Apollo campervan hire Hobart for a proper Tassie self-drive

The apollo hobart depot area is generally easiest to treat as an airport/Cambridge-side pickup rather than a central-Hobart errand. Depot addresses and hours can change, so check your booking documents before you lock in taxis, flights or a first-night campsite.

Once you have the keys, resist the urge to point the bonnet at Wineglass Bay immediately. Spend 30 minutes learning the van while you are still near big supermarkets, servos and hardware shops. A missing hose fitting is much funnier at 2 pm near Hobart than at 8 pm in a national park with wallabies judging you.

• Check the gas bottle is full or clearly usable before leaving.
• Confirm the power lead, sullage hose, fresh-water hose and toilet chemical are onboard.
• Measure or note vehicle height; many 2-berth campers are around 2.6–3.0 m, larger motorhomes can be 3.2 m-plus.
• Do your first food shop before the Tasman Peninsula, Huon or west coast where opening hours shrink fast.

Hobart is small by mainland standards, but a motorhome makes the place feel narrower. The main exits are the Tasman Highway east toward Sorell and the airport, the Brooker Highway north toward New Norfolk and the Midlands, and the Southern Outlet for Kingston, Snug and the Huon.

Apollo motorhome hire Hobart trips often start with a slightly nervous bridge crossing. Take it steady over the Tasman Bridge in wind, stay left unless you are overtaking, and do not let a local in a ute bully you into a speed that feels silly in a tall van.

• Do: allow 45–60 minutes after pickup for fuel, groceries and a calm vehicle check.
• Do: expect 60–75 km/h average travel on winding Tasmanian roads, even where the limit says 100.
• Don’t: plan a 300 km first afternoon after a flight unless everyone enjoys arriving cranky.
• Watch for: log trucks, B-doubles, cyclists, roadkill and wildlife at dawn and dusk.

The first night should be deliberately unheroic. You want level ground, toilets, water nearby and enough daylight to work out the bed conversion, fridge settings and whether the grey-water cap is actually closed.

Good first-night targets sit roughly 20–90 km from pickup. That gives you a real start without committing to the east coast, Cradle Mountain or the west coast on day one. If you are collecting late, book a powered site and save the free-camp romance for night two.

• North: Hobart Showground area keeps you close to town and the Brooker Highway.
• East: Richmond or Cambridge-side parks are handy for Sorell, Port Arthur and Freycinet.
• South: Snug or Kingston puts you on the Huon and Bruny Island line.

Do not pull into a beach car park and hope the council ranger is having a long weekend. Around Hobart and the popular coast, no-camping signs are enforced and fines can run into the hundreds.

Tasmania is friendly to campervans, but it is not a free-for-all. Free and low-cost camping is controlled by local councils, and many sites require you to be self-contained. That usually means a toilet onboard or immediate access to one, grey-water contained, rubbish packed out and no midnight dishwater tipped into the grass.

National parks are a different game. You need a valid Tasmanian Parks Pass for the vehicle when entering parks such as Freycinet, Mount Field, Tasman, Hartz Mountains, Lake St Clair and Cradle Mountain. A holiday vehicle pass is commonly around the $90–$100 mark for up to 8 weeks, but check the current fee before you travel.

• Camping fees are separate from the Parks Pass in many parks.
• Popular campgrounds such as Freycinet can book out in summer and school holidays.
• Pets are not allowed in Tasmanian national parks, even if they are excellent copilots.
• Fires are often restricted; carry a gas stove and obey total fire bans.

A self-drive trip rises or falls on the unglamorous jobs. Hobart and nearby towns have the best spread of dump points, potable water, LPG swaps and large supermarkets you will see for a while, so leave town topped up rather than optimistic.

Public dump points are commonly found at showgrounds, caravan parks and RV-friendly towns, but not every tap beside a dump point is drinking water. Use marked potable water only. For LPG, servos and hardware outlets around Hobart, Sorell, Kingston and Glenorchy are the practical stops; swap or refill before the west coast where hours can be short.

• Before the east coast: fuel at Hobart, Sorell or Swansea; Freycinet services are limited and dearer.
• Before the far south: top up around Kingston or Huonville.
• Before the west: do not pass New Norfolk or Derwent Bridge low on fuel.
• Rule of thumb: refill by half a tank once you leave the bigger towns.

Tasmania does not have the outback fuel gaps of the Nullarbor, but a closed Sunday servo plus a headwind in a high-roof van can still make the fuel light feel personal.

Hobart works because loops are natural. You can run east for beaches and convict history, south for forests and Bruny ferries, or north-west for mountains and colder nights. None require a 4WD if you stay on the sealed main roads, but plenty of side tracks do.

If your hire agreement excludes unsealed roads, take that seriously. Tasmania has tempting gravel shortcuts and national-park access roads, and the damage bill for a tyre or underbody scrape is a very poor souvenir.

• Tasman and East Coast: Port Arthur, Orford, Swansea and Freycinet over 4–6 days.
• Huon and Bruny: Kingston, Kettering ferry, Adventure Bay, Geeveston and Dover over 3–5 days.
• Derwent and West Coast: New Norfolk, Mount Field, Lake St Clair, Queenstown and Strahan over 5–7 days.

Travelling in December to February? Book powered sites early, especially near Freycinet, Bruny and Hobart. In winter, carry warm bedding; overnight temperatures inland can sit around 0–5°C and the van windows will tell you all about condensation.