A year of van life and love in Australia
Let’s cut this blog’s ribbon!
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls… Or maybe just my few close friends and family members who will actually read this… Let’s cut this blog’s ribbon! Here is the place to follow Andrea and my adventures starting with our very exciting one-way departure to Australia.
A few fun facts, extracted from the book “Down Under” by Bill Bryon, to begin this journey together in joy and anticipation:
- Australia is the world’s sixth largest country and its largest island. It is the only island that is also a continent, and the only continent that is also a country. It is the only nation that began as a prison.
- It is home to the largest biggest thing on Earth, the Great Barrier Reef, and of one of the most famous and striking monolith, Uluru.
- It has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Five of its creatures — the funnel-web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish — are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is the country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you.
- If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents. It’s a tough place.
- Eighty percent of all that lives, plant and animal, exists nowhere else.
- There ratio of people to sheep is one to eight. Yes you understood correctly, one person for eight sheep are walking around this massive island.
I could go on for pages with interesting facts about this unique country, but I will leave some room for the discovery of its extraordinary features through our own experiences in the year to come.
We have had four frequently reoccurring questions over the past months : What will you guys be doing there? Are you looking for a job? Or are you travelling? Why in the world are you landing in Adelaide?
So I would like to set the record straight for anyone who is still confused as to the purpose of our journey: So are we. We have no idea what exactly we will be doing in Australia, although we both strongly feel like such a beautiful country deserves some travel exploration and not just two full-time employees. We therefore set our sails with no plan as to where exactly we will be in a few days, weeks, or months, but letting the winds guide our low-budget boat… And we wouldn’t have it any other way! We will be looking for a van in the next couple of days to not only travel, but also live in. Yes, why not take the test of our love and patience for one another to a whole other level? Interesting discussions and compromises definitely lie ahead but we couldn’t be more excited!
Our news to share for now: We landed safely in the small city of Adelaide after a twenty-seven hour journey, two layovers, and the actual skipping of Thursday October 19th. We spent our first days discovering this curious town, going to its central market for a kick-ass cappuccino (if they can make it this delicious here, Switzerland — Italy’s neighbouring country — has absolutely no excuse anymore), watching numerous cricket players looking good in white, and being chatted to by friendly strangers in the bus. The Pacific makes the city a windy business, and although we’re well into spring, the weather is still quite cool in South Australia so no sunbathing on sandy beaches just quite yet.
I’ll write a more detailed article about our Adelaide experience once we’ve spent a bit more time wandering around and discovering its winery-rich surroundings.
In the meantime I send you all heaps of love and positive vibes!
xxx Cat
Introduction to the van life
I am so happy to announce that we are the proud owners of a van! Previously used by a professional painter for his daily duties, we have decided to transform it into our new home on wheels!
A few months ago the thought of living in a van during our Australian adventure came up as a manner to explore this beautiful country. The conversation with Andrea began rather jokingly, but with an awareness in the back of our minds that this was a real possibility for our journey. Combining transportation and lodging in one investment seemed like a great two birds in one stone hit so we were intrigued. By the time we had touched land Down Under the idea had stuck and became an almost logical and essential piece to the puzzle of our voyage.
I have to admit that in the beginning my feelings were parted like the two sides of the Australian $1 coin. On the one hand, excitement flowed into my heart and rose up my spirits. I felt exhilarated to actually have found a man who wanted to follow the dream life of simplicity and enrichment in the discovery of nature’s wonders. Someone who would agree to travel for months in this humble manner, without too much caring as to where the next shower would be, or if a simple dip in the ocean would have to do. Such an unplanned plan provoked the bold adventure genes in me, and left me feeling hopeful that we would indeed adopt a van life. On the other hand, the idea of living in a space of under 6 square metres (with a boy might I add), gave me a bit of a doubtful twitch certainly sourcing back to my realistic and — a little too — organised nature. My thoughts went to the actual daily routine that living in a van would represent, and the idea of not having a shower, kitchen, or bathroom (emphasis on the latter) were slightly unnerving.
As you already know the end of this story, I’ll cut it short: We have officially decided to embark on our own version of the van life.
Super easy to make that statement, but a bunch of practical questions invaded our minds as soon as we made the decision. Here are our solutions to a few of the uncertainties you, dear reader (and possibly future van resident), may have.
1. Where will we store all of our things with the bed taking up most of the space?
Under the bed! We will build a bed high enough to store our suitcases and boxes underneath.
2. Where will we shower?
We got a gym membership to the largest chain in Australia, Anytime Fitness. This will allow us to pop into a shower along the way. Also, I really don’t mind the ocean dip and going to bed with salty skin… let’s take some perspective, if this is our biggest problem, we couldn’t be happier!
3. How will we keep fresh food?
The best solution we have come up with is to purchase a secondary battery, which will power a small fridge. Although the installation process is rather pricey, we honestly believe we will be OH so happy to have a place to store fresh food in the hot, raw, outback.
4. Are we allowed to just park and sleep anywhere in Australia?
Technically… no. But it’s apparently an unwritten rule here that it is accepted, and that in the worst case, policemen simply ask you to move somewhere else. It’s not something we’re too worried about for now but let’s see how that unfolds. I must say that the idea of parking next to an isolated beach, to wake up by the warm light of the sunrise and the soothing sound of waves, erases my sense of lawfulness in this case.
5. How can we make our daily life comfortable enough in a van?
I have to be honest, I think that this is something that we will have to learn and discover along the way. We have lots of ideas as to how to transform the van into the most practical and comfortable home as possible, but I’m sure only experience will teach us the knicks and knacks of the true mastery of the van life.
So there you have it, as soon as the van transformation (the steps of which will be described in the next article) will be accomplished, we will be ready to hit the road Jack and tour this beautiful island!
