I can’t believe it’s been over a year since we left our home, friends and family to head off on this epic adventure to connect, explore and discover this amazing country we are fortunate enough to call home.
Over this time, we have come to learn the things we can live without and the things we absolutely can’t. Of course everyone is different, but this list should give you a good guide for presents to help take your next adventure up a gear (pun intended).
If you’re not yet on the road and have hit the state of overwhelm by packing up everything you own to embark on an epic adventure around Australia, you are not alone! This stage is by far the hardest and most nerve racking and the last thing you need is people gifting you presents that you don’t need once you hit the road!
Caravan life means drastically downsizing your life, and I’ll almost guarantee you’ll downsize further once you hit the road! Weight and space are finite, so this blog is designed to give you some ideas on what you might need in your van that you can put on yor own Christmas list
The list comprises of things we have and love, a few products we have seen other travellers own (and we got envy) and a few new finds that are on our Christmas list this year.
Contents
Solo Time
This might sound outrageous as you prepare to hit the road as a family, but I personally think the best Christmas present you can gift your partner is some solo time, where they can do something nice for themselves. Once you are on the road full time, (especially with kids), it really is hard to have solo down time.
What that solo time looks like will be different to everyone but might be a morning walking around the markets and breakfast out by themselves. It might be a massage and facial, even a fishing charter or round of golf! Whatever it is, having some time off can be a real game changer!
This list of the presents might seem less glamourous and more practical, but trust us when we say that’s what you’ll need.
Everything Drinks!
Beverage Holders
We aren’t going to recommend a particular brand, as everyone seems pretty opinionated on what’s best, but we do recommend a good drink bottle! Something that’s going to keep your water cold, not break easily and in our opinion holds at least 1 litre of water.
The same can be said for a good quality coffee cup! We highly rate any coffee cup that’s reusable and reduces landfill, but make sure it’s going to keep your coffee hot and ideally fit in your car cup holder!
I recently came across a business called Huski and i’m in love with thier product range! They have won multiple international design awards and they have a product that transforms from a coffee cup to a steamed wineglass! Like WHAT!!!! I’ve sent this link to Geo several times. It’s on my Christmas list this year for sure.
Caffeine Fix
We don’t have the weight or space to carry a conventional coffee machine, so we have tried a heap of ways to get a good caffeine fix without having to buy a cuppa everyday.
We recently found Grounded Drops and think there concept is unreel. Their Drip Coffee Bags are the perfect way to get your caffeine fix when you’re out and about. The bags are pre-filled with fresh, speciality-grade coffee that’s ready to drink. Just add hot water. Good quality coffee on the go! Yes please.
We also love our Aeropress. This product has been a game changer for us. It allows us to have a quality coffee using ground beans simply by adding hot water and pressurising.
Camping and Van Accessories
Muk Mat
If you want to spend less time sweeping out your van and more time outside exploring, then you must get your hands on some Muk Mat products.
Living in a caravan, especially as a family can be busy. The Muk Mat range of mats offer the ultimate solution to keep muk outside. In the early days we tried imitations, but as the saying goes ‘buy cheap, buy twice’, but mostly we came to realise very quickly the imitation products on offer were far inferior to what Muk Mat delivers.
We recently left our Large Muk Mat hanging over a fence at a campground in Broken Hill and we felt immediately the impact of not having a Muk Mat at the door, we are waiting the arrival of some new mats, and can’t wait.
Car wash
Let’s be honest, Dishwashing liquid does not cut it! If you’re planning on being off-road and embracing the elements that means your car is gonna be dirty! Mud, covered in dust, dirt and grit or salt water! Have a look into Salty Captains car wash products. They make a dedicated 4X4 and RV Wash and have created awesome bundles to keep your gear looking good inside and out while on the road.
Campchairs
This is another personal choice, but one thing I know is to make sure you buy one that’s comfortable for you! You’ll be sitting in it more than anything. We love our high back, recliner chairs from Oztrail.
If you plan to spend plenty of time at the beach we think the Everywhere chair from The Campout Co. is the perfect present for any mum. This lightweight chair definitely makes outings more comfortable. If you have time to read a book or a minute to relax in nature, you’ll feel like you’ve won lotto!
