By Von.
G'day.
My Mum has asked us a few times to explain in the blog how we live in the van and how we are managing in such a small space. She reckons some of our readers might be interested so, if you are, then read on or, if not, skip the blurb and go straight to Part 2!
Part 1 - The Van (Cilla)
Outer dimensions wise the van is 6.36 metres in length, 2.05 metres wide and 2.63 metres in height, this gives us an internal living space of 4.4 metres length by 1.95 metres width or, to put it another way, not much. The space is sort of divided up into functional areas, a kitchen, a bathroom, a bedroom, a living area and a bedroom - just not all at the same time.
As you step into the van (automated step) you see straight ahead a couple of overhead cupboards and the fridge. The bigger overhead cupboard did house the microwave but as we don't own a microwave and thus never use one it seemed a bit daft for it to stay; anything in the van MUST earn its' right to be there. So we removed the microwave when we first took the van down to Kangaroo Valley (Dereks workshop and associated tools have featured heavily in the modifications we have made so 'big ups' to Derek). The cupboard now holds two small baskets for dried and tinned food and a few Systema cereal containers. The smaller cupboard to the left had the camping plates and bowls that came with the van but they were a bit naff and, in any event, we wanted to bring the jazzy plates we used to have in Priscilla. I removed the fitted plate rack and, instead, created a shelf space. The holes on the underside which remained have, with the judicious use of some rainbow laces (thanks Mandy & Sherry McBain!), become the dog lead storage solution.
In the foreground of the picture below is a mug which features Priscilla and our two mugs looking through the windscreen. My Auntie Susan had these done for us (names are on the back) and so it seemed a shame not to bring them on our adventure too. Especially as, in 2011, Auntie Susan and my late Uncle Billy (one of my Mum's brothers) came to stay with us in Sydney where (I am pretty sure) they had a ball drinking us out of house and home so seemed fitting to bring the mugs along.
To the right of the sliding door (as you step in) is the "kitchen", a sink and a stove top and, beneath, six drawers. There is not a lot of space and so anything in this area really has to either be small or bring significant value. The water is heated via a diesel powered water heater and the hob is diesel powered too (Webasto for those who want to google how it works). It means we don't have to carry large tanks of gas and don't have to worry about them running out either, the diesel comes from the main tank. If we run out of diesel for the cooker then we have far greater concerns than not having a cup of tea! The hob takes time to heat up but one thing we are learning about constant van life is that the pace can slow down; if it takes 30 minutes to make a pot of coffee then it takes 30 minutes.
In terms of cooking in the small space, I am well practiced following our jaunts in the Kombi and have 'pot mess' in all variations down to a fine art. It's just not thermo nuclear heated and needed to be eaten in 2 minutes flat. (Warning! Matelot references may reside in this blog). We did purchase a one burner, gas canister cooker so that we can grill/cook outside too, and this resides on the rather nifty portable table which attaches to the sliding door of the van - we now know not to try and close the door when the table and associated cooking stove and pans are still in situ...
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| Secured for sea |
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| Everything has a place....! |
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| No table |
The "Lounge" is at the rear of the van and is a 'horseshoe' seating arrangement which can also have a small or a large table in the centre. The table is one of my favourite features as it is really well engineered. When we were looking at vans we came across lots of tables that swivelled this way or that and, invariably, they were flimsy as. When these tables are in place they do not feel like they will go anywhere and yet are so easy to put up or take down.
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| Little table |
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| Big table |
Again, when we were looking for vans we tried desperately to find a van with an electric bed that stored away in the roof when not in use and then, voila, could be brought down at night with bed already made up. We used one like this when we travelled to the UK in 2016 and loved the ease of it. Anyhoo, we just could not find a van we liked, with good build quality which had this feature. But you know what? This is bed is soooo easy to put together and if it takes us 5 minutes to get it all ship shape then it takes 5 minutes. We are not in a rush and there is a certain mindfulness/mindlessness to a slow life; you should try it some day.
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| Daytime! |
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| Nightime! |
There is also a TV with built in DVD player and we have put a wifi modem into one of the cupboards with a rooftop antenna so have wifi (well, so far we have had wifi, I suspect when we get into the more wilder areas of Aussie that we might struggle to get connectivity).
In this area are also four overhead cupboards. One for books, one for games and the ukulele and then one each for our clothes. We know we packed too many 'brrr, it's another chilly and wet day in Auckland' clothes and not enough 'far out, it's 42 degrees out there' clothes which is why a couple of t-shirts and vests are appearing on almost every photo of us. Clothing is a work in progress.
Which brings us round to the bathroom. In a van this size you are never going to get luxury but we are not far off. Most of the time it looks like the picture on the left, with a sink and plenty of space to shower if we need to (although, I have to say, we are happy to go feral!). Then, if we need the loo, we press a button and out comes the chemical toilet. Easy peasy.
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| No loo |
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| Loo! |
All of our windows and doors have fly screens and so we can fling open the windows without worrying too much about getting eaten alive by Australian many vicious insects and spiders. The van does not have air conditioning in the rear so getting a through flow of air, assisted by the fans, is key although even this set up has struggled in our recent temperatures of over 40 degrees centigrade.
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| Fly screen down |
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| Negat flyscreen, note the boxes |
As with life on board on a ship, it's a lot easier when stuff is put away into a place that makes sense and also stays the same - I have yet to totally convince Sharon of this theory but we have time!
Part Two - The Travels...
You may recall from our previous blog that Shazza was about to take Dennis for his jabs...mmm...vet found a slab fracture in a rear molar so, $1300 later, Dennis has a clean bill of health and clean, unbroken, teeth. Good job we have a contingency fund otherwise we'd be setting up a 'Give a Little' page for Dennis!
Sharon added to the financial challenges by ordering some prescription sunglasses (in the name of safety I don't think this is such a bad thing, I would much rather my driver can see what she is doing...). Specsavers gave a delivery time of about 10 days so we thought it might be a good idea to leave Jen & Ronni for a few days and go and a have a jaunt through the Gold Coast hinterland and into the outback. These picture reflect the extremes of land we found and just what the drought looks like up close and personal.
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| From Tamborine Mountain looking west |
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| Sunset at Coolmundra |
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| We visited on Friday...doh! Texas being an actual place. |
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| Our first painted Silos at Yelarbon. Pretty impressive |
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| On arrival at Goondiwindi, spot the national emblems (and, of course, one of the few countries in the world where they also feast on said emblems too!) |
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| The "big" pumpkin at Beaudesert was particularly disappointing... (it's the chipped and decaying green thing above the middle 'p' in pumpkin) |
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| This damn at Wyaralong should have lots of water coming over the top. |
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| Some greenery at Boonah |
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| A new sculpture at Warwick to try and bring in a few extra tourists, well, it worked for us. |
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| Just think how you would manage on 80 lites of water a day... |
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| This water however, has been put to good use...! |
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| This is the boat ramp at Lake Coolmundra, the green you see should be water, you can just glimpse water in the top right of the photo; that is what drought looks like. |
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| Dennis and Shazza struggling in the 40 deg temperatures... |
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| The temperature gauge in the van was reading 42 degrees centigrade. Whew! |
The 1200km trip into the near reaches of the outback has given us a taster of what is to come and has also made us think about how to keep ourselves, Dennis and drinking water cool. We are back to Jenny and Ronni's tonight as we have a pub quiz to attend... Until next time, stay safe.
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