Our Next Big Australian Adventure!: Van Life

Our next big adventure of van life has officially commenced!

What?: A road trip up  the East Coast of Australia

When?: February 10^th-April 10^th

How?:  This here camper van!!!!!

We picked up the van in Brisbane (click HERE for some highlights) and will be dropping it off in Cairns. The plan is simple: follow where adventure takes us. We have a list of “this might be cool!” things coupled with unbridled spontaneity.

A home on wheels means freedom. We can go wherever we want whenever we want.

If we find a town we love, why not stay for an extra couple nights?

If a local suggests a cool waterfall, why not just go see it?

About the Van

We went with the cheapest poptop campervan we could find via Calypso Camper rentals at AUD$52/day… including insurance! This early 2000s beauty has racked up more than 600,00 kms over hundreds of adventures prior to its current residents. The beauty of a rental with insurance is that if something mechanical goes wrong, we don’t get the bill. Some of the drawers don’t quite work, the upholstery is stained, and the screens are broken. Luckily, we are two low-maintenance souls who don’t mind, and we fully understand the concept “you get what you pay for.”

But it gets the job done!

The Hardware

• A deceptively big refrigerator that is powered through the battery, meaning it works all the time.
• A sink that works through the water tank.
• A two burner gas stove that’s hooked up to a gas bottle accessible through an exterior  door.
• A microwave and power outlets that work when hooked up to power

How the power works: there is a power cord that connects the van to external 240V power hookups. You can find the hookups at various parks for free, and you can also book powered vs unpowered sites at caravan parks/campsites.

How do we find these spots? There is an awesome app called WikiCamps where you can find things like public toilets, public showers, campsites, laundry, libraries, and day use areas with  power.

The Software

• The back is a table with two cushioned benches. The table pops off the metal stand, and it is laid in between the two benches along with two additional slats to form the bed. The cushions become the mattress, and then we pop on a sheet and blankets.
• The top part can also be converted into a 3^rd bed, although I imagine it’d be fairly miserable….
• The “kitchen” came with plates, bowls, an electric kettle, gas top kettle, a frying pan, a pot, and plenty of utensils. It also came with a toaster that blew the circuit and ended up in the garbage.
• An attachable awning (although it’s missing a pole), 3 fold up chairs, sheets, towels, a fan, and  a mini  heater.

The Essentials We Brought Along

• A soda stream (honestly can’t live without it anymore.)
• A French press
• Fairy lights (ESSENTIAL for nights  when we aren’t hooked up to power)
• A rechargeable electric blender

The van is budget and wouldn’t cut it for a trip longer than two months given the poor available storage and numerous kinks. But for two unfussy people who travel light and are quite small humans, we’ve got everything we need!

Cheers to a wild ride ahead! Stay tuned for the adventures to come!

To my Aussie friends, if you have any suggestions, drop them in the comments 🙂