If you’re planning any caravanning, camping and road trips in Australia, then downloading the WikiCamps App onto your smartphone is a ‘must.’ WikiCamps is without a doubt the most popular camping app in Australia and for good reason.
WikiCamps is a complete mapped out catalogue of almost every camp in the country. Plus, the app also gives you direct information (and addresses) for all the other resources that you’ll need access to as you’re travelling. Some of the resources included are Campgrounds, Information Centres, Dump Points, Potable Water Taps, Points of Interest, Rest Stops and more.
In this article on how to use WikiCamps, I’m going to take you through getting yourself set up with the App and how to use it to it’s maximum potential. By the time you’ve finished you will be armed with all of the essential skills for sourcing out your camping needs while road tripping in Australia.
Here’s the full guide on how to use WikiCamps Australia for sourcing out all of your camping and road tripping needs.
This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see our disclosures here.
WikiCamps Australia Explained
What is WikiCamps?
WikiCamps is the largest database in Australia for campgrounds, caravan parks, backpacker hostels, points of interest, dump points, visitor information centres, water taps, amenities and more.
I mean sure, there are a whole range of camping books on the market, but there are a few problems with camps books. They’re bulky, they can’t possibly hold as much information as this simple smartphone App and they’re often outdated by the time you get around to using them.
WikiCamps User Generated Content
Much of the information in the WikiCamps App is crowdsourced, meaning that the campgrounds, photos, points of interest and prices etc. are all continuously updated, added and modified by the platform users. The benefit of crowdsourcing information is that the details are generally the most up-to-date, as there are many feet on the ground adding to and editing the information.
REVIEWS
Within the information provided for each site you’ll find a ‘Reviews’ section, where App users can leave a comment about their experience of that site. People often report any pros or cons they found, current information on how the site looked or if the pricing has changed. This is where you can get a good idea of the condition of the amenities, grounds, staffing, value for money etc.
Remember to take the comments with a grain of salt. There are negative complainers in every forum, but that doesn’t always make their information valid. If you want to know if the toilets are stinky, if the entry track is too boggy for a 2WD vehicle or if the Managers were less than accommodating… trawl through the comments.
As you’re reading the reviews, it’s a good idea to take the opinion of the majority as a simple guide. Quite often you need to go in and check it out for yourself to get your own perspective.
FEES
In the ‘Fees’ section people can share how much the pricing or cost of their stay was during their visit. Pricing is something that can often change without any notice, so this feature in the App is super handy on the road when you need the real-time information.
Campsite pricing can vary hugely, depending on whether people have stayed on a powered or unpowered site, if they had children or pets with them and if they nabbed a discounted ‘deal’ price.
PHOTOS
Any user of WikiCamps is able to upload photos they’ve taken of any given site. Although some photos can be less than useful, having a scroll through the photos of a campsite before you arrive can really help to determine whether it may be suitable for you or not.
Many times we looked through the photos and could see that the campground was too pokey for our long set-up. Or that it just didn’t appeal to us, so we’d scroll further up the road on the map and see what the next one looked like.
Again, you can’t always take the image of a site at face value. Just as often, we’ve arrived at a camp and it was way better than what the pics gave it credit for!
What are the WikiCamps Symbols?
The WikiCamps App uses over 80 symbols to give you a simple and quick visual as to what each site contains. The symbols, which you can filter in or out, help you to easily find what you’re looking for. An example is if you’re travelling with pets and need to filter out any non-pet friendly sites.
Site Types
WikiCamps offers a range of different site types to cater to most road tripping and camping needs. If you’re only looking for Campgrounds and Caravan Parks, you can easily scan for these symbols, plus filter out the types that you don’t need.
| WikiCamps Site Types |
|---|
| • Campgrounds • Caravan Parks • Backpacker Hostels • Day Use Areas • Points of Interest • Information Centres • Public Dump Points • Water Facilities |
Site Features
Once you’ve found the Site Type that you’re looking for, you can click on it and it will open up all of the Site Features that can be found at that site. The more you use the App, the quicker you’ll become familiar with the site features symbols, which are pretty self-explanatory.
