A Townsville to Geelong campervan route for self-drivers

The direct inland line from Townsville to Geelong is roughly 2,650 km, depending on your exact campgrounds and whether you dodge Melbourne toll roads. It can be driven in 5 big days by someone with the temperament of a freight scheduler, but 7 to 10 days is a much better campervan pace.

The route below stays mostly on sealed highways: Flinders Highway, Gregory Developmental Road, Carnarvon Highway, Castlereagh/Newell Highway country, then down through northern Victoria. It is a proper townsville to geelong motorhome road trip: open cattle country, black-soil plains, grain silos, river towns and finally that slightly shocking moment when traffic lights return.

• Fast but sane: 6 nights, using powered sites every second night for laundry, battery top-ups and a civilised shower.
• Comfortable: 8 or 9 nights, with layovers at Emerald/Roma and Dubbo.
• Big Lap style: 10+ nights, adding Lightning Ridge, the Warrumbungles or the Murray without rushing the van.

Do not plan on late arrivals in small inland towns. Many campground offices close before dark, roadhouse kitchens can shut early, and reversing a 7 m motorhome into an unlit site after 700 km is how marriages learn new vocabulary.

The first two legs set the tone. Townsville to Charters Towers is an easy 136 km shakedown: enough time to learn where the mirrors end, what rattles, and whether you packed the kettle somewhere sensible. After Charters Towers, the Gregory Developmental Road heads south through big, dry, unfussy Queensland.

The important number is about 370 km between reliable larger-town fuel at Charters Towers and Clermont. Belyando Crossing sits in the middle and is a useful roadhouse stop, but do not make your whole fuel plan depend on one bowser, one EFTPOS machine and your optimism. Top up in Charters Towers, again at Clermont or Emerald, and keep at least a 150 km buffer in the tank.

• Road trains: expect long combinations on the Gregory. Hold your line, ease left only when it is safe, and never dive onto a soft shoulder in a hired motorhome.
• Heat: October to March days can push 35–40°C inland. Carry drinking water in the cabin, not just in the fresh-water tank.
• Wildlife: dawn and dusk are roo hours. Plan to be parked before the light goes flat.

Most campervan hire agreements are fine on sealed roads here, but side tracks to dams, stations and lookouts may be dirt. If the road is unsealed, check your vehicle conditions before you go exploring. A 2WD camper bogged after a summer storm is not a travel story; it is paperwork.

Emerald to Roma is around 400 km via Rolleston and Injune, a good full day without being silly. Roma to St George is much shorter at about 196 km, which makes it handy for washing, shopping, tyre-pressure checks and pretending you are organised.

This middle section is where van management matters. Use the bigger towns to empty the toilet cassette at public dump points, refill potable water, buy groceries and give the fridge a fighting chance. In hot weather, a powered site every second or third night is not luxury; it is battery management.

• Dump points: commonly found at showgrounds, visitor centres or caravan parks in Charters Towers, Emerald, Roma, St George, Dubbo and many Newell towns. Confirm access locally or in your camping app before relying on one.
• LPG swap-and-go: easiest at larger servos and hardware outlets; do it before the bottle is completely empty.
• Water: use signed potable taps only. Do not assume every tap at a rest area is safe drinking water.

Do not free-camp inside town limits unless signage clearly allows it. Councils along popular RV routes do enforce stay limits, and a cheap night becomes a poor bargain if you wake to a fine on the windscreen.

South of St George the route slips through Hebel, Lightning Ridge, Walgett and Coonamble before Dubbo. It is fascinating country in a campervan: opal signs, flat horizons, creek crossings that look harmless until the weather turns, and pubs that have seen more dust than a vacuum cleaner salesman.

Distances are not huge, but services thin out. St George to Lightning Ridge is about 137 km; Lightning Ridge to Walgett about 75 km; Walgett to Coonamble about 115 km. Fuel is normally available at the main towns, but after rain the bigger question is road condition, not kilometres.

• Flood rule: never drive through water over the road. Black-soil country can close quickly and stay messy after the rain has passed.
• Overnight idea: Lightning Ridge is worth a slow afternoon if you want something stranger than another highway rest area.
• Supplies: Dubbo is your proper restock before the long Newell push south.

National park campgrounds around NSW often require online booking before arrival, even when they feel remote and casual. If you are adding a Warrumbungles side trip, book the site online and check whether your vehicle length suits the campground loops.

From Coonamble through Dubbo, Parkes, Forbes, West Wyalong, Narrandera and Tocumwal, the Newell corridor is efficient rather than glamorous. It is also full of freight, caravans, harvest traffic and drivers who have been staring at white lines for too long.

Break the drive at West Wyalong or Narrandera instead of trying to be heroic. A 90 km/h campervan uses more fuel into a headwind than the brochure daydream suggests; allow roughly 12–15 L/100 km for many 2-berth vans and 15–22 L/100 km for larger motorhomes, depending on load, wind and speed.

• Overtaking: let faster traffic go when a safe overtaking lane appears. Do not speed up when someone is passing.
• Rest stops: take 15 minutes every 2 hours. Walk around, check tyres, and make a cuppa if the wind is getting shouty.
• Night driving: avoid it. Roos, wombats and fatigue do not care that you have a booking in Geelong.

Once you cross into Victoria near Tocumwal, the roads feel busier and towns come closer together. That is not a reason to stop concentrating; it is when tired long-haul drivers start making city-speed mistakes.

Shepparton to Geelong is roughly 260–280 km, depending on whether you run via Seymour and the M80 ring road or swing through Bendigo and the western approaches. For most self-drivers, the simplest option is to avoid central Melbourne entirely and use the ring-road style routes where your hire agreement allows.

Check your campervan height before entering any car park, drive-through or urban fuel bay. Many 2-berth high-top vans sit around 2.7–3.0 m; larger motorhomes can be 3.2 m or more. Geelong foreshore parking is not designed for everyone doing the Big Lap at once, especially in summer school holidays.

• Do: book your final powered site before the last day, especially December to February and long weekends.
• Do: empty the cassette and refill fuel before returning the vehicle if your hire terms require it.
• Do not: assume you can sleep on any beachfront street. Local signs and council rules win every argument.

If you are still at the dreaming stage, compare vehicle sizes and check availability online before locking dates. A compact camper is easier in towns; a larger motorhome is kinder for longer free-camp stretches and bad-weather days.