As we discussed in our last article (Are you a budding Grey Nomad?), you have plenty of vehicle and equipment options if you’re planning the great Australian road trip.
However, you are limited if you’re planning on going off-road. Generally camper trailers, caravans and motor-homes are just not designed for the off-road experience, and so a 4WD is sometimes the only option, where you park the caravan or trailer somewhere while you go on your off-road adventure.
A Queensland company has just addressed this gap with a range of off-road vehicles designed with the Australian experience in mind. Launched at the recent Queensland Camping and Caravan Show in Brisbane, a specialist company based in Brendale, Brisbane has unveiled its Scrubmaster Expedition, a capable offroader based on an Iveco Daily 4×4 cab chassis.
TravelTrucks has married the Iveco chassis to a strong yet light, one-piece fibreglass body, which can be kitted out according to the buyer’s wishes. It has space for a full-size double bed and can cope with a ‘personal payload’ of up to 730kg. In addition, it comes equipped with…
- 120l fridge freezer
- shower and toilet
- diesel air and water heater
- 185l water tank plus a 50l grey water tank
- pop top roof
…and you can fit it with other options, including a bull-bar and snorkel.
Perhaps the most important accessory though is the solar array and house battery system, hooked up to an LED lighting system.
The vehicle has been built to an exacting specification put together by TravelTruck’s Kym Bolton, from his many years’ experience adventure travelling. Kym has travelled over 250,000 km across six continents, from Africa to Tibet and South America, and is a previous winner of the Australia 4×4 Outback Challenge. The fibreglass body is firmly fixed to a sub-frame that has independent kinetic suspension, which removes any undue stress from the vehicle and camper, allowing full off-road axle articulation. Another benefit of the fibreglass construction is its lightweight and resistant to insects and vermin – pretty important off road!
If this sounds like the vehicle for you, make sure your budget can cope with the price of around $100,000 and give Aussie Leisure Loans a call (1300 769 999) if you need to arrange finance. A final small but important point – the vehicle has been designed to fit into a standard 40ft shipping high cube container, so you can take it outside Australia once you’ve done your trip.
Image credit: Travel Trucks