This trip is for beginners. We start with which caravan to choose from, attend lessons on how to tow and reverse with a van on the back and things like becoming familiar with towing a caravan. We specifically designed this trip to keep our newbies, Graeme and Jenny Sidebottom – who you will meet on the next page – close to home as they are embarking on their maiden voyage so to speak.

There are quite a few new skills that come along with taking on towing a caravan – more about that on the following pages as well – which is why we recommend you stay in familiar surrounds, on made roads, even if you’ve bought an off-roader, to start with.

I hear you adventure seekers loudly sighing but trust us, once you become familiar (and it might only take a weekend) you’ll be on that dirt and feeling much more confident about it. But, baby steps…

1^st Leg – Melbourne to Lang Lang

Only 80 odd kms south-east of Melbourne, Lang Lang is freeway and highway all the way making it an easy towing leg for our first timers.

Once in Lang Lang the Sidebottoms stayed at the Lang Lang Foreshore Caravan Park and were able to get assistance from park owner Dean to make sure their New Age Wayfinder was smack bang in the right spot.

2^nd Leg – Lang Lang to Drouin

This is the shortest leg in our journey but its good practice packing up the van and then setting up again down the road.

Drouin is located in the rich agricultural area of West Gippsland, between Longwarry and Warragul. We set up camp on a riverside powered site at Glen Cromie Reserve. A gorgeous location on the banks of the Tarago River.

You can see how the confidence is growing as Jenny and Graeme reverse their van into their site. It isn’t stressful, it’s as relaxing as the surrounds, just the way we want it.

3^rd Leg – Mornington

After a couple of restful days in Drouin it was on to the Mornington Peninsula to the very cosmopolitan town of Mornington. This was going to test our newbies as they needed to navigate the Mornington traffic. But, with a New Age Wayfinder on the back it wasn’t so difficult.

Mornington is the gateway to the peninsula with its spectacular beaches, wineries and shopping this is the hotspot now to either live or holiday. A perfect place to wrap up our newbies trip.

This 3-leg trip was worth it. By the time they were done the Sidebottoms were confident they could take their new home on wheels anywhere. They’d learnt how to efficiently set up and bump out, they were confident towing, understood weight requirements and more importantly weren’t stressed at the thought of travelling.