There are over 80 Site Features on WikiCamps. Below is a summary of the types of things that are covered.
| SITE FEATURE EXAMPLES |
|---|
| 💲 Free/ Donation/ Cost 🐶 Pet Friendly 🚻 Amenities 💧 Drinking Water ⚡️ Power 🚮 Rubbish Bins 🔥 BBQs/ Fire Pits ⬇️ Dump Point ♿️ Wheelchair Access 👕 Laundry ⛺️ Tent/ Motorbike/ Camper/ Caravan/ RV/ Big Rig Accessible 🚙 Off Road/ 4WD Access only 🎫 Specific Holiday Park Memberships 🌲 Natural Activities/ Attractions 🐊 Crocodiles 🏔 Seasonal Closures 📶 Reception/ WiFi availability ⛽️ Gas/ Fuel availability 🔟 Stay Limits |
How Much Does WikiCamps Cost?
WikiCamps Australia currently costs $7.99 and let me tell you, it’s worth every penny! Start with the Free Trial and have a play around with it for yourself.
You can use the App across multiple devices of the same type. So, if you purchase the App on an Apple device, you can use it on another other Apple device. The same goes for buying WikiCamps on an Android and being able to access your App and account on other Android devices.
If you need to access the App on an Android and an Apple, unfortunately, you’ll have to make the purchase twice.
▶️ VIDEO Tutorial: ‘How to Use WikiCamps Australia’
If you’re more of a visual learner, press play on the video below. In just a couple of minutes you’ll be taken step-by-step through how to use the WikiCamps app.
Just hit ‘pause’ at each step so that you can go and have a play around with your own app.
How to Install WikiCamps
To install WikiCamps, go to Google Play or the App Store on the device you want to be using WikiCamps on and ‘Install.’ I recommend having it on your phone as that is the number one device you’ll be pulling out to use when you’re on the road.
You will have a 14-day FREE trial, then have the option to upgrade to the full version for $7.99, which is a one-time payment for life – no subscriptions.
How to Install WikiCamps on Multiples Devices
You can absolutely install WikiCamps across multiple devices. How it works is by one purchase per platform.
Basically, if you purchased WikiCamps on Android, then you can use that App on any Android device using the same Google account. The same goes for iOS and Windows.
However, if you purchased the App on iOS and want to be able to use it on a Windows device as well, you’ll need to make another purchase through Windows for that device.
The reason behind having to purchase separately for each platform is because they are all run by different companies (Apple, Google, Microsoft).
To Use WikiCamps on Multiple Devices
- Your iOS devices must be using the same Apple ID
- Your Android devices must be using the same Google account
- Your Windows devices must be using the same Microsoft account
Note: WikiCamps is available on iOS, Android and Windows 10 devices and PC’s. It is not available on Mac Laptops.
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How to Use WikiCamps Filters
Once you’ve installed WikiCamps, you’ll need to go and set your ‘Filters.’ These are the little symbols and icons which represent the resources and sites that you are looking for.
Doing this from the beginning will effectively filter out any sites that are of no interest to you, so you only need to keep the ones that you need. It makes for a much less cluttered screen so you can easily zone in on what you’re looking for.
Remember that you can change these filters any time you like and play around with them on the go to get your desired search result.
Example, if you’re just looking for drinking water taps, you can go and turn all other filters off and just have ‘Drinking Water’ turned on.
How to Set Your Filters
STEP 1 – Push ‘Filter’
Push the ‘Filter’ button at the top of your map, which will take you into the Filters section.
STEP 2 – Set ‘Site Types’
Make sure ‘Favourites’ is set to Currently showing all sites. (More on Favourites a bit further down)
Then scroll down to ‘Site Types.’ Here you can Hide any site types that you definitely do not need to see (e.g. ‘Backpacker Hostels’). Make sure you Show all site types that you may be looking for along the way, that way they will always show up on the map for you.
