Drifters Campervans Celebrates 3 Years On Camplify and Over 200 Adventures

We hope it’s the quality of the van builds combined with the fair price and ease of hiring. We vowed never to charge for “extras” – everything you need is in the van. This includes essentials like bedding, kitchenware and camping furniture but also little extras like an Aeropress coffee maker and a hammock. We want people to be able to turn up with minimal stuff, hit the road and not have to worry because they forgot to bring a towel or a torch, both of which they can find in the van.

We are definitely lucky to be based in Queensland. When the lockdowns initially hit in March we had booking cancellations and a scarily empty calendar. Luckily many of these were able to postpone until later in the year but our location certainly helped without the stricter and longer lockdowns that affected other states. We saw a big change in where people travelled to, with the majority driving north towards Hervey Bay and Agnes Water as opposed to Byron Bay across the border – this has continued ever since the border opened. Many hirers were locals and chose to explore locally around the Hinterland areas. We’ve also noticed more long hires recently of 10+ days – presumably, because people can’t travel overseas, they are finding new ways to holiday within Australia and we love being a part of this.

We would love to add a family van, although it’s likely down the track a bit just due to the extra time it would take to build. We’ve enjoyed a few camping trips with our son in our Hendrix van and it’s been great to share our love of camping with him! Generally, parenting hasn’t been a juggle with Camplify pick-ups – there have been a couple recently with a toddler in tow but when he was little the flexibility meant we could organise over nap time!

In our first year, we had a marriage proposal in our van and it’s still one of my favourite hire stories. In 2020 a couple choose to honeymoon in Hendrix as their original plans in Bali were cancelled due to Covid-19. We popped a complimentary bottle of champagne in the fridge – not quite a Balinese level of hospitality but anything to make it that extra bit special!

We get quite a few camping newbies to hire the vans – it’s so nice to be able to be a part of those trips and hopefully contribute to a new way of travelling for them. While we mainly get couples and girls hiring the vans, we’ve also had Mums take their teenagers on their first road trips and Dads book a boys weekend away with their sons – it’s so great seeing the kids faces when we show them around and what a cool way to travel with their parents.

Two places a few hirers have travelled to in the last six months are Carnavon Gorge and Yeppoon. We’d love to see the cave paintings at Carnavon and wouldn’t mind popping over to the Keppel Islands just off Yeppoon! Other than those, a Big Lap is a definite bucket list trip.

We’re currently on the hunt for our third van. We’re a bit picky and with the low van stock on the market at the moment, it might be a while. But that’s part of our 2021 plan – we like growing the business carefully and keeping it manageable for our family.