I am off to the Cairns Region for 18 days in mid June. And like much in the pandemic one had to
pivot !
Normally I would get a rental car, but yowser on checkng the prices
After the initial shock it was as per usual onto AFF, and in turn to this thread, for a little background research.
As per this thread rental car prices were ridiculous ($200 to 400 per day for vehicles in Cairns that in past trips would cost $30-50 though admittedly I normally book earlier ), and for a longish stay like this 18 days without your own vehicle at least for some of the time is very limiting.
So as per the tip earlier in the thread I looked at
campervans.
If you were happy with really old you can book at campervans from $30 plus fees per day. Say $50 on up.
However the reviews were not that positive due the age of those vehicles.
In the end we settled on a slightly larger, but much newer, camper from Britz. $945 including a second driver for 11 days. I also looked at utes and other commercial vehicles and that would have been about $1100.
We will not sleep in it every night as we will also book separate accommodation, but will do so on some nights as it will allow us to overnight in some nice national parks etc where there is no fixed accommodation, and simply because in the right setting it will make for a fun experience.
Plus for daytrips to remote beaches and at some of our day hiking locations it will be handy having the kitchen, fridge (a cold beer will now await from the hike's return) and table.
So this will suit us well as we explore Cairns to Mission Beach including inland.
I will use
Prosura for CDW (Thanks RB ! )