The Club of $200,000+ Caravans

Going camping or going on holiday with your caravan used to be an affordable alternative to pricier accommodation. However, over the last couple of decades, we have decided that being closer to nature is all very well, but we still expect comfort. Glamping was born (glamour + camping) offering accommodation that is closer to luxury safaris than the experiences you might have grown up with, and a market for RVs and caravans which were almost as comfortable as your home appeared – with a price tag to match.

Nowadays, you can spend a fortune on a state-of-the-art home on wheels. Here is what you can expect if you invest over $200,000.

Zone RV is an Australian company designing innovative caravans. His founders both came from the luxury yacht industry and understood that the RV area was in great need of a revolution. One of the characteristics of their vehicles is their use of material that make them much lighter – which means more manoeuvrable and faster. They have completely foregone using timber, not even for kitchen cabinets, as it absorbs water which can lead to rotting and unpleasant smells but also because, being a natural product, it isn’t consistent in density and strength and therefore cannot give the level of quality they are aiming for.

Instead, they use lightweight carbon fibre in a monocoque frame. The roof, side walls and some of the interior cabinets also have a carbon fibre external ‘skin’, with a PET core affording better insulation, which will be more than welcome during hot Australian summers, and also sheds about 175Kg of the overall caravan weight.

Their Summit Series come with a range of gadgets that would make even Batman pale with envy. Equipped with the latest digital and smart technology, lucky owners of a Summit will be able to control the whole caravan from their iPad, from airbag suspension to powered awning, air-conditioning, air and water heater, 4G signal booster antenna, and solar and water set-ups.

It also features motion sensors on the lights which turn them on automatically when you are getting out of bed to go to the toilet at night, and external cameras aimed at the tow vehicle to assist you when reversing or parking.

A very roomy 21ft 6in long, it also has a 400L- fresh and -grey water capacity, which will be very handy if you are thinking of taking your caravan to NZ as one of the conditions they must meet is being able to hold several days of water for their occupants. A 1,100W solar set-up and 10 roof solar panels feed a lithium battery that can run the air-conditioning unit and the washing machine.

Other enviable features are a satellite TV, a 218 litre fridge-freezer, a composting toilet, a power-operated lift-up bed, an automated roof hatch and a device that calculates your water usage.

So, Batman, your Batmobile isn’t looking too special now, is it??

Of course, this doesn’t come cheap. If you want the 22ft 6in with all its gizmos, it will set you back by $225,000.

Other manufacturers cater for this market, such as Kedron’s 26ft triple axle van. Their first caravan to break the $200,000 sales price, it comes with all the mechanical luxuries you can also find in Zone RV’s models but it has extras that make it really special. We Aussies like our outdoor lifestyle, and Kedron’s caravan offers not one but four drop-down picnic tables, two on each side, and a slide-out kitchen table with a hob! The entire roof is an auto-tracking satellite dish cum solar panel installation.

Two spare wheels are supplied and fitted in a recessed compartment at the rear of the RV and you will be relieved to hear that an electric front jack takes the hard work out if you need to replace a wheel – you don’t want to try and lift several tons with your good ol’ car jack…

The kitchen is probably better than what most of us have at home which, on top of your usual appliances, offers a 3.2m -long kitchen bench, a double sink plus a drainer, an extra tap which can deliver instant chilled, filtered or boiling water and a 6-bottle wine chiller.

After-dinner entertainment is ensured by a state-of-the-art home theatre. You can relax on genuine hide leather seats with in-built heaters for discerning behinds, a BOSE sound system and an LED TV built into a wall recess in addition to the bedroom TV.

As you would expect from a vehicle of that price, pretty much everything can be controlled and monitored: gauges will enable you to keep an eye on the levels in the grey water tank, the charge of the battery, the hot water system, as well as a repeater station to boost mobile reception which will certainly be useful when you reach more remote parts of Australia.

The $250,000 25ft Phoenix Federation is another of those top-of-the-range models.

Upholstered with Italian leather in, not one, but two colours, it is designed for long-term living. In addition to a modern, fully-equipped kitchen with island bench and an en-suite bathroom, it also offers an office which can be converted into a bunk bedroom if needed. It is equipped with an external washing machine and a large screen TV, on top of four others peppered through the caravan.

Finishing touches really set this caravan apart, with blue mood lighting in the bathroom to complement its shimmering blue glass washbasin.

Mounted on an aluminium and steel chassis and built around an aluminium frame and a fibreglass exterior cladding, this beauty still weighs in at over 4 tonnes.

McCullough has a vast experience in shipping caravans between Australia and New Zealand. We can assist you with all aspects of transporting it for a holiday or long term including the mechanical standards it must meet, biosecurity rules and how to prepare it for its journey. Contact us on +64 9 309 1163 to discuss your requirements or request a quote on line.