Caravan Parks 7 first look: New, improved and adventure-ready
Words and pics Amelia Mansell
Big, bold and beautiful, the newly released 25th-anniversary edition of Caravan Parks has landed — and after a look inside, it’s better than ever.
From sweeping coasts and rugged mountains to endless deserts and red dirt scrub, Australia is home to some of the most stunning landscapes in the world, and here at Hema Maps we love helping you explore them with confidence.
While there are plenty of free and budget campsites where you can pull up with your 4WD, camper or caravan … what about when you want a few of the luxuries a caravan or holiday park might offer? Or what happens if you’re already in the middle of woop woop and the idea of finding a big-name chain caravan park is laughable?
That’s where the new and improved Caravan Parks 7 comes in handy.
This 25th-anniversary edition has just hit our shelves, and we were keen to take a look inside to see what improvements Camps Australia Wide has made.
First impressions
Right off the bat it’s easy to see how well Caravan Parks 7 will pair with the new Camps 13 guide released late last year. Where Camps 13 focuses on free and budget campsites around Australia, Caravan Parks 7 showcases exactly what its name suggests — all the caravan parks Australia has to offer.
Caravan Parks 7 isn’t just about the big-name parks you’ve probably already Googled. Sure, they’re included (this is the most comprehensive guide to Australia’s caravan parks, after all), but the beauty of this guide is that it includes the smaller caravan parks, roadhouses, stations and farm stays dotted across the country. Some of these spots are the kinds of locations that don’t have a website, just a sign and a mobile phone number to call, and you probably wouldn’t have known they existed unless you drove past them.
These are the kinds of hidden gems travellers love to find — the ones you stumble across, fall in love with and never forget. Caravan Parks 7 is your treasure map to find them all: A4, spiral-bound and backed by more than 33 years of research and Hema Maps’ iconic, detailed maps.
Pair it with Camps 13 and suddenly you’ve got all the bases covered — free, budget and paid caravan parks and camps, plus all the little gems in between.
What's inside
Caravan Parks 7 is part camping guide, touring atlas and trip planner, so there’s plenty packed into its 344 pages.
The guide is split into state and territory chapters with detailed maps thanks to Camps Australia Wide’s partnership with Hema Maps, followed by caravan park listings with concise but detailed information and symbols to learn what each location has to offer.
This new and improved guide includes:
More than 2150 caravan park listings
More than 1900 pet-friendly parks
New water refill points and dump point locations
The latest Hema Maps
Fold-out map of Australia inside front cover
Updated site information, personally checked by the Camps Australia Wide team
Clear, informative icons and symbols
Fresh, modern 25th-anniversary design
Complimentary one-year CAMPS App subscription with bonus offers
Camps Australia Wide is a family-run Aussie business that is backed by more than 33 years of research.
How to use Caravan Parks 7
The layout of Caravan Parks 7 is very straightforward and easy to use, no matter how you plan your trips. It includes similar updates to what we saw in the 25th anniversary edition of Camps Australia 13, including the vibrant front cover and updated symbols and icons inside.
There’s a handy symbol and icon explanation at the start of the guide to help both newcomers to Camps Australia Wide’s guides or anyone who needs a quick refresh.
The map icons have to convey a fair amount of information into a small space, so shape, borders and numbering all come into play. A curved-edge rectangle means pets are welcome, hexagons (pointed-edge) mean they’re not, and a blue border means there’s a dump point available. No border? No dump point. If you need or want more information than that, simply cross reference the number back to the relevant state or territory chapter to find the site listing.
For those who prefer to refer to a location before the map, then the site listings are simply organised alphabetically by towns within the state/territory chapters. Each listing includes the key information travellers want to know at a glance, including price range, pet friendliness, site types available, whether 4WD is recommended and more, as well as other facilities or attractions on offer such as drinking water, dump points, laundry, barbecues, camp kitchen, swimming, fishing, a pool and so on.
Each chapter is colour coded, which makes it easy to flick through and find what you’re looking for (although having two shades of blue back-to-back may confuse tired eyes).
Turn to the back of the book to find the full and updated lists of dump points and water refill points featured throughout the book, as well as a caravan park index with all towns in Australia listed alphabetically with state, Hema map and page reference information.
Final thoughts
Whether you’re a caravanner, camper or four-wheel driver, there’s always a time and place to roll into a caravan park, roadhouse or station stay and enjoy a few of the finer things (free camps are great until you need to do laundry and you’re not lucky enough to have a washing machine onboard).
The A4, spiral-bound format isn’t groundbreaking, but it doesn’t need to be. These guides are built for life on the road, and the ability to lay the book flat or fold it back on itself makes planning stops simple when space — or patience — is limited. The sturdy cover and manageable size mean it slots neatly beside the seat or in your glove box, even if Camps 13 is already along for the ride.
While Caravan Parks 7 is showcased as the most comprehensive guide to Australia’s caravan parks, what really stands out is that it goes well beyond the big-name parks you’ve probably already searched online. Some of the most memorable stays are the ones you didn’t plan on — the quiet roadhouse, the station stay, the small-town park you’d otherwise drive straight past.
Caravan Parks 7 helps you uncover those places. It leads you away from the obvious and towards the stops you only find when you know where to look, giving travellers the confidence to take a detour, linger a little longer or simply know there’s a reliable place to pull up when reception disappears. Backed by Hema Maps’ detailed cartography and decades of on-the-road research, it’s a guide that earns its place on the dash, not just the bookshelf.
All up, Caravan Parks 7 is easy to use, practical and quietly inspiring — exactly the kind of companion you want when plans change, roads stretch longer than expected or curiosity gets the better of you.
Caravan Parks 7 is available now.
Fast facts:
RRP: $69.95
Spiral bound, A4 edition
Includes free one-year CAMPS App subscription
More than 2150 caravan parks
More than 1900 pet-friendly locations
New water refill points and dump points
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