The Secret Way To See Australia For $1 A Day
If you haven’t heard of CoSeats before it is going to change your life. The campervan relocation website CoSeats looks for people to relocate a campervan, motorhome or 4wd between two different points in Australia from as little as $1 a day. Yep, $1 a day (and sometimes even free) to take a road trip across Australia in all different directions, and includes everything you could need in a campervan. Nope, I’m not joking, this is legit!
Over the recent Melbourne Cup Day long weekend I was looking for somewhere to go to get out of Melbourne. I was fed up with our crappy wintery weather still hanging around at the end of October, needed a break from wedding planning, and I wanted to go somewhere new and sunny. On recommendation from a British friend that worked in my office I heard about CoSeats and was instantly intrigued. A one way road trip would allow me to get much further away from Melbourne and up to a much warmer, more tropical climate.
We chose a route from Melbourne to Brisbane. The East Coast of Australia is one of our favourite drives and since we have done it before we thought we could skip most of the major places we had seen before and focus on the things we had previously missed since we had a limited time to work with. I will share some posts from my trip over the next week or so!
How does it work?
With CoSeats you are helping companies move their campervans from one location to another. They have depots all over Australia including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Adelaide, Alice Springs, Perth, Hobart and even Broome. You can pretty much see any part of Australia you want, from Uluru to the Great Barrier Reef!
Listings are usually posted on the website 2 to 3 weeks in advance, so this is not a good option for people who are trying to plan months in advance. On the website you can “join the waiting list”, which essentially means that you put in your pick up and drop off locations and CoSeats will send you an e-mail every time a new relocation between those destinations is listed on the website. This was extremely helpful, as options can go within minutes and new relocations can be listed at any time of day. Relocations are listed with a date range that you have to work within, so I had to wait for a few days until a campervan came up within our dates. The website will also let you know how many days you have to make the relocation in. For example, for Melbourne to Brisbane we were given 4 days. Depending on how time sensitive the relocation is, you can also often add a day or two extra to your trip for a small fee. We had a total of 5 days to play with over the long weekend and since our rental allowed an extra day add on, it only cost us $75 to take it back after 5 days. Way cheaper than if we had to book accommodation for the night!
What else do you need to know?
Every relocation found on CoSeats is different – the hire companies, dates available, travel destinations, time frame, price, type of vehicle and even the terms and conditions. Here are some of the details of our relocation and any additional information I have found that might be helpful so you have everything you need to know:
Pick Up Location: Melbourne. Also available Adelaide, Alice Springs, Brisbane, Broome, Cairns, Darwin, Sydney and Perth.
Drop Off Location: Brisbane. Also available Adelaide, Alice Springs, Broome, Cairns, Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Price: $5 per day. Other options can be $1 a day or even free in exchange for a blog post (not mine, I just wanted to share)! An initial fee of $75 is charged to hold the booking. If this is over the amount you owe they will refund you the difference when you pick up the van.
Deposit / Bond: $1000. Held on a credit card and then released upon return of the van as long as there is no damage to the vehicle.
Time Frame: 3 nights, 4 days. Additional days were available with our contract for $75 a day. Time frame is dependent on distance between locations.
Fuel Allowance: $50 with tax receipts. We were not told at pick-up that we had $50 of fuel included with our rental, so we didn’t keep our receipts unfortunately. Always make sure that you check at pick up whether fuel allowance is included, because it can be up to $250 in some relocations but there may be terms and conditions.
Terms & Conditions: Driver must be 21 years or older and hold a full driver’s licence (local, European or overseas licence). You can check out the full terms and conditions of CoSeats here.
Type of Campervan: Action Pod 2SX. Also available, all types of campervans and motor homes from 2 to 8 berth and even 4wds with a roof top tent.
Distance Allowed: 2233km + 250km for the extra paid day. Distance allowance will vary between different companies.
Check out the full list of frequently asked questions on the CoSeats website here.
We had quite a small campervan, similar in size to a tradie van, which was absolutely perfect for us because it was easy to drive and park. Since Thom’s normal car is a manual this was also the first time I have gotten to drive on a road trip, which I absolutely loved! The campervan was packed with everything we could need, including the items that you would never think of packing. The small kitchen in the back had a fridge, sink with a water pump, pots and pans, cutlery, plates and bowls, cleaning supplies and a storage place for food. Inside the van there was also a fold out double bed which included a doona, sheets, pillows and towels, as well as benches to sit on, beanbags and an indoor and outdoor table.
The campervan that we were given was also brand new – only five kilometres on it! We were the first ones to ever drive it which we got a bit of a thrill from as well. Dropping the car off in Brisbane was so easy, the friendly staff at Britz got all the paperwork and checks done for us very quickly and even called us a taxi to get back to the airport.
For something that I didn’t know existed only a couple of months ago, relocations are now something I couldn’t recommend more highly. It’s a great way to see our beautiful country and explore places you’ve never been before. Hitting the road with no itinerary and driving wherever your heart desires was a completely new concept for a planner like me, but I absolutely loved it!
Over the next few weeks I will post about our road trip stops including The Blue Mountains, Port Stephens, Byron Bay and The Gold Coast. For our next trip I am hoping to do Melbourne to Darwin and explore the unique Red Centre of Australia which is very high on my bucket list. Make sure you check out the website for the full list of available relocations and start planning your next Australian adventure at www.coseats.com.
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Have you relocated a campervan before? Where did you explore?
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