In the meantime I send you all heaps of love and positive vibes!
xxx Cat
The van transformation
We did it! We have officially transformed our van into our home! WHAT a process… There were so many necessary things that we hadn’t imagined beforehand and we had definitely underestimated the time it would take to accomplish this project. Our main focus from the beginning was to make the van as practical and comfortable to live in as possible, without forgetting a touch of feel-good coziness.
Before describing the steps towards the transformation, let me share with you some pictures of our modest mansion as we bought it:
Step 1: Taking out the jazz
Our van used to belong to a painter who used it as his professional vehicle. There were therefore steel drawers installed in the back taking up most of the space. The first thing to do was to grab a screwdriver and unscrew the entire inside set-up composed of what seemed like 10'000 screws. Once the shelves were removed we could drag out the lovely clean mat hiding an impressive layer of dirt on the floor.
Step 2: Vacuum, scrub, scrape, wash
As you can imagine, we couldn’t wait to deeply clean the van and rid it of all the dirt and grease you can gracefully observe on the pictures above. We vacuumed as much as would come off and scraped out the rest with a screwdriver. I promise, the amount of dirt engrained in the floor of this van should win some kind of a record.
We then went on to wash out the remaining layer of brown love with a pressure hose after having sprayed the inside with a pink, extremely toxic-smelling product. At this point, dark mousse started to form under our feet and we realised the van’s original white was only a scrub away. The amount of black water that came out of this process made our day!
Step 3: Measuring & welcome to Bunnings
We had decided to insulate the van to keep the temperature liveable, and to cover the van’s floor and sides with wood for a cozy ambiance. So at this point the measuring tape came out and we measured the interior spaces thoroughly. We then went on our first visit to Bunnings (this is a MASSIVE superstore for all things DIY (Swiss people, it’s literally a Hornbach x 10)). We got our insulation, wood, and a spray paint for the ceiling and were on our way to make the inside of our van feel like a home!
Step 4: Insulation & woodwork
With a 12m roll of insulation, we stuffed the sides and top of the van (this included the removal of the ceiling to shove insulation up there). The process was easier than planned and took less time than predicted. Once the van was insulted to our satisfaction, the woodwork began. Imperative to mention here the rise of Andrea’s carpenter genes! Who knew he had it in him! We cut the panels to fit our van’s insides precisely and varnished them with a protective layer.
Before putting the wood in, we spray-painted the ceiling a clear cream colour resembling the wood, which gave the van a much lighter and spacier feeling.
Step 5: Screw & paint
We were ready to screw the wood to our van’s insides, giving it a homey vibe. The pieces of wood to cover the floor were assembled like a complexe jigsaw puzzle due to the floor’s irregular dimension but the excessive time we (okay, Andrea) took beforehand to measure the space paid off, and I’m proud to say that the puzzle fit precisely to our floor. Once that was done, we took our white spray paint and covered up all the marks left by the painter in the spaces that wouldn’t be covered by our bed. We could officially state that our van had the smell and look of a brand new apartment!
Step 6: Bed time
With the walls and flooring done, we could start working on the bed. We purchased two large panels of strong wood, which we then had cut to fit the mattress size, and with the remaining wood we built our eight feet. The disposition of the feet was chosen according to our suitcase sizes, and the practicality of taking out our boxes full of clothes, food, and appliances. To facilitate the usage of our bed and the taking-out of the boxes daily, we screwed a piano hinge (yes some technical words have been added to our vocabulary), which means that the bed board can be lifted up to easily access our things underneath. At the last moment, we also decided to add a small wooden panel behind our heads to put our books and phones on during the night.
Step 7: Energy
We purchased a secondary deep-cycle battery to energize our fridge, light, laptops and phones on the road. Unfortunately, this was something we couldn’t install ourselves so we had a mechanic liaise the primary car battery and the secondary one, to ensure that the van’s would always be charged first, and that our appliances would not drain its energy. To make it short: the engine will always start despite our energy usage.
Step 8: For the love of Sweden
Thank gosh for Mr. Ikea, who made it possible with our budget to buy the minimum needed to live in our van! Not only can you get infinite cappuccino refills at the big blue and yellow box, we bought almost everything at beautifully cheap prices. Not like Ikea is sponsoring me to say this (I wish), but the store has almost every box size imaginable, and any appliance you can dream of as necessary for life in a van.
Step 9: It’s all in the details
With the key steps conquered and some serious carpenter skills acquired, we could now fantasise of the smaller things that would make our life more comfortable in the van. This encompassed the building of a simple shoe storage and a few shelves here and there. Curtains and a carpet were also added to the mix for a good night’s sleep and some foot-coziness, and we’re proud to even welcome you with knobs to hang your salty wet towel on if you come to visit!
So that’s it! Our four-week van transformation in just nine steps. As it really was quite a process, some reflexion on our main lessons learnt are in order:
1. Everything takes more time than you think. Always.
2. In a couple you each have different skills. Let your other half do what (s)he’s great at, you don’t both have to do everything.
3. Ask for help. We found Australians to be SUPER generous with their time and happy to lend a hand. As we didn’t have the technical skills (especially for the woodwork) beforehand, it was super useful to have experts give us their advice.
4. When planning on living in such a small space for a long time, every square centimetre counts. We may change things around after a few months, but for now we’ve tried to optimise each possible space in the most operable manner.
5. Trust only your own market research about the lowest prices and try to save a little on each item. At the end of the day, it makes such a difference in the bottom line!
6. If you transform a van in Australia you will go to Bunnings. One. Hundred. Times.
7. Choose love over your differences. The van transformation alone was already a cheerful test to our relationship and I’m happy to say we passed and are ready to move into our first home together!
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