Preparing for the Big Lap

January 11, 2023

Preparing for the Big Lap

We thought we would share with you all the hard work and planning that has been going on behind the scenes to make our big adventure happen! It was about 18months ago that we started talking about travelling (all those lockdowns when we moved to Brisbane gave us itchy feet) and we thought it would be fun to pack up, get a caravan and go travel Australia! It mostly started as a pipe dream, however, the more we looked into it (serious research of course...scrolling through the accounts of influencers on Instagram and YouTube) we started to think maybe we could become grey-nomads at the tender age of 28. We started saving hard and Will began researching cars and every type of caravan/camper/hybrid imaginable! I'm not entirely sure how he managed to fit any work in during this time.

THE VEHICLE

We bought a BT-50 in May. It wasn't easy to find a 4x4 as the market for them was pretty crazy at the time. It came with a bull bar and a snorkel and the rest we had to fit out. We added a canopy and custom built storage compartments in the back. Building the back ourselves was a lot cheaper and lighter than buying premade gear. It also meant we could customise the space to suit our needs. The back also has a battery to run the fridge, water storage and the air compressor. To make the vehicle more suitable for our adventure we also upgraded the suspension and added a lift. The last modifications we made were a winch and long range fuel tank which we had installed. We tested the car in September when we went on a two week camping trip first out to Carnarvon Gorge before heading across to Fraser Island. We were definitely happy with the set up and Will was relieved he did not have to do anymore work on the car. We thought we had it all finished...then we crack a rim so we ended up replacing all the tyres and having to get some new rims as well.

THE CARAVAN

After months of research and viewing caravans, we bought a 13ft Swag hybrid caravan. My only request was that the van had to have a toilet and shower and we quickly found that Will's size meant we were able to create a shortlist of vans quite easily, as he was not able to comfortably fit in most of the vans we looked at! We ordered the van in January and initially were told it would be a 4-5 month wait. However, that wait was continually extended and we did not pick up the van until November. It was a very exciting day when we were finally able to take it home, but also super scary to be towing something on the roads. Somehow our small caravan looked gigantic when hooked up to our car! There were plenty of modifications done to the caravan as well, including: replacing the electrics and installing a lithium battery, fans, a diesel heater and storage solutions. Then there has been all the fun jobs of sealing up the van (lots of Sikaflex) and protecting the water pipes with super hi-tech materials (aka pool noodles). The caravan is an off-road van which means we will be able to hit the gravel. It also has the capacity to carry 200L of water which hopefully means we won't suffer from lack of water on the trip!

Picking it up from the store

THE TESTS

After all the work modifying the van we thought we had better go and get some practice using it. We first started taking it down the paddock and practiced driving and parking it. Apparently we put on quite a show because the cattle certainly enjoyed watching us try and figure out what we were doing! We then got very adventurous and took the caravan 40 minutes up the road from the farm to Maidenwell. We were able to stay in a free camp there and practice parking, levelling, unhitching and setting up. Nicole certainly enjoyed watching our first real attempt! Our first trip was a success and we also got to enjoy a freezing swim in the Coomba Falls, which made it worth our efforts. After this trip we went a bit further afield to Crows Nest where we had a couple of nights in the caravan park there. We were very glad we had spent a lot of time practicing how to park the van because we were able to get into our spot quite quickly and uneventfully. Which was lucky because the park was packed! We also enjoyed some swimming and hiking at Crows Nest and hope we will come back much fitter from our trip, as we get out and about exploring the beauty of this country!