Well last time we were in Oz we spent about 7 months traveling around the country, at that time we bought an old Mazda van went to Woolworths and loaded up the camping gear and circled the country traveled about 30000 k. This was about 20 years ago, much younger and much more flexible.
Now retired we are going back for four weeks in Feb 2010, spending a week in Sydney with friends and then off to probably the center, Alice and Coober Pedy, which we missed last time.and ending up back in Sydney for the flight home. Question is any suggestions on RV or Toyota type campers for the three weeks? Checking the web sites has just confused me no end, better to book from the states or wait till we get there? Any suggestions! Any other suggstion would be most helpful.
Thanks,
C&D

We rented a Nissan XTrail from Budget in Darwin(booked online in Oz) which seemed to have the best deal at the time and used it to travel the Top End for a couple of weeks staying in hostels and loved it.
The hostels were booked via www.hihostel.com were great.

For the trip around the centre we hired a camper from Britz in Alice for a week and on balance we preferred the additional flexibility it provided (e.g. having breakfast in the van right by Ulhuru just before our early morning hike around the rock. Britz were very good and ugraded our van when we picked it up. Our van had aircon but we were there in May which is not the height of summer so I am not sure how comfortable sleeping in a van would be in Feb.

In total we spent 3.5 months in Australia and NZ last year in their winter and found some great deals whilst we were there that would probably not have been available from overseas. The range of campers available fro hire is simply breathtaking form the VERY basic to the ultra luxurious.

This might appeal to you: Bargain basement prices for relocating vehicles. I think the company also does good rates for round trip rentals. I've not used them so can't recommend personally, but the company has been around for some time. www.standbycars.com

Here’s a thought. RV’s are expensive to hire. Sedans are cheap. Unless you are going seriously off-road, you can manage well in a sedan. I’ve driven huge distances in Aus in a Honda Civic, including one stretch of 1000 kilometres on a dirt road without problems.

Then you need some camping equipment, and I think you could buy it for not a lot, or maybe your friends could loan you some. Ray’s Camping has lots of cheap stuff. Tent and a couple of air mattresses could be bought for about $200.

I’ve written some “Road Trip” reports – you might get some ideas from them.
http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...-melbourne.cfm
http://www.fodors.com/community/aust...-road-trip.cfm

We are also finding it a trial to choose a campervan/motorhome.

One needs to take care with particulars: petrol vs. diesel, window screens, AC in the living area, size of water tank and gray water holding tank, toilet/shower or not.
AND unless you get a 4WD vehicle, the insurance won't cover if you take it off the sealed roads, except it it's the last few miles leading to an established camping ground...and don't drive it at night, because if you hit a kangaroo, the damage won't be covered.

Lucky people to have time for such a trip.
Just a few thoughts:
Firstly it is likely to be very hot at that time of year.
Check out climate on:
www.bom.gov.au
or on this site that I have just read - and can't guarantee -
http://www.outback-australia-travel-...s-climate.html

Also - take great care to check the hire company rules about taking the van off road.

Happy planning!