If the big lap of Australia is on your bucket list or you’re considering hiring a motorhome in Australia or New Zealand, I’m sharing my experience of using a Star RV motorhome to help ease any concerns you might have.
In fact, I’m sharing what the reality looked like when I hired a Star RV motorhome and drove 15,000km from Perth down the South West, up to Broome, across the Kimberley, over to Darwin and down to Adelaide. The two month trip saw us tick off countless bucket list places and activities and really was a trip of a lifetime.
But, how did the Star RV motorhome hire match up to this long distance trip? Having never driven a motorhome before or even driven a huge distance as long as this, we were apprehensive and felt a little out of our depth about not having any idea about how to operate a motorhome hire.
So, I’m sharing everything we learnt about driving a Star RV motorhome hire and what the experience was really like. I think you’ll soon realise you’ll want to choose Star RV when booking an Australian road trip.
| We’ve managed to secure a discount for Londoner In Sydney readers! Enter the promo code LIS24 when booking your Star RV motorhome to get 10% off! |
Who is Star RV and why choose them?
While Star RV motorhomes are relatively new, their sister company JUCY is well known throughout Australia and New Zealand. While JUCY offers more of the budget friendly camper van and car rental options, Star RV is shaping they way we explore by offering more spacious, modern and luxury motorhome rental hire that gives you way more comfort and space than a camper van would offer.
I love that Star RV have really revolutionised the motorhome stigma of being only for the oldies to drive. Their modern RV models are so equipped for the remote worker, families and friends looking to get out and explore more. If you’re over 21 and have a valid drivers licence (even a UK one is fine!) then you’re good to hire this amazing vehicle for the ultimate road trip to explore Australia or New Zealand.
All of the details inside the van are exceptional and even though I can’t compare another motorhome brand with you, I can easily see so much detail has gone into designing these amazing motorhomes. You see, after living in a Star RV rental for two months, you start to realise what works in a van and what doesn’t.
And to be honest, the more time we spent in the van, the more we realised how amazing it really is which is what I’ll go into detail about in this guide.
Star RV vans to choose from
There are two motorhome options to choose from when hiring from Star RV. Both are fully self contained vans designed with the travel adventure in mind. They are both equipped with a toilet and shower as well as a fully functioning kitchen and oven.
Polaris 6 – the motorhome we used
The Polaris 6 is the larger of the two vans available which fits up to 6 people! The space is amazing with a permanent double bed, then a dining area which folds out into a double bed and another seating area at the back of the van which folds out again into a double bed.
This is the perfect van for families or friends to use. If you’re a group of friends, I would say 6 adults in the van would be a little squishy so ideally it would suit more like 4 adults. For families, you’d be fine with kids.
It’s got all of the same mod cons as the smaller van below, but it’s just a bigger space (they literally look almost exactly the same, jus different in sizing).
Polaris 2 – fits 2 people, perfect for friends or couples
We actually had a look at the Polaris 2 when we were in Darwin and it’s an amazing van. While it’s not as big as a Polaris 6 motorhome, it’s perfect for anyone who might be a little bit nervous about driving a motorhome. The van has almost the same layout as the Polaris 6 but it’s just for 2 people so you’ll have a dining area for two people instead of four for example.
The bed area is incredible with the bed being at the back of the van. There’s no need to have to spend time changing up space from a daytime seating area into a bed for night time as you can simply press a button and the bed automatically comes down from the ceiling. I’ve not seen anything like this before and loved the idea.
While it is a smaller van, you definitely won’t have the space like you would in the Polaris 6. After seeing this van, Steve and I agreed this would be perfect for shorter road trips. We’re glad we had the Polaris 6 because we were travelling for two months and we brought a lot of stuff with us so we would have been a bit cramped in the Polaris 2 for that long.
What’s included in our van – the Polaris 6
As I mentioned, our van really is incredible. We were a little unsure of what we would need to buy for this trip, and luckily the van came with pretty much everything we needed for the whole trip.
