Where on earth..?

Life in a campervan

So the time in the 2 x 6 metal tube is over. What was it like? Did we kill each other? Did we kill anyone at all? I knew I'd get you interested!

No, we didn't kill each other although we had our scuffles. And yes, we knew how to drive on the left side of the road so we didn't kill anyone on the way.

And yes, we had a great time. The camper gave us the freedom to choose our daily rythm and directions. We were not tied up to pre designed routes or schedules and I guess the freedom of doing what we wanted was the best. Now, why didn't we just hire a car and sleep in the hostels and such? One reason was that we've never tried to live in a camper before. It also gave us the possibility to do wild camping i.e. stop in the wilderness and spend a night in whatever beautiful place we passed by. We didn't do as much wild camping as one might do during the summer but there were times when we were happy to be able to take a break when we felt like it.

Now, the camper we chose was a small one. It wasn't the bare van type many backpackers drive but it wasn't a big one either. Such a small camper is agile and easy to drive and the interior is big enough to house two adults. The main difference between a camper and normal van type is the greater hight of the camper and the better design of space. The vans we have seen are usually fully packed with stuff and every time they need to change from car to kitchen or from car to beds they seem to turn every inch of the van upside down. With a camper van the car and the kitchen and the living room is always there for you. When we needed to set the beds we simply took the table board and placed it as the bed basin. Well, quite not that simple but the way I see it the camper was much more easier to live with. We of course also had the outdoors around us and when ever the weather allowed we expanded our 2 x 6 box to a luxury five star picnic dream.

The cooking part was always a bit of a hassle. There was really space for only one person to do the cooking so we usually took turns to make the dinner. We did end up cooking quite a lot ourselves and as we could carry quite a lot of food with us we ended having almost gourmet meals. Or how does it sound when our normal salad dinner included: lettuce, silverbeat, spinach, onion, garlic, ginger, chick peas, avocado and free range eggs. All this was topped with sour cream, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper. Sometimes the salad was served with nachos and always with local wine.

Now that our life in the camper is left behind I can say that it was a good experience and offered a lot of good memories.

posted by Raine @ 7:52 AM