Whilst I am keen to recreate my first trip to Europe many many years ago when I drove a campervan (not a VW - a full blown Bedford with toilet and shower) about 10,000 k, I am afraid I might be kidding my self on the financial practicality. Before I get too carried away, can anyone give me an indicative (yeah I know but just a rough idea) of what a second hand VW campervan would set me back - not looking for new, not looking for fast, would prefer diesel and am lookign for reliable and I am mechanically useless - some would say not just mechanically but lets not revisit that
Appreciate any advice, including any alternatives. I love VW's (have had 2 bugs including a soft top but not a camper) and figure they would be a practical size for small narrow streeted villages compared to the American monsters
Steve
Looook at that sweet caravan. I love it! But we are a family of five and can never fit into one of those sweet little ones. Damn!
Theo,
Love to help with the Australian trip if I can.
Bad news is I dont live in Australia anymore.
Good news is I have some mates there I can put you in touch with who could probably be very helpful.
One's a very good (and totally honest ) mechanic who many years ago found my Disco for me and maintained it and would be a good source of contacts / info. He has a sort of French connection as I have bought him over to the house in Trebes for working holidays for the last 2 years. He's enormously capable at anything so built the kitchen and new bathroom for me and has developed a real love of France.
The other mate may be even more useful. If I am right in assuming you are originally German, his boat could be very interesting. An ex German sail training boat built in 1919 and captured by the British during the second world war, it has sailed the Sydney Hobart. I was lucky enough to sail on it from FIji to Australia a few years ago (primarily as moveable ballast as I had never been sailing before :-). He berths this in a beautiful area called Nelson Bay in New South Wales (reputed to be 10 times the size of Sydney Harbour) and runs a whale and dolphin watch business in the area. Good photos there and he will have contacts elsewhere
Get in touch if of interest ( and apologies if the German connection is wrong)
Steve
Steve this thing is not for sale; need it cause Hotels are rejecting us when we show up with 2 Rottweiler dogs... I love it, can park at beaches and go trough mud. Disco One tdi with 4cyl is more dificult to get then the comfy TD5.
Its simple you get a Eriba Puck AND a ex-army trailer for the axle. The Puck has an full chassis scaffold, means you can take all the nonsense out, put a shower, chem-wc and just a basic kitchen. Don't worry the trailer was with all: 1000 watt solar, storage batteries, relais, Digital DVB-T etc was just 6000 incl registration. Haha, if the car break down, you can still get another one and tow your "refugium"...
We can do a deal: I have a similar challenge: need to take photos of marinas & yachts in NZ & Australia in 2014/15 and want to spend 3 month private life in Australia. I'll get you your travel kit here and you help me to get it for "down-under".
Theo - I had a look at the mobile.de site and there are some real possibilities there - but I am not back in Trebes till probably April 1 so a little too early to get serious with them. However it has given me comfort that there may be ones in my budget. How hard to get a CT on German vehicles
Theo - thank you
Is this for sale and if so , how much (my last car in Australia was a Disco and I loved it)
Steve, you simply look for prices at mobile.de , then click the UK flag to have it in English and now Motorhomes & Caravans here you type into the search field VW T4 and Westfalia (was the manufacturer for VW) The reason why I recommend the T4 is that this model is relatively hassle free up to ca 300.000 km and not full of electric gimmicks.
But the better option then this camper-vans is this:
With a Disco I with Perkinsengine you are on 7 liter, and it runs and runs.
After a gap of 9 years from the previous post I suspect this was wrongly posted here. Ad hominim all the same