Travelling With a Dog: How We Visit National Parks
A Reflection from the Road
We get asked this a lot.
“How do you visit national parks when you travel with a dog?”
The short answer: We don’t take Zoe into them.
Dogs aren’t allowed in most Australian national parks, and we don’t try to bend that rule. National parks protect wildlife, ecosystems, and cultural sites. As much as we love travelling with Zoe, those protections matter more than convenience.
But that doesn’t mean we skip national parks entirely. It just means we do them differently.
We Split Up
Sometimes one of us visits the park while the other stays back with Zoe. It’s simple, not always ideal, but it works. We compare notes afterwards. Swap stories. Show photos.
It slows the experience down and spreads it out. And honestly, not everything needs to be experienced by us at the same time. Short breaks apart to experience nature are great for moho harmony!
We Stay Longer and Visit in Short Bursts
This is where slow travel helps. If we want to explore a park properly, we’ll stay in the area for several days. Instead of a full-day visit, we’ll do a few hours at a time.
Zoe occasionally stays in the motorhome under strict conditions:
Only in cool weather or when the air-conditioning is reliable
A temperature monitor inside that alerts us if conditions change
A Wi-Fi camera so we can check in remotely
Plenty of fresh water
A nearby traveller is aware that she’s inside
We never leave her all day. A couple of hours, maximum. It takes planning, but it lets us experience places responsibly without rushing.
Some Parks Go on the “Later” List
We don’t need to do everything right now.
Some national parks get added to a list for a future trip, maybe one where Zoe isn’t travelling with us, or where we base ourselves somewhere dog-friendly and visit properly.
Travelling full-time has taught us that not doing something today doesn’t mean we'll never do it.
Local Dog Minding
We prefer to keep Zoe close, but many regional towns have long-term residents who offer dog-minding for a small fee.
It’s worth asking locally. Some caravan park managers know trusted minders. In some areas, even the local vet can point you toward someone reliable, especially if your dog is social and comfortable away from you.
Accepting the Trade-Off
Travelling with a dog changes your pace. You miss some things. You experience others more deeply.
We’ve found incredible state forests, dog-friendly reserves, river walks, and coastal tracks we might have skipped if we weren’t planning around Zoe. National parks are special. But so is travelling with your dog. For us, the trade-off is worth it.
In the end, it’s not about sneaking around rules or finding loopholes. It’s about respecting the spaces we visit and the pet we’re responsible for.
And sometimes, that simply means doing things differently.
Some of our other thoughts
Travelling Australia with a dog means national parks require planning. Here’s how we responsibly visit parks while travelling full-time with Zoe, from splitting up visits to safe short stays and practical local dog-minding options.