We were given all bedding which you can change at any Star RV location for fresh sheets. For example, because we picked the van up in Perth, when we got to Darwin, we went to visit the office and they gave us new sheets which was nice as it was the half way mark on our trip. Obviously we washed our sheets regularly but it was just a nice gesture to pick up new sheets during the trip. You can do this from any of their locations. And before you ask, the Star RV team are so friendly and helpful, they really do go out of their way for you.
The van also includes all cooking equipment. Now we didn’t know what that would include exactly, but the only item we bought was a new frying pan (just because we are picky) and that was about it. It also comes with cutlery and crockery, a kettle, toaster as well as bath and tea towels.
When you pick up the van, you can essentially leave some of the bedding at the Star RV branch. Considering we were in a 6 berth van, we didn’t need an extra set of bedding to save on space.
We were also given outdoor chairs, an outdoor table and a broom which comes in so handy as you’ll be sweeping a lot when you’re getting in and out of the van. There is also an awning so you can sit outside in the shade and there’s even a powerpoint so you can work from outside and even outdoor speakers. We loved this as we both work remotely and used this often.
The windows also have fly screens on them which is a definite bonus because if you’re driving through places like Western Australia which is home to the amazing Karijini National Park, you’ll have a nightmare with flys if you don’t have the fly screens on the windows.
The vans both come with aircon as well which honestly is a god send. Some nights we’d have it on all night as it really really hot in some areas we went to.
Where are the pick up and drop off locations?
There are eight Star RV branches across Australia and three in New Zealand. If you’re embarking on a road trip around Australia, you can pick up and drop off from the Star RV’s following Australian branch locations:
Sydney, Brisbane, Gold Coast, Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Darwin
We flew to Perth from Sunshine Coast where we currently live, and picked the van up from there before returning it to Adelaide as our drop off location. You can get really creative with your travel itineraries so don’t think you need to pick up from your nearest location.
If you’re hiring a van from a Star RV branch in New Zealand, this is where you can pick up and drop off from:
Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown
| We’ve managed to secure a discount for Londoner In Sydney readers! Enter the promo code LIS24 when booking your Star RV motorhome to get 10% off! |
Roads you can and can’t drive on
To be clear, Star RV will allow you to drive on any sealed roads in Australia and up to 12km on unsealed roads to campgrounds or holiday parks. There were sections of our trip that we couldn’t do like the Gibb River Road trip in the Kimberley, which was a shame but I have heard most 4wd cars do get wrecked on that road.
Even though we drove on the Great Northern Highway instead, we were able to drive on a little bit of the sealed section at the one end of the Gibb River Road to El Questro Wilderness Park which is exceptional.
We were also a little bit worried about whether we needed a 4wd to get to Karijini National Park in Western Australia but we were totally fine as we checked with the tourist information office in the nearest town of Tom Price before going there and they confirmed all cars were accessible, except for Kalamina Gorge which was 4wd only.
Be aware that if you drive on 4wd only roads and get stuck, you could be liable as insurance won’t cover you. We were also responsible for any toll road payments as well.
The extras you need to consider
While it’s not cheap to hire a motorhome, it can work out way cheaper overall if there’s a few of you hiring the van. For example, I think we ate out maybe couple of times throughout the entire two months. We mostly cooked in the van as you can just pull up anywhere and start cooking (the gas works all the time so you can just turn the hobs on as and when you like).
The fridge in our van was nearly as big as the one at home so we could do our usual shop each week. There’s also something about camping and staying at caravan parks where we didn’t personally think about eating out. Campsites are also really cheap (we paid on average around $50 a night) and you can easily take advantage of the free camps using WikiCamps app.
But there are some extra costs to consider when driving a Star RV vehicle as you’ll need to pay for the insurance cover. We opted for the most expensive cover which you’ll definitely need if you’re driving long distances.
