Best Small Campervan in Australia: Spaceships Rentals Review

Everything you need to know about hiring a Spaceships Rentals small campervan in Australia: Our honest review.

Our Spaceships Rentals camper car on the Great Ocean Road

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We’ve just finished an epic road trip from Melbourne to the Great Ocean Road, through Mount Gambier to Kangaroo Island, back to Melbourne and then over to Tasmania – in just 17 days! Our mode of transport was a Spaceship(a small campervan), and our experience was so out of this world that we just had to write about it. This Spaceships Australia review is completely our honest opinion of hiring, driving and camping in our small campervan, and we hope you find it useful for planning your next adventure.

What is a Spaceships Australia small campervan?

A Spaceship is a custom-designed vehicle that ‘drives like a car and sleeps like a campervan’. Essentially, a Spaceship is a family-sized car that has been converted into a campervan. We like to refer to them a scamper-cars. There are many things that make Spaceships Rentals’ cars the best small campervan in Australia, and we’re going to go through each component in this article.

Using a car as a campervan has a plethora of benefits. They’re smaller than most campervans, so driving in cities and parking is much easier, especially if you’ve never driven a van before. They’re lighter than other campervans too, which is super useful for traversing Australia’s windy roads and mountainous routes. And they’re much faster than traditional motorhomes, so you can cover Australia’s large distances at the speed limit, and not 2 km/h under it.

As converted cars, Spaceships Australian cars are a lot more fuel efficient than vans, too. And with the cost of fuel nowadays, that’s a huge bonus.

One of our favourite things about hiring a small campervan in Australia is that, because it’s actually a converted car, it is classed as a car through tolls and on ferries, rather than a van or motorhome. This means you can save a lot of dollars on fares and tickets.

Other benefits Spaceships offer include unlimited kilometres, free after-hours pick-up & drop-off service and 24-hour roadside service, as well as free cancellation and flexibility to change and move your booking. They also offer the same price and excess for young drivers, which can be great for under 25s! We used Spaceships when we were 21 and found they were the perfect combination of well-equipped, fun and affordable.

Spaceships Rentals is one of the only campervan companies in Australia with no one-way fees. This means you can pick up and drop off from different places for no extra charge. There are 7 Spaceships Australia depots:

But Spaceships operate in New Zealand, too!

We picked our car up from the Melbourne depot. It was easy enough for us to get the overnight bus from Sydney, and then a train out to North Williamstown, which is 5 minute bus ride (or 30 minute walk on a Sunday) from the office.

Spaceships is our favourite small campervan company in Australia

What do Spaceships Australia offer?

Spaceships Australia offer 4 types of car: Alpha, Beta, Beta 2S and Beta 4-berth. Their fleet has a variety of sizes of campervan so there’s something for every preference and budget. Each car is a converted Toyota Estima and has plenty of room, and is cleverly laid out.

The 4 types of Spaceships camping car are:

Alpha budget campervan – This camper is the cheapest option available, comes in the iconic orange and white design (the other campers feature a more discreet silver design), seats 4 and sleeps 2.
Beta standard campervan – This is the standard model of the Australian campervan fleet. It seats 4, sleeps 2 and can be fitted with a baby/child seat. It also allows USB charging.
Beta 2S premium campervan -This car sleeps and seats 2 people and has no backseat, so there’s more space to move around or to store your luggage.
Beta 4-berth campervan – This is the only camper that can seat and sleep up to 4 people. It features a high-quality European-designed rooftop tent, so is perfect for families and groups.

All campers come fully equipped with living, cooking and sleeping facilities. Inside the car, you’ll find:

a smart 12V battery system
10 litre water tank
15 litre fridge
2-burner gas cooker
bedding (duvet and cover, pillows and cover, bed sheet)
curtains
cooking equipment (pots, pans, kettle)
cutlery (sharp knives, butter knives, forks, spoons, can opener, peeler)
crockery (plates, bowls, cups, chopping board)
rear awning (a tent structure you can open out the boot to make the sleeping area larger and allow ventilation)

The battery for the fridge charges itself as you drive, which is great as you don’t need to hook up to power in the night, like with some campervans. This gives you more freedom to travel, as you’re not restricted to only powered campsites.

You can also purchase extras, such as a table, camping chairs, GPS or SatNav, mosquito net and solar shower. Our car was an automatic, which made driving super easy, and is an advantage if you’ve never driven a manual before. Australia drive on the left, so transmission is one less thing to think about if you’re coming from a country that drives on the right, like the USA, too.

Browse Spaceships’ small campervans here!

