FLIP through Natalie Murrell’s photos and you’ll see a wealth of glossy travel images of her family’s adventures around Tasmania.

There are pictures of her sons Patrick, 6, and Hamish, 8, kayaking at Wayatinah in Tasmania’s Central Highlands, splashing in the shallows at River’s Edge in the Huon Valley, and enthusiastically playing campground cricket at Gumleaves on Tasmania’s East Coast.

There are also images of Hamish getting up close to some wallabies at Port Arthur, while his little brother can be seen sitting on a camp chair beside the water, with a huge grin on his face, as he reels in a fish with the iconic sandstone buildings of Port Arthur Historic Site pictured in the background.

There are also images of Natalie posing with her kids at picturesque beaches at Lime Bay and Freycinet National Park, while her husband Carl can be seen serving up an alfresco family meal beside their campervan surrounded by bushland.

The Murrells are just one of a growing number of Tasmanian families discovering the joy of caravanning, with caravan sales soaring post-Covid as many people turn away from shack ownership in favour of a luxury holiday on wheels.

Social media is brimming with travel snaps as Tasmanians share their caravanning adventures online, and new caravans have been in such high demand that some customers have had to wait up to a year for their ordered vans to arrive.

When Craig Hall started selling caravans 14 years ago, he mostly saw retirees – grey nomads – keen to head off on adventures around Tasmania and Australia.

But in recent years, this demographic has shifted, with a huge influx of young couples and families buying caravans for adventures locally and interstate.

And they’re spending more than ever too, as they want all the modern conveniences for their state-of-the-art transportable holiday accommodation.

“When I first started it was oldies, retirees, people in their 50s and older,’’ says Hall, who works for Jayco Hobart King Caravans, in Moonah.

“Now you don’t need to be 50 to be buying a caravan, I’m seeing people aged 20-plus.’’

He says the majority of customers are probably aged between 40-60, including lots of families with young children, although there are lots of people in their 30s as well who have established themselves financially with houses and careers and are looking to splurge on a caravan for family getaways, often using savings or the equity in their mortgages.

Hall says Tasmanians are prepared to spend a lot more on a caravan now than they once did.

“There are just so many options, ranging from $23,000 up to $110,000 these days,’’ he says.

“If you would have told me when I started 14 years ago that I’d one day be selling caravans for $105,000 or $110,000 I would have told you, you were dreaming.

“They’re basically a house on wheels.’’

Buyers are wanting modern vans fitted out with all the mod-cons – luxe bathrooms with showers and toilets, well-equipped kitchens with gas cooktops and other high-end appliances, smart TVs, a queen or even a king bed for the parents and a separate bunkroom for the kids.

Most are also equipped for going off-road, and have solar power and inverters, giving people more flexibility for camping off-grid rather than being limited to camping on powered sites in caravan parks.

“They want to be able to go to the lakes in Tassie, they want to be able to go off-road and do the High Country in Victoria, they want to do a lot of off-grid camping,’’ Hall says.

He says many families are looking to do trips interstate for three, four or five months at a time, particularly when their children are still in primary school and are easier to home school.

He believes the pandemic has played a part in the demographic shift of his customers, along with rising property prices, which have made caravans a more attractive – and affordable – proposition than shacks.

“Shacks really are probably a little bit unaffordable now for the general population,’ Hall says.

“And with shacks, you can only go to one place, but with a caravan you can sort of pull up stumps wherever you want to.’’

At one point, there was such a shortage of new caravans that customers were waiting up to a year for their vans to arrive, although this has now started to improve, with the average wait time between four and seven months.

“Ever since Covid happened and borders closed, the more expensive pop-top and caravan options started to find their way into people’s psyche,’’ Hall says.

“They couldn’t travel anywhere, I think with low interest rates as well they started thinking they could put caravans on their mortgages fairly easily.

“With borders closed a lot of people just wanted to see Tassie, and they thought an easy way to do it was in a caravan.

“I have noticed since (interest rates) have gone up things are starting to slow down a bit.

“But people are still buying them, people are still travelling. I think it’s one of those things that is here to stay.’’

Katie and Greg Otto ordered their Jayco Outback Journey 19-foot caravan in January last year and it finally arrived in December.

“Because of the time we bought, when the popularity (of caravans) was so huge, the second-hand vans were just disappearing as quickly as they became available, so we thought we were better off paying a little bit more to buy new and get exactly what we wanted,’’ Katie, 42, explains.

“My husband has wanted a caravan for a long time, my mum and dad have had one for ages … and when we went (to visit them) he always made jokes about inheriting the caravan.

“Then everyone started getting caravans, a lot of our friends got them, so we decided it was the right time for us to get one.’’

Despite only taking ownership of their van in December, the Lauderdale residents have already been on several Tassie adventures to places including White Sands, Orford, St Helens, Port Arthur and Opossum Bay, with Ulverstone, Stanley and Bay of Fires next on their list.

They love the social aspect of camping – Katie’s sister also has a campervan and a lot of their friends do too.

As their van sleeps five, Katie’s 14-year-old son Max enjoys inviting a friend along sometimes.

They also take their two dogs in the van with them, depending on where they are staying.

“For us, it just suits our lifestyle, it’s a really good option for us, there are so many different people we can go away with,’’ Katie says.

“We’ve got family with vans, and friends with vans.’’

