rig on a site, something magical happens — that patch of grass or concrete instantly becomes your temporary castle. For the next few days, it’s your inalienable piece of ground. The white lines are the boundary, your camp chairs are the throne, and you possess a sacred right to soak in the serenity without uninvited foot traffic cutting across your mat.

Here’s the catch, though — every single camper around you feels the exact same way about their plot.

This shared sense of micro-ownership is the secret sauce of caravan park etiquette. Just as you wouldn’t march through a stranger’s living room to take a shortcut to somewhere else, strolling through Site 42 to reach the amenities block is a cardinal sin. It violates the Law of Bloody Common Sense. It’s the constitution, it’s Mabo, it’s justice — it’s the vibe of the thing. Respecting each other’s little fiefdoms is what keeps the peace.

So, mark your territory, kick back with a cold drink, and rest easy. While your sovereignty ends where your drawbar begins, everyone around you is happily defending their own tiny borders too. And if anyone dares to shortcut through your setup? Tell ’em they’re dreamin’. Ah, the serenity. 

And that brings us to the final ingredient: the vibe. Make your campsite feel unmistakably yours, whether that means hanging a few fairy lights, unfolding your favourite camp chair or rolling out the mat that has travelled halfway around Australia with you. A great setup isn’t just practical - it’s your home away from home, so add a little personality, settle in and enjoy your time. 

Some string lights or lanterns from Barebones are a great way to enhance the expeirence of your trip. Explore the range here!

8. You’re going to need a bigger spanner

One day or dark night, you will find yourself stranded on a remote road shoulder with a flat tyre, and suddenly the extra dollars you paid for a high-end cordless impact wrench will seem insignificant.

Tow vehicle and caravan wheel nuts are frequently over-torqued by workshop pneumatic tools or frozen by road grime, making them nearly impossible to break loose with a standard lug wrench or breaker bar. A premium impact wrench delivers immediate rotational force directly to the nut without requiring you to heave your entire body weight against a wrench handle. That can be a big advantage, even if you have a decent breaker bar. 

Investing in a high-grade wrench and keeping it charged transforms a physically gruelling, potentially dangerous roadside struggle into a controlled, less time-consuming wheel change, getting you back on your journey with minimal hassle. While some models feature variable torque modes to prevent overtight

9. The double-check walkaround

Before hitting the road, drivers should establish a consistent, structured ‘double-check’ inspection loop of the van. A golden rule of towing is that if you are interrupted by a neighbour or a family member at any point during this routine, you should immediately restart from the beginning to ensure nothing critical is missed.

Start inside the caravan, where a few quick preparations will prevent disaster on the highway. Go through the cabin and make sure every cupboard, drawer and refrigerator door is firmly latched so nothing swings open on a sharp turn. Clear the benchtops, moving heavy appliances, cookware and loose items down to the floor or into low storage cabinets so they cannot fall and cause damage while moving.

Crank down the television antenna completely, shut and latch every window, and make sure all roof hatches and skylights are closed tight. If your van has a pop-top roof, lock it down fully. Next, address the awning by rolling it completely away, engaging the travel locks and tightening the rafter knobs. Go around the outside to pack away any portable solar panels, fold-down tables and wheel chocks, then retract or pack away the entry step and lock all external storage lockers and the main door. Before moving away, turn off the gas at the main cylinder valves since running gas appliances while driving is both dangerous and illegal. Switch your refrigerator over to 12V or DC-DC battery power to keep things cold on the road.

Move down to ground level for the mechanical checks. Crank all four corner stabiliser legs up as far as they will go and lock them into place. If your caravan is fitted with airbag suspension, switch it over to travel mode. Inspect each tyre, including the spare, keeping an eye out for flat spots, low pressure or visible damage. Ensure the wheel nuts are properly tightened.

Finish with your final driving preparations. Disengage the caravan handbrake so the wheels can roll freely. Attach your extended towing mirrors to the car and adjust them until you have a completely clear view straight down both sides of the caravan. Once you are in the driver’s seat and rolling, pull forward a few metres at low speed and manually engage the trailer brake controller to confirm the caravan brakes are gripping and adjusted properly before you hit the open road. As mentioned earlier, this is also a good time to get out and check that all leads are connected firmly and your ball/hitch is locked. 

Final thoughts: Give yourself time

The best advice experienced caravanners offer is simple: slow down. Caravanning should not be about rushing to reach a destination. It’s about enjoying the rhythm of travel while keeping in mind fellow travellers on the highway. Don’t feel pressured by tailgaters — pull over safely at designated overtaking lanes to let traffic pass. Take your time, stay safe and enjoy the journey.