Taking our Spaceships Australia camper car on the ferry to Kangaroo Island

Picking up our Spaceships small campervan

The paperwork process is quite quick and super easy. A staff member will go through all the important bits with you and then check the car’s mileage and mark down any existing damage.

As with any car hire, it’s always good to take photos and video of the car before you set off, just so you have a record yourself. And we’d also recommend you always choose full insurance cover. Yes, it means the price is slightly higher, but it works out cheaper in case anything happens or you accidentally damage the car. In the 17 days we had our car, we chipped the windscreen (a little rock kicked up from the road and hit the screen) and used the 24-hour roadside service! We didn’t need to pay anything as we’d chosen the full insurance option. In Australia, if the windscreen is chipped in front of the driver or cracked at all, the whole windscreen will need to be replaced, and it can be quite expensive. If our chip had been worse, the insurance would have covered us getting the screen replaced, too. So the full insurance option is definitely worth it.

This Spaceships Australia rental was actually our first ever car hire, and the staff were really friendly and put us at ease immediately. When we set off, we noticed the suspension was softer than we were used to. A staff member tested it and assured us it was fine, which gave us confidence for the rest of our trip. It was actually a good thing as Australian roads can be very bumpy, and the softer suspension makes driving more comfortable.

The view of the Great Ocean Road from Teddy’s Lookout

Driving our small campervan in Australia

We chose an Alpha Budget Camper, as we were on quite a tight budget. All the campers have quirky names (Skywalker, Road Runner etc.) and we had Laika Virgin.

The layout inside the small campervan is cleverly designed to maximise space, without compromising on camping necessities. The Alpha has two front doors and a middle door that slides open. There are two seats in the front and two in the middle. The middle two seats swivel 180°, going back-to-back with the driver’s seat and giving you much more space. There’s a small table attached to a swivel arm in the middle of the car, which swings outside and can be used to rest the stove when cooking, too. In the front, there’s a cigarette charging port, or USB ports, which is great for keeping all your tech juiced up.

In the back of the car lies a wooden panel, on which the mattress rests to make the bed. A second, thinner panel connects to make the end of the bed in the middle of the car. The mattress folds into 3 for daytime and unfolds to lie flat at night. We were provided with bedding and found it very comfortable and quick to put together. We’re both less than 6ft and found sleeping in the enclosed car fine, but there is an option to open the boot and add an awning, allowing for a longer bed if you’re taller. The rear windows are black-tinted, but the drawstring curtains around the back windows are great at night for extra privacy and keeping light out.

The wooden panel lifts up from the boot, and there’s lots of storage space for luggage underneath, as well as the cooking equipment and utensils provided. There are curtains behind the front seats and around the middle and boot windows, so we could blackout the car at night and have privacy when changing. We found we liked to get up with the sun (about 6:00) and go to bed earlier as we lost the light quite early in Winter. The refrigerator fit quite a bit of food and would stay cold after being turned off, so you didn’t drain the car’s battery by leaving it on when not driving. We found cooking on the gas stove very easy and didn’t find not having a sink a problem – most campsites have washing up facilities or taps, and you can use the large water bottle if you’re off-grid.

You’ve probably noticed there’s no toilet on board, so what do you do if you need to go? Well, actually, Australia is really great for public toilets, and it’s easy to find facilities all over. There are a few apps that you can use to find toilets, too – but more on that later in the article. And if you get caught short, there’s no shame in a little nature-wee…

The cost of renting a small campervan in Australia

Prices vary depending on the season, as the summer is a lot busier than the winter, and therefore prices are higher. If you’re interested in hiring a small campervan in Australia, we’d recommend booking ahead of time to get the best price.

No Spaceships Australia review would be complete without mentioning price. In 2017, our total for 17 days came to $1,199.92 (AUD, which was about £690 and would now be about £650). This included the all-inclusive insurance and deducted a free day since we had a long-term hire. For us, £345 per person, or £20 a day per person, for 17 days transport and accommodation was an absolute steal!

Today, a small budget campervan is about $83 a day (AUD, which is about £45 a day). Of course, we recommend getting insurance on top, as it can save you money in the long run (our daily insurance saved us hundreds of dollars when an acorn fell off a tree and chipped the windscreen).

Of course, this price doesn’t take into account fuel. We probably spent another £500 on petrol as we were quite ambitious and covered a total of 3615km. Obviously, the less ground you cover, the less you’ll spend on fuel.

Pro-tip: Spaceships have a deals page and often run discounts. Sign up to their newsletter or follow their social media channels to keep an eye out for the best deals.

Book your next adventure with Spaceships Rentals!