Wheelbag
This nifty invention is a must for travelling in a caravan. They have so many different uses including storage for rubbish or firewood and we even use ours to wash our laundry. We love our Explore Life wheelbag, its made from super sturdy material and as an added bous fits a 30L rubbish bin inside.
Drop bear storage
What an awesome travel business. This small family business nails it when it comes to caravan pocket storage! We purchased from them when we first got our van and the pockets have been brilliant. Literally no issues (even when the kids over fill them). We loved that the team at Drop Bear even sent out leather patch samples before we purchased, so we could match our van colours perfectly.
I love my water bottle holder near our bed, we have a pouch for our ipad and phones, one for kids books and another that I call my planning pouch, which houses all the travel brochures etc.
They have also just launched a product with a fold away shelf! Go check out their website. Brilliant products.
Map of Australia
We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to track our lap with the addition of a vinyl decal map. We purchased a map from Dave’s Decals for our outdoor picnic table. We thought it was great that it came with dot stickers included, we track where we have stayed and love how it’s such a conversation starter with other travellers. Dave’s Decals has recently launched removable/reusable maps which can be framed or reused once your travels are complete. This is a fantastic innovation! There is literally a map to suit everyone at Dave’s Decals!
Check out the amazing range of products at Dave’s Decals products here.
Clothing
Less is more when it comes to clothes on the road. You’re better to find you need a few more items, than to have spent more than needed and have excess, which you need to chuck out.
Yarn fishing shirts
Before this trip we were not anglers however the kids and hubby still invested in a UVF 50+ sunshirt (also known as a fishing shirt). These shirts were a really great purchase. Great for fishing, but also everyday wear. Lots of business’s have fishing shirt options, but our favourites can be found on Yarn Marketplace, with long and short sleeve options.They are lightweight, dry quickly and have epic designs.
Check out Yarn Collective here
Outdoors
Sunni Scenes Rug
When it comes to bringing things into the van, it’s often said that ‘if a product doesn’t have at least two uses it doesn’t come into the van’. The Sunni Scenes rug is so versatile; it can be used as a bed throw, picnic rug, towel and cuddly blanket for next to the fire! We love our lavender rug, but they do also have such a variety and new designs come out regularly.
Amy and Elliot the owners have also travelled Australia and kindly given 10% off to our blog readers.
StokedNZ Towlies
If you don’t follow us on socials, you wouldn’t have heard, but we are always banging on about how much we love our towlies. We love them so much we now have two sets and wrote a whole blog about them! Why do we love them? They just make life so much easier.
When it comes to showering in amenities, I was forever dropping the kids clothes on the wet floor and showering was a nightmare. We now just dry off and chuck on our Towlie and walk back to the van to get changed! When we are out in nature they are easy to walk back to the car with no towels dragging in the dirt behind our little ones! A huge tick of approval from us.
Get 10% off by clicking here or use the code: THEFAMILYFIND
If hooded towels aren’t your thing and we can’t convert you, we recently found One Fine Sunday Co and think their towels are beautiful. We also know a lot of travel families rate Newlyfe for their sand free and quick dry towels. We do have Newlyfe handtowels and think they are great! Both different in their offering, both companies have come highly recommended to us by travel families.
Get 10% OFF One Fine Sunday Co. by using the code: THEFAMILYFIND15
Nakie
It would be amiss of us to have a Christmas gifting blog without mentioning Nakie. We love this brand and the fact it plants trees every time someone purchases one of their products. Nakie also uses old plastic bottles to make their materials and fill, a big tick for us. We rate their hammock highly. We got given one by family last Christmas and have spent the last 12 months enjoying it! It is so light and takes up virtually no room. It really is the perfect gift for the whole family.
We got two of their blankets during winter as another layer for the kids beds. They were brilliant!
Beach Umbrellas
There are a few big companies in this space, but we can’t go past fellow travel family business Bamboo Bungalow! Their beach cabanas and umbrellas are next level cute! Like seriously, a few of my favs are the Swigning Safari, The Fruit Salad and the Prickly Pear print! An absolute winner for us.
Get 15% off by using the Code: FAMILYFIND15 at check out.
Cooler bags!
