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Before retiring as travel writers , Tony and Denyse Allsop toured Australia in this very faithful Compass pop-top .
HOW WE FREE-CAMPED
WORDS AND IMAGES : TONY AND DENYSE ALLSOP
THE ARTICLE ‘ FREE TO FREE CAMP ’ PUBLISHED LAST ISSUE ( GORV # 46 ) PROMPTED LONG-TIME CARAVANNERS TONY AND DENYSE ALLSOP TO REFLECT ON HOW THEY EQUIPPED THEIR VAN FOR THEIR MANY FREE-CAMPING ADVENTURES …
Do you really need a generator and / or solar panels for free-camping ?
As a travel writer for leading caravan magazines for 17 years , my wife , Denyse , and I designed our own caravan for several around-Oz trips and many years travelling .
We had owned several caravans and campers previously , and had always used both a generator and solar panels – along with a deep-cycle battery , of course .
Eventually , we wanted a van that would take us into offroad camps and national parks , along with caravan-park stays . It had to be able to sustain us without 240V power for six to seven days at a time . With some careful mathematics , we figured we could get by without either solar panels or the weight of a generator . We could charge our caravan battery either through the car , or by 240V when in a powered van-park site .
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