They already had a car capable of towing a caravan, so only needed a few minor upgrades like towing mirrors and a new towball. And, as they previously camped in tents, they had most of the outdoor gear they needed. Katie says the new caravan also came very well equipped, so they didn’t have to buy much, apart from a few basics such as cutlery and crockery.

They hope to embark on a bigger trip up the East Coast of Australia at some stage, but for now they’re happy exploring various parts of Tasmania. They are particularly interested in BIG4 holidays parks (as they are members, so they receive a discount on site hire), but are also keen to visit a few more remote locations without power, as their van is well equipped to go off-grid.

“We’re still researching and talking to people and coming up with new places that we want to go,’’ Katie says.

The growing popularity of caravanning is also evident on social media, with a huge number of people sharing photos and information about their travels online, whether via blogs, websites, Facebook pages or on Instagram.

The Caravan and Camping Tasmania Facebook page has attracted more than 29,000 members since it began in 2012, bringing together like-minded travellers as they sell gear, ask advice on itineraries, look at ways to improve their caravan set-up, or share photos and tips of their favourite camping spots.

There are also plenty of Tasmanian families sharing tales of their caravan adventures on Facebook and Instagram, including those who are embarking on short getaways around the state and those who are setting off on bigger trips interstate.

Among them is Natalie Murrell, who documents her travels with husband Carl and their two young sons on Instagram (@gone_caravanning_tas) as a way to share photos with family and friends but to also share her travel tips with other van families.

The New Town family purchased their Jayco Discovery pop-top caravan four years ago and Natalie says travelling together regularly in the van for long weekend and school holiday getaways had been a wonderful experience.

They are also preparing to embark on their first interstate caravan journey, with a
three-month trip “doing half a lap of Australia” set to kick off in July this year.

“We’ll be going to Melbourne, then across to Adelaide, up to Darwin, across to Port Douglas and then back down the coast to Melbourne,’’ Natalie says, adding that they hope to do the other half of Australia when their next lot of long service leave accrues.

The boys will be home-schooled during their trip, as they will miss third term, but Natalie says the life skills they will learn on the road will be invaluable.

She knows of quite a few other Tasmanian families with young kids who are embarking on extended caravan journeys, including a couple of families that her children go to school with.

“When we first started (travelling in a caravan) it was kind of around the time that it was first becoming popular with young families,’’ Natalie, 41, says.

“We purchased our van prior to Covid and we’ve definitely noticed that (van ownership) has grown over the last few years.’’

She says it’s not hard to see why so many families are buying caravans and embracing van life.

“We try and go to a different caravan park each time, but sometimes we go back to our favourites,’’ Natalie says.

“Looking back through all the pictures, there are a lot of great memories.’’

She says Freycinet National Park – where you can camp on a powered site beside the beach for $16 a night in a world-class location – was a definite favourite. She says it was great to be able to walk into the centre of Coles Bay or to Freycinet Lodge, and for the kids to be able to enjoy so many activities like walks, kayaking, snorkelling and mountain bike riding, while also having wineries and restaurants close by for the adults to enjoy.

“We love Port Arthur as well, that’s quite family friendly,’’ Natalie says.

“It’s nice being right there on Stewarts Bay, it’s a really nice beach for kids.’’

Another family favourite is Gumleaves on Tasmania’s East Coast. She says some of the facilities were a bit tired when her family visited, but that didn’t matter at all and her kids had a great time feeding animals – including deer, horses, sheep, pigs and chickens – playing tennis and mini golf, scrambling through the obstacle course, playing on tyre swings and generally exploring the bush camp.

Wayatinah Lakeside Caravan Park is another family favourite.

“That’s another little hidden gem,’’ Natalie explains.

“It’s in the middle of nowhere in the bush, but it’s got a swimming pool (it’s not heated, but the kids don’t care) and a tennis court, there’s a nice little lake there for kayaking and fishing, and the pub is walking distance as well so you can go for a meal.’’

She says caravanning is a great way to step away from technology and enjoy the great outdoors as a family.

“We just enjoy the bush setting, and being able to see the stars at night,’’ she says.

“Having a caravan you tend to encounter random places you never would have gone to – my boys have seen so much of Tasmania they never would have gone to otherwise. Obviously we get out of the caravan parks and explore as well, we do drives around the area and visit different tourist attractions.

“It’s a great little family hobby. Some people could see it as expensive, but the way we see it is that it is a hobby for the four of us.’’

The boys have been travelling in the van since they were 2 and 4.

“They absolutely love it,’’ Natalie says, adding that it’s great to step away from the chores and distractions of everyday life when travelling in the van to have more uninterrupted family time.

“They get so excited and 99 per cent of the time we’re outdoors with them, you’re always present with them – you don’t really have to do a lot of cleaning, the van takes five minutes to clean and then your time is free.’’

She was motivated to try caravan travel after being inspired by other families she saw travelling online, particularly the Lorrimer family from NSW (@tripinavan), who sold their home to travel in a van with their three kids in 2015. They are still travelling and have amassed 218,000 followers along the way.

She hopes sharing her own travels will inspire others.

“I did tent camping as a kids and I always loved it, I had the best memories growing up camping with my family,’’ Natalie says.

“And I’m just really passionate about sharing all the places we’ve visited in the van.

“I think ‘I need to tell people about this place, it’s so good’. And (travelling in a van) is quite a social thing, there are always people who are willing to have a chat and talk about their experiences.’’ •