Your Sunshine Coast to Gold Coast campervan route, done slowly

Maroochydore to Southport is about 180 km on the Bruce Highway and M1. Start from Noosa and finish at Coolangatta and you are closer to 240 km. You can belt it out in 3 hours if the traffic gods are feeling generous, but that is not much of a motorhome road trip; it is a lane-change seminar with a fridge.

The better plan is to use the coast for easy first nights, then cut through the Glass House Mountains and Moreton Bay before dropping into the Gold Coast via Tamborine or Canungra. It keeps driving legs mostly under 90 km, which is handy if you are new to mirrors the size of dinner plates.

• Do: book your first and last nights before you travel, especially in Queensland school holidays.
• Do not: assume every beachside car park allows overnight stays. Most do not, and fines can land around the $300 mark depending on the council area.
• Allow: $45-$85 a night for many powered coastal holiday-park sites in busy periods; Queensland Parks sites are usually far cheaper but have fewer comforts.

Leaving the Sunshine Coast, keep the first day short. A Mooloolaba or Caloundra stop gives you a clean shakedown: test the hot water, learn where the dump hose lives, and work out whether the cupboard latch has a vendetta against you.

From Caloundra, swing inland to the Glass House Mountains. The roads are sealed, the climbs are mild, and the lookouts give you that odd Jurassic feeling without asking a 2WD hire camper to pretend it is a LandCruiser. Then run south through Caboolture or Redcliffe to avoid sleeping in central Brisbane, where parking a longer van can be a joyless little puzzle.

The final drop to the Gold Coast is easiest on the M1. The prettier option uses Tamborine Mountain and Canungra, but take it slowly: narrow shoulders, weekend motorbikes, low branches after storms and a few pinches that remind you a motorhome is not a go-kart.

• Longest suggested leg: about 80 km, Brisbane to Canungra/Tamborine.
• Direct fuel gaps: rarely more than 30-40 km between servos on the main highway.
• Watch for: B-doubles, tradie utes, port traffic near Brisbane and impatient commuters from 6.30-9.00 am and 3.30-6.30 pm.

South-east Queensland is not the Nullarbor. Free camping exists in pockets, but the coastal strip is heavily signed, heavily patrolled and heavily loved by everyone else doing the Big Lap with a folding chair and a small dog. If there is no clear overnight-camping permission, assume the answer is no.

Holiday parks are the easy button for the first night: power, water, laundry, showers and enough neighbours to ask, quietly, why the toilet cassette has two caps. Showgrounds can be good value when open, though they often close for events. National park and state forest sites need online bookings before arrival and generally require you to stay on formed roads and designated camp pads.

• Good first-night style: Sunshine Coast council holiday parks around Cotton Tree, Mooloolaba or Caloundra.
• Low-key bush option: Coochin Creek camping area near Beerwah, booked through Queensland Parks, with basic facilities and sealed-road access to nearby towns.
• Hinterland option: Canungra Showgrounds or a Tamborine-area campground if your van length is accepted.
• Gold Coast finish: Broadwater, Main Beach or southern Gold Coast holiday parks; book early for weekends and school holidays.

This route is civilised, which is another way of saying you have no excuse for carrying a full cassette for three days. Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay, Brisbane and Gold Coast councils all list RV dump points, but individual sites can close during show weeks, construction or flood clean-up. Check the council page or CMCA dump-point listing before you rely on one.

Commonly used public or semi-public stops include showgrounds around Nambour, Beerwah, Caboolture/Redcliffe and Canungra, plus holiday parks that provide dump points for guests. On the Gold Coast, plan your empty before you head into dense beach suburbs; finding a long-vehicle-friendly bay near the sand can test a marriage.

• Water: fill at your holiday park or an approved potable-water point; never use a random park tap unless it is signed for drinking water.
• LPG: servos and hardware-style swap cages are common, but check whether your hired van uses swap bottles or fixed-fill LPG.
• Fuel: petrol and diesel are easy on the Bruce Highway, M1 and hinterland towns; still refuel before leaving the coast on a Sunday evening.
• Do not: empty grey water into gutters, drains or bushland. Councils are not amused, and neither is the next camper.

You will not meet Pilbara-style road trains on this run, but you will share lanes with B-doubles, buses, caravans, boat trailers and the occasional ute carrying half a hardware aisle. The Bruce Highway and M1 are sealed dual carriageway for much of the trip, with service centres and frequent exits.

The dirt-road trap is the beach. Bribie Island, Moreton Island and many sandy tracks around the bay are 4WD-only or require permits, and most standard hire campervans are not allowed on beaches, soft sand or unsealed tracks beyond short, maintained campground access. If your rental agreement says sealed roads only, believe it; the sand recovery bill will not have a sense of humour.

• Height: many 2-6 berth motorhomes sit around 2.8-3.4 m high; avoid shopping-centre car parks and check tree cover in older caravan parks.
• Length: reverse into powered sites slowly and use a spotter; overhanging branches are sneakier than bollards.
• Weather: summer days often sit around 28-32°C with afternoon storms; winter is mild, roughly 10-23°C, but hinterland nights can feel cooler.
• Wet season note: heavy rain can flood low causeways near creeks and close campground access roads. Never drive through floodwater.

The sweet spot is May to October: warm days, fewer storms and decent sleeping weather if your van has screens and ventilation. December and January still work, but powered sites become gold dust, beachfront parks fill early and the humidity can turn a van into a slow cooker if you park badly.

If you are travelling with grey nomads, school kids or anyone who takes campground bathrooms very seriously, book the popular coastal nights first, then fit the hinterland around them. Keep the driving light on Fridays and Sundays; the M1 between Brisbane and the Gold Coast can crawl when half of Queensland decides the beach is medicinal.

• Best months: May-June and August-October for comfort and availability.
• Busy periods: Easter, September school holidays, Christmas-New Year and long weekends.
• Online move: check campervan availability online before locking in flights and the first powered site.