Even with a car fridge, we love having a cooler bag. For the times when the car isn’t near, like days at the beach and we always have one in the car! It sits between the boys car seats, full of snacks and our water bottles! Again, I can’t go past the prints at Bamboo Bungalow.
Cinnabalm
We aren’t usually ones to recommend anything to do with personal care products for your skin or body however we thought we would make a mention of a family run Australian business called Cinnabalm. We found out about this business from a colleague of mine before we started travelling and they make a two in one insect repellent and bite cream. The product is all natural and is literally the best when it comes to removing the itchie sensation you get from mozzie and bug bites. If you follow our socials you’ll know how much our oldest gets attacked by bugs! We wouldnt travel without Cinnabalm now.
Sande- Kids
When we first started travelling, we’d go to the beach and have to lug so much stuff down there. On the way back we lugged the same stuff, plus half the beach. Hopefully I’m not the only one but I used to brush my kids down with the dustpan brush just to do my best and minimise the sand going into the van. That’s until I found Sande-Kids Sand Brush. Ethically sourced and made, this brush has been a game changer to van life. We also love Sande-Kids Beach Hauler Bags. They have just launched a backpack too, which we are trying to get our hands on for Christmas.
Fishing gear
Look, I’m not one to tell you what kind of fishing gear you need, I’m very much the novice, but what I will tell you is that it’s going to cost you a fortune and you’ll be forever in BCF or some local tackle shop. If you can, absolutely stock up with all the gear for Christmas!
Fire pit
This is a really a personal choice and we have seen a heap of different options when it comes to fire pits. We do love our Fireside Portable Pop Up Fire Pit which we picked up at BCF. When we set off we carried it for 6 months without using it (November through April was total fire ban) which was a bummer and I seconded guessed us bringing a fire pit along. As soon as May hit though, we had fires most nights.
Just as a side note: With any fire, please make sure that you dispose of hot ash properly to mitigate any potential burns to the people using the campsite after you.
Safety Gear
Personal Locating Beacon (PLB)
This piece of equipment is expensive, but it could literally save your life. If you love being off road and exploring, this often means you’ll be out of any reception service for a decent part of your trip.
Sure you can have Starlink, but what about when you’re not with your van? These PLB devices are only small and we take ours with us whenever we are away from the van, off on hikes etc. Australia is a beautiful, rugged country with most of its population on the coast, sometimes you only have yourself, so be prepared! We are fortunate to have not needed ours to date, but so glad we have it!
Fire Safety
In the same vein, making sure you have a fire extinguisher and fire blanket are essential. Not only that, carry one in your car and also know how to detach the extinguisher from the wall of your van! We have unfortunately heard many horror stories where fires have started and people haven’t been able to get the fire extinguisher out, or they haven’t been big enough to extinguish the blaze. Our family has a fire safety plan, even in the van. Freak accidents happen. Being prepared is essential.
First Aid Kit
With our family loving being outdoors and adventuring plus with the kids always pushing themselves to their limits, first aid kits are a non-negotiable for our family! We have a smaller one for our day bag, a large kit in our van and we also travel with a snake bite kit (which could ultimately save your life)! We laugh that we swapped the boys nappy bag for a first-aid kit, but it’s so true.
We couldn’t recommend the Survival First Aid kits more. We love ours and have restocked them a few times. They use a colour coding system for ease of use and they have everything we need to get ourselves out of trouble. Easy store, use and travel with!
Click here to get 10% off your Survival purchase or use the Code: FAMILYFIND at checkout.
Gift Cards and Memberships
Gift Cards
It may seem boring at first, but asking for gift cards for birthday and Christmas presents leading up to your adventure can really add value when you need it. Woolworths/ Coles, Fuel, Bunnings, BCF, Carvan Park chains and Kmart seem to be the places we drop the most coin.
Discount memberships.
Even if you have a fully off grid set up you’ll definitely find times where you can’t free camp or need to stay somewhere with facilities. We think the Big 4 Perks Membership, the Discovery Parks G’Day Membership and TAWK are all very much value adds when travelling full time. Often the membership cost is covered in your first stay.