STEP 3 – Set ‘Site Features’
Next, scroll down to ‘Site Features.’ This is where you can hide or include sites that have very specific features.
When you select Hide next to a feature, be aware that WikiCamps will not show any sites with that feature. For example, if you Hide Cost, then any site with a fee/ price/ cost attached to it will not show up.
When you select With next to a feature, then the App will only show sites that include that feature. In this case, if you select With Showers, then only sites with showers will show up for you, excluding all other sites.
- HIDE – will not show any sites with that feature,
- WITH – will only show sites that include that feature.
Don’t forget to hit Show More at the bottom, which will take you through the 80+ Site Features.
Name Filter
Once you’ve finished selecting your Site Features, scroll a little further down your screen to the Name Filter. Here you’ll find a search box, which you can use if you’re in search of a specific type of filter.
For example, you could type in ‘walking tracks’ if you’re looking for somewhere to go for a walk.
Remember that what it shows will include all of the other Filters that you’ve already pre-set. So, if nothing shows up for ‘walking tracks,’ when you hit Apply, it may be because you’ve got ‘Cost’ or ‘Showers’ turned on. In that case, go and turn off the irrelevant filters and try again.
Direction & Distance Filter
Using the Distance Filter you can set a kilometre range of anywhere from 1 km – 500 km from either your current location or where you’ve dropped a pin. This is particularly helpful if you have a maximum distance you want to travel.
If you don’t want a specific kilometre range, scroll that circle right over to the left and leave it in the N/A position.
You’ll also notice a Pie Chart Compass with all of the directional points. This Direction Filter is handy if you’re travelling along a certain route and only want camps in that direction to show up. Just tap each piece of the chart that you want turned on or off. Sites in the red sections won’t show up on your map, while sites in the green will show up.
State Filter
The final filter is for States, which is pretty self-explanatory. If you want to eliminate sites from certain States of Australia on your map, slide the filter bar next to that State to Hide.
Once you’ve set all of your filters, hit Apply at the bottom of the page. You will be taken back to the map, which will now be showing all of those Sites and Features that you’ve selected.
How to Use the WikiCamps Map
To move around on the WikiCamps Map, you use one finger to drag it around and pinch two fingers in or out to zoom in and out on the map. I’ll go through here what each of the map functions are and how to use them.
Search Bar
At the top of the map there is a Search function. This is where you can search for a specific camp, town or city.
As you start typing your camp/ location into the search bar, it will pop up with relevant sites. All of the names below the green bar are sites, while all of the options below the blue bar are cities and towns that have been picked up with your query.
- Under the GREEN bar – Sites,
- Under the BLUE bar – Cities & Towns.
Note: spelling must be correct or it won’t find what you’re looking for.
Click on whichever site or town that you’re after, then the App will take you to that place on the map. From here you can move the map around, plus zoom in and out to see what’s available, based on the filters you’ve set.
Search List
On the top left-hand corner of the map is the Search List function. If you click on those three little lines, it will open up a full list of sites near to where you’ve got a pin dropped.
It will list all sites within the kilometre range that you have selected in your Distance Filter.
If you click the drop down arrow in the top right-hand corner, you can change how that list is sorted.
Search List Sorting Options
- Closest to You
- Closest to Pin
- Alphabetically
- By Star Rating
Options
Clicking on the ‘overlay’ icon in the top right hand corner of your map screen will bring up the Map Options.
Here you can select to view your map in ‘Normal,’ ‘Satellite’ or ‘Offline’ mode.
You can select to have the trip route visible or note, plus choose your format for the Measurement Units and GPS.
Recenter
If you find yourself somewhere else on the WikiCamps Map, but you need to bring the view back to your current location, just hit the ‘Recenter’ button (indicated in the image below). It will immediately pull your view back to where you actually are on the map in that moment.