You can also pay for a booster seat which has a daily rate charge, and there is an extra charge if you’re bringing your dog with you. Yes, that’s right, Star RV rentals are dog friendly. Luckily you’ll get unlimited kilometres which is always a bonus when travelling the long distances around Australia.
We didn’t brake down once, but if we did, this is what would have happened
I still can’t believe we drove 15,000 kms in two months and we didn’t have any problems with our van. We had a chip in the windscreen twice from stones on the road which we used a kit to get rid of them, but we didn’t have any other problems at all.
Because we bought the most expensive insurance cover which also included windscreen chips (you definitely need that in Australia as it’s so easy to chip your windscreen in the outback), we did have a 24-hour roadside assistance toll-free number to use if we had any breakdowns.
If you are going to be driving in any remote areas, I strongly recommend investing in a Star Link as well for internet coverage. We witnessed a caravan and car which had flipped over in the middle of nowhere, a few hours before arriving to Karijini National Park in Western Australia. Luckily we helped the family with our StarLink as there was no reception where we were.
Liability cover is also included in the motorhome hire which really does give you peace of mind for any worries you have about hiring the van.
Driving a motorhome for the first time
We were both a little apprehensive about driving a motorhome for the first time but Steve did an amazing job and got comfortable with it in no time. He said it’s basically similar to driving a car, you just need to pull out wider when going around round-a-bouts. I only drove the van a few times and it honestly wasn’t as scary as I initially thought it would be.
What it was like sleeping in the van for 2 months
Because there was only two of us in the van, we ended up having our own beds with Steve sleeping in the permanent bed above the drivers seat and I slept at the back in the seating area. We slept really well and got right into a routine each day.
Steve would walk around the van each morning and make sure he emptied the grey water, unplugged the power etc, while I made sure I put everything away and locked the cupboards. You see, you get so much storage space in the Polaris 6, you’ll never believe that we bought about 100 kgs of stuff with us for the trip!
We loved driving to a carpark to go hiking, but stopping to make breakfast first or just being able to feel free and not be anywhere or have to go anywhere to eat etc. There’s something so wonderful about being able to do that, it was easily one of our favourite things about this road trip experience.
It’s funny how I didn’t use the sink for the first few weeks. I’m not sure why, but maybe I was worried about the water or worried about food going down the sink and it stinking out the van (the van never stank of anything for the entire time we were there).
The comfy Star RV motorhomes really are wonderful and even though we rarely put the TV on, never used the shower or oven, there was a great comfort in just having them there to use if we needed (we would use the campsite showers to save on water).
When we had to give the van back, we were really sad because it really grew on us and we loved it so much. It’s funny how back home we would get annoyed at each other being in each other’s space, and yet it didn’t take long before we were comfortable living in a much smaller space together.
One major tip for driving at Polaris 6 you need to know
If I could mention one massive tip the Star RV team told us to do is to drive around the 90km mark to keep the fuel costs down. If you do that, you’ll be able to get double the kms out of your fuel tank. It cost us about $130 to fill up our van after driving 600kms.
Would we use Star RV again?
This road trip really did something for us that I don’t think any other holiday or trip we’ve ever done has done for us.
It brought us together on a deeper level and really connected us.
Now we’ve seen so much more of Australia, it’s made us really appreciate this country so much more as well. Honestly, there are some absolutely unbelievable hidden gems in remote areas that you really need to see.
It’s also interesting how a two month trip ended up costing us less than a two week holiday to Europe, and yet it’s funny how many Australians think it’s too expensive to travel Australia.
We would hire a Star RV van in a heartbeat and I think the next trip on our bucket list would easily be a New Zealand adventure. Whole heartedly, I would a million percent recommend booking a Star RV motorhome for your Australian adventure. You won’t regret it!
Don’t forget we’ve managed to get you 10% off your Star RV booking by using this promo code: LIS24
