RV REVIEW

SHORTER, LIGHTER OVERLAND!

Question: what do you do when you come from a country that caps the combined weight of the tow vehicle and the caravan at 6000kg, but you still want to live in the lap of luxury?

One option is to use a custom builder such as Australis Caravans. This company, which is based in Craigieburn, Vic, has a New Zealand dealership( Australis New Zealand) for its growing customer base across the Ditch. But did you know that New Zealand caps the combined loaded weight of both tow vehicle and trailer at 6000kg?

Australis has been building its flagship couple’ s van, the Overland, for a few years, but only in 20ft and 21ft sizes. It is available with or without a slideout. Slide-out variants are given the XT moniker.

Late last year, some NZ customers who liked the Overland had a special request. They needed a slightly lighter version in order to meet their country’ s weight requirements while still having a credible payload capacity. Australis went to work. The result: this 19ft Overland XT, a couple hundred kilos lighter than the 20ft version and ready to explore the Land of the Long White Cloud.

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