Sorting Pin
To access the Sorting Pin menu, just tap your finger on the pin icon. From there you can show a pin on the map, drop a new pin or remove the existing pin.
This function is good if you want to base yourself in a certain town or area. You can set your Distance Filter to say 50km, then you’ll be able to see all of the different sites that are available within that 50km range. It can really make planning a base camp and finding nearby resources much easier for each particular area.
Exploring Sites on WikiCamps
Accessing the full information for each site is easy. Just click on the little icon on the map, which corresponds to the site you’re interested in. An information box will pop up at the bottom of your screen (pictured below).
This info box gives a ‘quick view’ of the site, but for more a much more in-depth look, click anywhere on that box to go into the full information for the site.
As you scroll down your screen you will see a whole host of information for that site to give you a really clear idea of what’s there and a good guide on what you can expect.
Site Information
- Address
- Phone Number
- Website/ Bookings
- Description
- Features & Facilities
- Star Ratings
- Location with map coordinates
- Ability to get directions to the site
- Weather Forecast for the area
- Buttons to edit/ report the listing
- See the history of all the site’s changes over time
To access the crowd sourced information on what you can probably expect at the site, click through the Reviews, Fees and Photos tabs across the top of your screen.
Site Reviews
Any WikiCamps user can add a review about a site they’ve visited. You’ll see the date that the review was published and who wrote the comment. Other platform users can give that review a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down,’ which is a good way to tell if others believe that review to be valid or not.
You can garner A LOT of information through the reviews section. From up-to-date pricing, staffing issues/ compliments, environmental factors, personal experience and more, it’s all there.
I highly recommend having a look through the reviews when you’re planning to visit a new site, but do take them with a grain of salt. Generally, majority rules in this case.
Site Fees
The Site Fees section contains the most up-to-date fees that people have paid for a site or attraction. Again, check the date they visited (plus how many people that included) and you’ll have a fairly good idea on what you can expect to pay.
Remember, pricing is a guide only and can’t be used as a quote.
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Site Photos
Site photos are a brilliant resource! We’ve used them countless times to get an idea as to whether our set-up would even be appropriate for the site or not.
Being able to see fairly recent photos of a site is also a great way to see how the site is currently looking. Is it a dustbowl from the drought or is the grass beautiful and green from recent rain? Maybe the entry track is super boggy or the sites are really pokey and only suitable for smaller campers and tents.
Most people who use WikiCamps are not professional photographers (as you’ll notice), so you may have to trawl through a few to get a good gauge on what the site looks like. Not all of the photos will be useful, but most of them are certainly helpful.
How to Use WikiCamps Trip Planner
WikiCamps has a fantastic function called the Trip Planner. Using the Trip Planner you’re able to plan a whole route with all of the camps and stops along the way. You can also use this feature to record a trip by adding in each site as you go.
To get to the Trip Planner, touch the orange ‘Home’ button in the top right hand corner of your screen.
This will take you to the home settings screen. Then click on ‘Trip Planner’ and ‘Create Trip.’
Once you’ve created a new trip, you’ll be taken to a page where you can insert your trip information.
You can give the trip a name and estimate your vehicle’s fuel consumption for the trip. Enter the average kilometres per litre that your vehicle uses, then insert the average current fuel cost per litre. As you plan your trip, the app will calculate your fuel usage and cost based on the average figures.
If you’re interested in logging your fuel consumption and costs as you travel, download Fuel Map Australia (another App by WikiCamps). It’s brilliant and used by many travellers in Australia.
Remember, the fuel usage calculator is merely a guide. The cost of fuel will vary in every town as you travel, plus your average kilometres per litre fluctuates all the time as you’re driving.
Once you’ve set the Trip Planner information, hit ‘Done.’ You will be taken to the map of Australia. From here, you need to exit the planner and use the normal Map function.
Start exploring and looking for sites that you want to add to your trip. Once you find a site to add, tap on the site, then click ‘Add to Planner.’
