Fairly new to Australia and I was wondering the following;

I live in Sydney. Would like to go to WA regularly to windsurf Margaret, Coronation etc. Would it make sense to buy a car in NSW, load some of my windsurfgear in, drive it to WA and leave it there in a storage or similar not too far from Perth airport?

Then to fly in from Sydney, take an uber to where the car is stored, go windsurfing in WA for a week at a time?

is this a thing, do people do this? Anything that doesnt work (or make sense) in this scheme? Can this also be done with a small group (2 or 3) of windsurfers?

Better off buying a WA registered car. ..... much less licensing hassle

As to finding storage - that could be the hard part.

You'd need to make sure the car was stored under cover if it's stored over summer else the boards will be cooked by the time you goto use them

yeah good point regarding cooking the boards.

having the license on WA is difficult if you live in NSW, I think.
I checked online and it seems that i can have the yearly safety check (blue slip?) for NSW rego done in Perth every year.

there must be caravan/campervan storages or similar in Perth I reckon?

You can dispatch it by train so it arrives when you arrive.

You can have wa registration with while living in NSW with NSW license. You need a wa mailing address I think but you don't have be to wa resident. It's definitely an option, I did it last year. Just search a little harder. Wa only need to inspect vehicle initially, as long as you keep it registered.

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Brampk8 said..
yeah good point regarding cooking the boards.

having the license on WA is difficult if you live in NSW, I think.
I checked online and it seems that i can have the yearly safety check (blue slip?) for NSW rego done in Perth every year.

there must be caravan/campervan storages or similar in Perth I reckon?

Yes, the RMS had something on their website showing garages that would do the annual safety check/pink-slip each year. It's still a hassle though.

There are caravan storage places all over the place. I am not sure that they are that cheap and generally most are in the open, i.e. not undercover.

If you did want to buy a car just for this reason, you would save yourself some drama by buying a local WA car, just to avoid the annual registration hassle. If you do nominate a WA mailing address and have DoT online access, you can renew your registration online whenever you need.

I am pretty sure that you don't need a WA license either to have a WA registered car and DoT online access.

edit: I am not sure that this is a great idea, but here airport long-term parking generally caps at $99 for up to 99 days. It's all open car parking, but easy to get to with shuttles. You can book for the maximum period, and just take the car out before that time, but you then have to make a booking for the next time you park. If you had a secure car/van and you were not worried about it being in the open, that might work for you.

Isn't one of you Perth crew willing to help the OP out? Spare garage or carport to hire?

We pay $66 a month to store our caravan in a Northern suburb. They have a few hundred there.
it's outdoor and he does have cars etc... there as well. Assume a car would be cheaper.

thanks for all the replies! I checked the WA transport site again and indeed it seems that it s possible to have a car on NSW license as long as the car is garaged in WA. It s not super clear though.

66 per month sounds very doable.

anyone from NSW interested in doing something like this together and reduce the cost? I'd prob be looking for a 15-20 year old, white panelvan hiace with not too crazy #km's and in good mechanical nick.

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Mr Milk said..
Isn't one of you Perth crew willing to help the OP out? Spare garage or carport to hire?

If you have a garage or carport here you are probably putting your own car in it. Lots more people seem to park their cars outside than I noticed in NSW, and I don't know what it is, but the weather here is harsh on cars. I have one that I had for 7 years in NSW and the paint was fine. 12 months here and it was all washed out and faded.

Even my white van is suffering from the weather.

Plus, not many people in watersports would live that close to the airport to be useful.

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FormulaNova said..

Mr Milk said..
Isn't one of you Perth crew willing to help the OP out? Spare garage or carport to hire?

If you have a garage or carport here you are probably putting your own car in it. Lots more people seem to park their cars outside than I noticed in NSW, and I don't know what it is, but the weather here is harsh on car.

My garage is full of windsurfing gear and other stuff. Car has to go outside.

And that 66 a month place is north of Wanneroo. A long way from the airport.

What about just storing the gear locally. Then use a hire car.

Just a thought. Ring around Jandakot airport and see if anyone has hanger space for you to store your car. High hanger roofs would be great for stopping the boards from getting too much heat.
Never been to that airport but have seen cars stored in other GA airport hangers.
Good luck with your plan.

An idea: Hire/buy a tricon (smaller than a shipping container) in NSW, then ship to where you are sailing. Then fly/hire car it to that spot. At the end of your visit, get the tricon lifted back home. Maybe less hassle jumping through the loops of WA vehicle charades and storage ?. The only issue with storage containers alone in whoop whoop is a pair of bolt cutters.

If you're staying for a month or more, you might find it's easier to drive over. If you've got a reasonably efficient car (diesel even better) the fuel costs are often not that much more than a plane flight (as are the carbon emissions if you're worried about that.) Catch is it takes a good 5 days coast to coast, however the bonus is that you'll get to windsurf all those great SA spots around the Eyre Peninsula.

This caravan park adventparkperth.com.au/ is about 10k from airport and stores vans & cars out in the open, but they do have sheds that might be available. I used them a few years ago to store our van while OS, nice to deal with and cheap at the time.

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lemon said..
If you're staying for a month or more, you might find it's easier to drive over. If you've got a reasonably efficient car (diesel even better) the fuel costs are often not that much more than a plane flight (as are the carbon emissions if you're worried about that.) Catch is it takes a good 5 days coast to coast, however the bonus is that you'll get to windsurf all those great SA spots around the Eyre Peninsula.

I thought it the case that he wants regular short trips, thus the question

thanks to all for the replies!
I ll give the caravanpark a call and ask them.

indeed, the idea was to have a car based in WA that would allow me to make short trips of, let s say, a week without the hassle of having to rent a car and bring my gear.

1. Google perth long tern car storage (link below)

2. make friends with a few Gero locals and give them $100/mth to store

3. gumtree to find someone with garage and give them $100/mth to store .. need to assess risk like above option 2

www.google.com/search?q=perth+long+term+car+storage&oq=perth+long+term+car+storage

It is a PIA flying with gear , seems to be getting harder to do all the time ..or I'm just getting older and weaker :)!

That stare you get from land lubbers as you drag your two body bags around is priceless , I always tell them its my great Aunt Edna in the rig bag, taking her home to bury as freight costs for bodies is OTT!:)

Even more fun getting the gear on/off airport parking shuttle busses!

Hiring used be a thing back in the day..with a few good options in town with quality gear,
A decent hire/rent business with decent gear would a good little side hustle for a Gero Local.:)

Find some unlimited street parking under a big shady tree, and stick a good car cover over it

It'd work here in Melbourne. Have vehicles in my area which haven't moved since last year with all sorts of stuff in the back of em.

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JonesySail said..
Hiring used be a thing back in the day..with a few good options in town with quality gear,
A decent hire/rent business with decent gear would a good little side hustle for a Gero Local.:)

People have a looked at this. The problem is the short season, limited number of people seeking to rent and the question of what to do with the gear at the end of the season.

From what I hear the companies that used to hire out gear stopped because it wasn't viable.