Written by Tony Davis – Journalist for the Australian Finacial Review

Never fancied an RV? This $150K monster might change your mind

In automotive circles, the motorhome is becoming the new toilet paper as everyone grabs whatever they can – even the expensive ones.

It’s the very model of a modern holiday: in the great outdoors but not too far from home (and certainly not over a border), with as little mixing with strangers as possible, yet not too much scrimping on comfort and convenience.

All it takes is a motorhome – in this case the 2021 version of the 7.4-metre long, 4.4 tonne, $150,000-plus Avida Birdsville.

The trip to pick it up from Australian Motor Homes and Caravans, a vast dealership near Newcastle, is a reminder that there’s a parallel world in which Australians still build vehicles. There are more than 150 local RV (recreational vehicle) manufacturers, turning out everything from pop-up trailer tents to caravans and campervans, through to building elaborate motorhomes on imported truck chassis.

The Avida Birdsville is one of the bigger motorhomes that can be driven on a standard car licence.

The dealership has just had its four biggest sales months in history – and could have done more business but for stock constraints (the industry is concentrated in Victoria, so production has nosedived). “The RV’s the new toilet paper,” says a salesman, glibly. “Everyone’s grabbing everything they can.”

Avida is based in western Sydney and has been energetically increasing production. It is one of the bigger manufacturers, claiming about 35 per cent of the motorhome market, and the Birdsville is one of the bigger motorhomes that can be driven on a standard car licence. It sleeps four and has a full bathroom with toilet and shower, making it ideal for going off the grid.

The relatively small (2.3 litre) turbodiesel provides surprising muscle and the nine-speed auto keeps things smooth.

With Fiat Ducato underpinnings, it is long, wide, unusually tall and slightly daunting to drive, at least for the first few kilometres. It’s quite noisy too, though that would be true of most holiday homes if they could be coaxed to 100km/h. You start to think of the squeaking of panels and clinking of glasses and crockery as a sort of nautical creaking of the rigging.

There are a few curios. The interior rear view mirror looks straight at the inside of the cabin (there is no rear windscreen). I’m not sure why it wasn’t replaced with a camera, though the large double exterior mirrors on each side do a pretty good job of telling you what is happening back there.

And how does it handle through long fast sweepers? You’ll have to ask someone braver than me. But it keeps up with the traffic fine, as the relatively small (2.3 litre) turbodiesel provides surprising muscle and the nine-speed auto keeps things smooth. Those big, flat sides catch plenty of wind, so it’s two hands on the wheel at all times.

We headed for Dees Corner, a tiny campground in Myall Lakes National Park. It is one of 171 campervan-friendly campsites in NSW’s 225 national parks. The sign said it all: Full. The same sign was up right along the NSW coast during the school holidays (just completed) and many of the state’s cabin-fever afflicted instead headed inland to avoid the crush.

Myall Lakes National Park at Mungo Brush campground, with views inland towards Barrington Tops. E Sheargold

Fortunately, we had pre-booked one of the 12 allocated spaces at Dees Corner. We were looking straight out at the Bombah Broadwater (one of the three Myall Lakes) and it was a five-minute walk over the dunes to Mungo Beach, a magnificently wild arc of sand that extends as far as you can see in both directions. Mungo Beach includes a section where 4WDs can be legally driven on the sand, a rare thing in NSW.

Once parked, the true benefits of a motorhome are evident. The interior expands by 600mm at the push of a button, the front seats swivel to face the living area, an awning swings down off the side, the copious windows and vents are all protected by flyscreens. Everything is set up in the time the people at the next site will spend looking for the mallet to bang in their tent pegs.

The Birdsville sleeps four and has a full bathroom with toilet and shower.

Still, there is an egalitarianism to camping. We are surrounded by tents, campers and caravans ranging from the modest to the elaborate, flanked by tradie utes and late model prestige cars. There’s also a communality. When our sad, sad fire is going nowhere, a nice lady with far too many children comes across and gifts us some top-shelf firewood. Out of the dark, from the other direction, a man with far too many annexes on his Byzantine tent arrives with a tiny battery powered leaf blower, and pumps up our fire into something we can be unjustifiably proud of.

There’s a theory that you shouldn’t be too comfortable when camping, because that’s not within the spirit. As I grabbed a cool drink from the near-full size fridge and looked across at the width of our mobile apartment, I thought, nah.

Anyway, no matter how much room you have, you are always short of room. Four people in the one vehicle for a few days is tight. Heck, that many people in a large house can grate. Fortunately there’s near-perfect weather, almost endless interesting diversions and, suddenly, time’s up and a return to the real world is looming.

When travelling, we go through diesel at rate of just under 14 L/100 km. I sometimes test cars that can sprint to 100km/h in under three seconds; coming out of a roadside stop and joining an uphill freeway in the Birdsville, I suspect it took me well over a minute to reach that mark.

I take it super easy, because flooring a 4400kg machine seems unfair on it. And, anyway, when you are on such a trip, being in a hurry is exactly what you are trying to get away from.

NEED TO KNOW
About: Australian-owned Avida has been making motorhomes since 1965. For more information on models and prices, see: avidarv.com.au
Where: Dees Corner in NSW’s Myall Lakes National Park is just one of 171 campervan-friendly campsites in NSW’s 225 national parks; nationalparks.nsw.gov.au

From your local Avida dealer