An information box will pop up where you can change the name of the site (optional), you can select how it routes on the trip planner, plus you can add a date and some notes, if you want to.
Once you hit ‘Done,’ it’ll ask you where to insert that site on the Trip Planner. If you’re not sure where you want it, just push ‘Use Smart Insert,’ where the App puts it in the place that makes the most sense. Don’t stress about where it goes, you can always drag the places around and reorganise.
Once you’ve inserted your site, you’ll be taken to the Trip Planner page. In here you can view and edit the trip information, you’ve got a few options next to ‘My Trip’ that you can play with, plus you can drag the sites around to reorder them.
You’ll also notice a Trip Progress Bar, which you can drag down as you complete each leg of your trip.
You can click the ‘Add’ button to add more places (if you know the address), notes and headers.
If you push the ‘Back Arrow’ in the top left-hand corner of the Trip Planner screen, you’ll be taken to your Trip Planner map. This is where you can have the map view and route of all the sites you’ve set for the trip.
You can go in and out of the Trip Planner as much as you like, editing, adding and omitting as your planning progresses.
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More WikiCamps Features
There are a range of extra features in WikiCamps that you’ll discover as you play around and explore the App. The Chat Forum can be useful and the Checklist is great to get your gear and set-up organised for a trip. The Satellite Dish Pointer and Compass are handy for setting up your campsite when you arrive.
Favourites
As you’re exploring different sites on WikiCamps, you can tap the ❤️ heart symbol to add the ones that you like and want to remember, to your ‘Favourites’ list.
In the ‘Filters’ section, you can turn ‘on’ or ‘off’ Favourites. By clicking the button, you’ll have the ability to see only your Favourited sites on your map, or you can switch it off and see all sites on the map.
Compass & Satellite Dish Pointer
WikiCamps Australia also offers a Compass and Satellite Dish Pointer. To access these functions, just head to the ‘Home’ page, by pushing the little house icon in the top right-hand corner of your screen.
You can tap on either Compass or Satellite Dish Pointer, depending on which feature you’d like to use. As you point your phone around in different directions, you’ll notice the needle on the compass moves with you.
These are great to use obviously for setting up a satellite dish (if you have one) or figuring out how you want to set up your campsite. You might need to know where the sun is going to rise and set, or which way a westerly wind might blow in from.
Checklists
On your WikiCamps Homepage, you can find the Checklist feature, which is really handy!
There is a pre-filled ‘Camping List,’ with 100 items in a range of different categories. You have the ability to add and delete categories, plus individual items on the checklist. You can also add new lists of your own and tap each item as you pack it, which will cross it off with a red line.
For a fully comprehensive and printable checklist, download our Ultimate Packing List below. You can customise it to your own needs and print it out to tick things off as you go. You can also use the ‘weights’ column to help organise your payload.
There are over 600 items pre-filled into 16 categories.
How to Use WikiCamps Offline?
Unless you’re sticking to the major towns and cities, you’ll probably need to access WikiCamps offline at some point.
All you need to do is download the section of the map that you’re needing, while you’ve still got reception to still have access to WikiCamps while offline. This includes finding sites, reading reviews and viewing photos.
When you go back online, the map will automatically update any new content.
How to Download Offline Maps
- On the map screen, click on the map layers icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen;
- Select ‘Offline’ in the map options;
- Then you will be prompted to download the ‘World Map;’
- After that, you can download whichever region of Australia you want to have access to offline.
How to Download User Content
- Open the ‘Home’ menu by clicking the orange house in the top right-hand corner of your screen;
- Select ‘Site Content’ from the Offline Content box;
- Turn on the States you want content for, then tap sync.
WikiCamps FAQ’s
Open the orange ‘Home’ menu, then select ‘Add New Site.’
Open site’s details page, scroll to the bottom and tap ‘Edit.’