Spaceships Australia discounts and deals

The best place to find discounts and deals on Spaceships Rentals is on their deals page. They run frequent deals and offers where you can save money on your campervan hire, so it’s worth keeping an eye on their website.

There’s a current Spaceships Australia deal on where you can get 5% off when you book 120 days or more in advance.

Another great way to save money on campervan hire in Australia is to do a relocation. This is where you can get a campervan highly discounted, or even free, if you drive it from one depot to another for the company. To do this, you need to be flexible, and you don’t get much option on how long you get the car for – it could be anywhere between 1 to 3 days, or even a week.

Search discounts on small campervans in Australia here!

Kolin the Koala, our little roadtrip companion

Australia road trip routes in a small campervan

There are so many different places you can go with your Spaceships Australia camper car. And the beauty of having a variety of offices to pick up and drop off from means that you don’t need to worry about getting back to where you started, either.

We visited the Great Ocean Road, Mount Gambier, Coonawarra, Narracoorte and Victor Harbour, before exploring Kangaroo Island and Tasmania. Spaceships’ unlimited mileage policy means you have flexibility to go wherever you want. Just bear in mind, you can’t drive on unsealed roads (which means central Australia might be out).

The view on an Australian road trip with Spaceships

Camping in a car in Australia

There’s a variety of different types of campsite throughout Australia, but there are so many it shouldn’t be difficult to find a place to sleep. Generally, campsites fall into 4 categories: caravan parks, council-owned campgrounds, conservation park campgrounds and rest-stops. The difference between these is the number of amenities and facilities you are going to find on site and the price. They range from fully kitted-out sites, with toilets, showers, electricity, café, shop and kitchen, to nothing but a 5×5 metre patch of earth for your vehicle.

Camping in Australia with Spaceships Rentals

Returning our Spaceships Australia campervan

This is the saddest part of any trip, but saying goodbye to our car was made slightly easier by the fact the process was super easy. Returning the camping car is contactless and can be done at any time of day. You just need to check you’ve topped up the fuel, cleaned the car inside and out (hoovers and cleaning equipment can be found at gas stations and are much cheaper than going through a car wash). Check you’ve not left anything behind in the fridge or storage spaces, then simply park up at the depot, lock the car and post the keys in the drop box. You’ll get an email to confirm receipt of your drop off later on that day, or the next day, depending on the time you return your small campervan.

The view from our campsite in Freycinet National Park

Useful resources for road tripping in a small campervan in Australia

Before you go, you absolutely must download the WikiCamps app. This app shows you all the campsites in Australia and includes useful information like price and facilities. You can filter to find free campsites, and it also lists all the public toilets available, which is pretty vital when camping.

Spaceships also have their own app, and it’s free! It covers Australia and New Zealand and shows the locations of the Spaceships depots, as well as free and low-cost campgrounds, special deals near you, sightseeing info, petrol stations, WIFI hotspots and more!

Camping in Australia with a small Spaceships campervan

Things to know before you hire a small campervan in Australia

There are some things that full insurance doesn’t cover. Driving after dark or on unsealed roads was not included o]in our hire. As we were there in Winter, the sun would set at about 16:00, meaning we had to plan our routes to maximise daylight. We’ve heard all-inclusive insurance also doesn’t include a replacement car if your accident is so bad that the car is undrivable, too.

Normal return rules apply: You need to leave the car clean, and with the same amount of petrol it came with. Gas stations have car washes, buckets with soapy water and hoovers, which is a cheaper DIY option. These can also be searched for on the apps.

If you’re travelling in Winter, some parts of Australia can still get COLD. In Tasmania, it went to -5°C outside at night. We would lay our clothes out for the next morning on the seats and dress under the covers when we awoke before blasting the heating (which thankfully was really quick to heat up).

Lots of campsites have laundry facilities, and most towns and cities have laundromats, so washing our clothes wasn’t an issue. We would lay our clothes over the car to dry, but if you get nice weather, a travel clothes line (UK / US) could be a good idea.

Roads and driving

Take care when driving at all times and particularly at dawn and dusk, as this is when animals are most active. If you can, avoid driving at night. Be aware that the condition of gravel and dirt roads is unpredictable, so drive slowly. You must be fully off the road before you stop to take photos, and remember to drive on the left in Australia!

Use of drones

The use of drones in Australian National Parks is strictly prohibited to protect the wildlife within.

Drinking water

Generally, rainwater is safe to drink. If the rainwater is clear, has little taste or smell and is from a well-maintained system, it is unlikely to cause illness for most users. If concerned, distilling the water before consumption can be achieved by bringing the rainwater to the boil.