LA to Cairns by campervan: a two-leg trip for East Coast families

If you’re flying from Boston or anywhere on the East Coast to Australia, your route almost certainly connects through a West Coast gateway like LAX. And Far North Queensland’s cooler, drier months (June to August) line up with US summer break.

So instead of treating LA as a layover, give it a few days in a campervan, then pick up a second van in Cairns once you land. You learn van life on familiar roads first, then use those habits on the other side of the Pacific, where everyone drives on the left.

Leg one: a few days in a campervan out of Los Angeles

If you’re routing through LAX on the way to Australia anyway, Travellers Autobarn rents campervans and RVs from its Los Angeles depot on West Florence Avenue in Inglewood, a short Uber or Lyft ride from the airport and close to the I-405 and I-105. Sleep near the airport after the flight from Boston and collect the van the next morning.

Check the calendar before you book flights. Pick-ups run Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm, and the depot is closed on Sundays, so plan your arrival day around that. A late Saturday landing means a Monday pick-up, and that’s a beach day gone.

From June to August, the coast is the easier first leg. Big Sur and the drive up to San Francisco stay mild, while Joshua Tree and Las Vegas get very hot (save those for a spring trip). Head north through Santa Barbara, then join Highway 1 for the Big Sur stretch. Look at Caltrans road conditions the day before, because landslides close sections of that road from time to time. You can return the van in San Francisco if your Australia flight leaves from there, which saves backtracking down the coast.

Every rental includes unlimited miles, and there’s no young driver fee for renters from age 21 (useful if a college-age kid wants a turn at the wheel). Families of four or five can look at the Hi5, which has two double beds. Remember that name. It’s also a layout you’ll see again in Cairns.

Book campsites before anything else. California state park campgrounds go through ReserveCalifornia, and the popular coastal ones fill well ahead for summer weekends. Lock in your Big Sur nights first and build the rest of the route around them, with private RV parks as the backup.

Then use these few days to practice the things that are harder to learn jet-lagged in a new country:

• Packing the van so the beds convert without unloading every bag
• How much fresh water your family really uses in a day
• Backing into a campsite with a spotter (kids tend to love this job)
• How many hours of driving your crew handles before the back seat starts squabbling

How the two legs compare

The seasons flip. Your California days are summer, and your Cairns days are the Queensland dry season, which means warm, dry afternoons and cooler nights, especially up on the Atherton Tablelands. Shorts work in both places. Pack a fleece too, for Big Sur fog and Tablelands evenings.

Driving is where the second leg gets harder. In Australia you drive on the left from the right-hand seat, and roundabouts run clockwise. Expect to hit the windshield wipers when you mean to signal at least once in the first hour (the stalks are usually swapped). Speeds are in kilometers per hour, and gas is called petrol at the pump. Bring your US license and read the rental terms on whether you also need an International Driving Permit.

Car seats trip up a lot of American families. Australian law requires child restraints that meet the Australian standard, so the seats you used in California can’t come along for the Queensland leg. Rent local ones or buy them in Cairns, and ask which van layouts can fit them before you book.

Camping works differently too. On the California leg you’re mostly in state parks and RV parks with hookups. In Queensland you’ll lean on holiday parks with shared bathrooms, plus national park campsites that need a permit booked online in advance.

One practical note for planning: the same company rents vans in both countries, and several layouts carry the same names on both sides (Kuga, Hi5, Hitop, Chubby). A family that got comfortable in one setup in California can book the familiar layout for Queensland and skip learning a new floor plan while jet-lagged.

Leg two: picking up a campervan in Cairns

Once you’ve connected through to Far North Queensland (usually via Brisbane or Sydney), Travellers Autobarn rents campervans from its Cairns branch in Aeroglen, about nine minutes from Cairns Airport and ten from the city center. You can land, rest up, collect the van and be in the rainforest within a couple of days.

Give yourselves that rest. The long-haul flight from LAX is around 14 hours before the domestic hop north, and the first drive on the left is not the time to be running on airplane sleep.

June to August is the cooler, less humid stretch in Cairns, which is why it pairs so well with a US summer break. Late September to December is the busiest and priciest time to start a trip there, so families on a school calendar have timing on their side.

You don’t need many miles for a good loop from the depot. Barron Gorge National Park is about 40 minutes away, and the road keeps climbing to Kuranda and the Tablelands. Further north the Daintree is where the rainforest meets the reef, with walking trails out of the Mossman Gorge Visitor Centre. Port Douglas is on the way and is the usual base for reef boat trips. Past Mossman, a cable ferry takes the van across the Daintree River toward Cape Tribulation.

None of the Cairns vans have toilets, so plan your nights around campgrounds (renters get 10% off at Discovery and G’Day parks). And take the local rule seriously: don’t drive between sunset and sunrise, because kangaroos, wallabies, cassowaries and other wildlife are active at night. Winter sunsets in Cairns come around 6pm, so keep driving days short and aim to be parked by late afternoon.

Water rules are different here too. Saltwater crocodiles live in the rivers and estuaries of Far North Queensland, so obey the warning signs and swim only at patrolled beaches or pools.

Final checks

• Match your LAX arrival to the depot’s Monday to Saturday hours.
• Book the Big Sur campsites and the Queensland national park permits before the flights get locked in.
• Sort out Australian-standard car seats for the Cairns leg, and confirm the van can fit them.
• Leave at least one night between landing in Cairns and the first drive on the left.