1. Open the site’s details page, tap ‘Get Directions’ on the map box;
2. Tap 3 dots in the right-hand corner of the site in the site list, tap ‘Get Directions.’
These are pin clusters, used when there are too many pins in an area. The number in the circle tells you how many pins are there. As you zoom in, the cluster will break up into smaller clusters, then individual pins.
Type your coordinates into the Search Bar at the top of the screen (must be valid coordinates for search result to appear).
In the Home menu, tap the account settings icon (top right corner) and sign up for a user account.
Must be connected to the internet for full resolution photos.
Tap the 3 dots in the bottom corner of the trip header photo, then tap ‘Edit.’ Tap the photo box to upload your own photo.
You have to have a WikiCamps user account, plus make your trip public to share it. Tap the 3 dots in the bottom corner of the trip header photo. Tap ‘Edit Trip Details,’ turn on ‘Make Public,’ then tap ‘Open Link.’ You can copy & paste that link into a web browser, into an email or share in a social media post.
Conclusion
I’m sure that by now you can see why everyone swears by WikiCamps. I reckon it’s the best $7.99 you’ll spend when it comes to road tripping and camping tools for travelling Australia. You can source out water, dump points, campsites, toilets, Visitor Information Centres, points of interest and more.
Something to keep in mind is that much of the information on WikiCamps is user-generated, which means you need to use your own discernment with what people are writing.
Some of the camps can have a 5-star rating because there is only one review… which may have been added by the campsite owner.
You may stumble across a camp that’s been added, which is in fact not an official camp at all. There can be council fines for camping where you’re not permitted to camp, so read the comments, check local signs and use your own judgement.
Just because a site on WikiCamps says it’s croc-free and safe to swim, please make sure that’s actually the case! Check local signage and information (Information Centres and locals are great for this).
With all of that being said, WikiCamps is a trove of fantastic information. If the majority are all sharing the same information, you can feel pretty secure that it’s genuine and correct.
As with any crowdsourced database, be sure to give back. Add in your own reviews and photos as you travel, which will help out the next bunch of people who happen to be wandering through.
For more great travel apps, check out the article below.
Travel Accessories
Travel Planning Tools
| TRAVEL PLANNING RESOURCES |
|---|
| ✔️ Checklists → 💲 Budget Spreadsheets → ✏️ Planners & Guides → |
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Love using the app. Would love to see the ability to combine trips.
What a wonderful source! Do you know they have international WikiCamps? It seems to provide all the information one might need to plan a complete trip.
There are a few different WikiCamps versions for a few different countries. Very useful.
This is such a useful resource. I’m wondering if there’s anything like it for the UK. Off to check now!
Yes, there is one for the UK. 🙂
WikiCamps sounds like the perfect tool for free wheeling travellers and there are plenty of those at the moment. Thanks for this guide which will be useful for getting up to speed on it all before I travel.
Yep, road tripping seems to be the way to go when most people can’t even get out of their own countries.
It sounds like a very handy app for that niche market, offering all the detailed info on one spot. I can see why you use it. The trip planner is a cool function. I wish other countries would take this same concept and have one. Imagine how powerful that would be for the traveller to have access to.
WikiCamps is honestly my bible as a road tripper in Australia. I would be amazing to have a similar App for each country, but maybe tailored more towards hotel, motel and hostel stays for international travellers.
What a wonderful resource! Do you know if they have WikiCamps for other countries? It seems like it gives every bit of information one would need to plan a perfect trip.
Yes, I know WikiCamps is also available for USA, Canada, United Kingdom & New Zealand.
I never heard of WikiCamps before. But with all of these features, I can understand why it might be the most popular camping app in Australia. Great that it includes such a broad variety of camping places to choose from. Interesting that it includes backpacker hostels. Your instructions are great and cover all the major features I might want. Adding a trip planner is a great idea for a longer road trip with many stops. Good to remind people that the information is user input and needs to be verified!
The trip planner is a great feature, especially for longer trips. Yes, very important to remember that the content is all user driven, just to keep in mind.