Nobody buys a caravan dreaming about laundry. But spend more than a week on the road, especially with kids — and wash day becomes as regular as fuel stops. Sandy swimmers, damp towels, that shirt someone wore for one hour before dropping a sausage on it.
The good news: caravan laundry doesn't have to be a chore you dread. After three kids and a lot of laps between caravan parks, we've worked out a system that gets washing done fast and gets us back to the good stuff. Here's everything we've learned.
1. Ditch the washing basket
The classic caravan park scene: someone shuffling up the hill to the camp laundry, basket balanced on a hip, dropping socks the whole way, opening the laundry door with a knee.
A washing basket makes sense at home, where the laundry is ten steps away. At a caravan park, where it might be 200 metres and up a slope, you want your hands free — for kids, keys, coffee, or all three.
That's exactly why we made Harry, our hands-free caravan laundry bag. Backpack straps on, dirties in, off you go. He's $69.95 at the moment (down from $89.95), Aussie-designed, and holds about five days of family washing.
2. Keep a coin stash (seriously)
Half the caravan park washing machines in Australia still take coins — usually $4–$5 in gold coins per load, and the office is never open when you need change. Keep a dedicated coin pouch in your van (Corey is really good for this) and top it up whenever you break a note.
(Harry has a hidden coin pocket built in for exactly this reason. You're welcome.)
3. Separate wet from dry, always
The fastest way to make your whole van smell like a wet dog is tossing damp towels and swimmers in with the dry dirties. Keep a separate wet bag — or use a laundry bag with a water- and odour-resistant lining so the damp stuff can't seep into everything else. ( Harry does this)
4. Don't bring your whole laundry cupboard
You don't need the 2-litre bottle of detergent. Laundry detergent sheets or pods take a tenth of the space and can't leak down the back of a cupboard on the Oodnadatta Track. Fill the peg bag inside of Harry at home, a travel line, and detergent sheets covers 95% of trips.
Harry has an internal detergent pocket and a detachable peg bag that clips to the inside wall — so the pegs are always where the washing is, not lost in a drawer somewhere.
5. Time your wash days around travel days
Wash the morning you leave, not the night before. Machines are free early, and anything that doesn't quite dry can finish on a travel line or over the seats while you drive. Rock up at 4pm on a Saturday in school holidays and you'll queue behind every other family with the same idea.
6. A travel clothesline beats the park line
Park clotheslines are shared, shaded at the wrong time of day, and occasionally home to someone else's washing for three days straight. A $10–$15 retractable travel line or a couple of stretchy pegless lines rigged off the awning dry small loads faster and keep your washing where you can see it.
7. The sniff-test hierarchy
Long-trip rule: clothes have three states, not two. Clean, worn-but-fine, and properly dirty. Jumpers, jeans and kids' pyjamas can usually do several rounds before they need a wash. Cutting your wash volume in half is the single biggest laundry hack there is — fewer loads, fewer coins, more time at the beach.
8. Double up your gear
The best caravan gear earns its space by doing two jobs. A good laundry bag isn't just for washing — use it as a beach bag, a shopping carry-all for the big resupply run, or a wet-gear bag after a day of tubing. Harry's abrasion-resistant base means he can be dumped on wet concrete, sand, or the laundry floor without wearing through.
9. Make it a kid job
If your kids are old enough to walk, they're old enough to carry washing. A backpack-style laundry bag is genuinely kid-carryable in a way a basket never is — and there's something about wearing the bag that makes small kids fight over whose turn it is. Take the win.
The bottom line
Caravan laundry comes down to three things: carry it easily, keep wet away from dry, and have your coins and pegs where you need them. Sort those and wash day stops being a job you dread.
If you want the shortcut, Harry the caravan laundry bag was designed around every problem on this list — hands-free straps, odour-resistant lining, coin pocket, peg bag, detergent pocket. He's got a 5-star rating from 34 reviews, and he ships from Australia within 48 hours.
Want to sort the rest of the van while you're at it? Read our guide to 12 caravan storage solutions that don't need drilling, or grab the Caravan Storage Starter Bundle — Rod for the cupboards, Corey for the cords, and Harry for the laundry.
Frequently asked questions
How do you do laundry while caravanning?
Most Australian caravan parks have coin-operated machines ($4–$5 per load). Carry a small stash of gold coins, use detergent sheets or pods rather than bottles, and take a hands-free laundry bag so the walk to the camp laundry is easy. For off-grid trips, a collapsible wash bucket and a travel line cover the basics between parks.
What's the best laundry bag for a caravan?
Look for four things: backpack-style straps so your hands stay free, a water- and odour-resistant lining for damp towels and swimmers, a tough base that handles concrete and gravel, and enough capacity for several days of washing. Our Harry bag ticks all four and adds a coin pocket, peg bag and detergent pocket — but whatever you choose, straps beat handles every time.
How do you stop wet clothes smelling in a caravan?
Never store damp items with dry dirties. Use a lined, odour-resistant bag, dry swimmers and towels the same day where possible, and air the bag out between loads. A few drops of eucalyptus oil in the bag between washes helps too.
How much washing should you take on a caravan trip?
Less than you think. Plan around a wash every 4–5 days rather than packing for the whole trip. Most experienced caravaners pack about a week of clothes per person regardless of trip length — the camp laundry does the rest.
Do caravan park washing machines take cards?
Increasingly yes — many parks now use app- or card-operated machines — but plenty of regional parks are still coins-only. Carry $10–$15 in gold coins so you're never caught out.