TAWK, stands for Travelling Australia With Kids. They have an affiliate with close to 200 parks around Australia who offer a minimum 2 nights free for kids. Each park has its own t&c’s, but at $60 for a lifetime membership, the value is in the bag if you’re planning any kind of travel with kids (even if its not full time).
When buying gift cards always make sure you look for cashback offers such as those offered by ‘Shop Back’ (get five dollars off for signing up here) as you can often get gift cards cheaper than their value.
Planning Resources
WikiCamps
Love it or hate it, Wikicamps is the largest user generated data base of campsites and caravan parks in Australia. It has other information like dump and water points, day use areas and attractions. For $8 per device download, we think it’s worth the money.
Camps Australia Book
We also love our Camps Australia Book, which has detailed maps and a huge selection of places to stay! There is also an online Camps app which you get access too when you purchase the book if you prefer.
Beyonder
When it comes to finding hidden gems, we love Beyonder! This app helps us find places off the beaten track and is definitely worth a look for those who froth on being the only ones at an epic find. Click here to find out more!
Big Lap Bible.
Planning can be so overwhelming and can often feel constant when your on the road fulltime. The team at Big Lap Bible say created ‘In a collaboration between seasoned travellers, local area experts and tourism agencies, the Big Lap Bible combines information, tips, tricks and local secrets from the people in the know. This extensively researched book is a compendium of handpicked must-sees, must-dos and must-knows that allows travellers to experience Australia in a way other guidebooks do not.’
Electronics
Tenikle
We recently stumbled across Tenikle an awesome product that was originally found on Shark Tank USA. It’s a phone tripod which sticks to any flat surface. We’ve used it everywhere since we got it and love that we can finally, easily take family photos!
For more information on Tenikle Click Here
Use the Code: THEFAMILYFIND for 10% off your purchase.
Capturing Memories.
Many suggestions here could be considered a non-essential, but we have loved having multiple ways to capture memories. We aren’t professionals, but have still managed to capture places from a different perspective which has been awesome. Theres so many drones out there, but we find the DJI Mini Pro pretty easy to use. We have the Mini Pro 3, but know there are always newer models coming out. In the same vain having a Go-Pro has been great to capture under water footage, during our time at Ningaloo and in stunning gorges etc. We have recently seen the DJI Osmo and 360 in action and both look pretty epic too.
We also have phone for everyday photos and video, but halfway through our trip we got a DSLR too and we have loved capturing photos with it.
Internet and Connectivity
We get asked often what we would suggest people do for internet if they plan to travel Australia full time. We set up our phones, 1 on Telstra and 1 on Optus to get the best coverage possible. We think overall Telstra is better, but then sometimes Optus surprises you with full service when Telstra has none.
Other than going from Telstra phone box to Telstra phone box (free wifi) of looking for campsites with wifi (from experience its usually pretty weak) there isn’t really another option other than Starlink right now for always on connectivity.
If you’re interested, Starlink has just come out with different plans and several different dish options for various needs and speeds.
If you like free stuff and want your first month free when signing up – use this link!
Big Ticket Experiences
Big ticket experiences can also seriously blow the budget, so asking for gift cards for some of your big bucket list items will also help you keep your spend under control!
We absolutely loved:
Swimming with Whale Sharks (Exmouth, WA)
Swimming with Sea Lions (Baird Bay, SA)
ATV Adventure (Margaret River, WA)
Busselton Jetty (Busselton, WA)
Semi-Submerged Snorkelling Tour (Ningaloo, WA)
Helicopter Rides (Purnululu NP, WA)
Fishing Charter (Broome, WA)
Yellow River Sunset Cruise (Kakadu, NT)
Snorkelling the GBR (QLD)
Horizontal Falls Tour (The Kimberly, WA) – If you can ditch the kids we highly recommend the 24hr Luxury trip from Derby.
Remember weight and space is finite and getting on the road means minimising your life. I hope this list helps with some ideas on useful, yet awesome gifts this christmas for your loved ones.
*Disclaimer: Everything endorsed in this post can either be found in our setup, is on our own Christmas list for this year or comes recommended from other travellers in our community! Some links (not all) are affiliate, which means we may earn a small commission. I’ve done my best to source many reader discounts too. Ultimately this post for us was about sharing the great products and brands we have found on our trip.