After All The Planning

I took a nostalgic trip back to Broome Western Australia in August 2023 and that trip changed my life — Broome has a habit of doing that to me.

My mind started to ponder and my heart realised that I have missed travelling my beautiful country, that I have spent years just existing and not living, and doing so in a place that I hated.

I began to ask myself why and while searching for an answer, a crazy, wild idea began to percolate and brew.

That idea escalated and although I was convinced it would never see fruition, I began to dream.

And from that dream has come the best, craziest, terrifying, doubting, emotional rollercoaster ride.

Still convinced I didn’t have the courage or the ability, I carried on as though I did.

Feel the fear and do it anyway.

I researched caravans, until I found the one that captured my heart and down went a deposit.

No sleep that night because I berated, stressed, worried and convinced myself I was an absolute idiot — but I did it anyway.

My MDC XT16HR MIII; my soon to be new home. A 3 Tonne off grid beast designed for the ruggedness of Mother Nature.

From there I had to start looking for a new car as my Honda Accord Sports wasn’t up to the job. My heart broke as I loved this car and she’d been extremely good to me.

After much research and indecision, I chose to purchase a Mitsubishi 2024 Triton GLS because they had the 3.5 tonne towing capacity I needed.

Unfortunately, there were none in the country so I had to pull my patience to the forefront and hope there would be by the time my caravan had been built and was ready for pick up.

Luck was on my side and in March 2024 I drove the first 2024 Triton off the car lot of the dealer in which I had placed the order.

Two weeks later, with only 100 kilometres on the clock, I took her through her paces…..first a 2 day 4 wheel drive course and then a few days later a towing course, using a hired trailer.

In May 2024, it was time to pick up my caravan.

The very thought terrified me and I was still convinced this was all a dream that would never happen.

I spent months kitting out the car and caravan, until I could stall no longer.

It was time!

On 1 November 2024, I hitched my caravan to my car and left Brisbane to live full time on the road.

I only travelled 1.5 hours, to Lake Atkinson Dam. I needed the maiden voyage to learn how my caravan worked. I know nothing about solar, lithium batteries, 12 volt or how my van worked plugged into shore power.

Time for a crash course.

I spent two weeks at Lake Atkinson Dam, learning so much, trialling everything and getting used to van life.

This is a beautiful part of our country, with the large dam utilised by water skiers, kayaks and swimming. People even tried their hand at fishing but I didn’t see anything caught.

Unfortunate that the park I stayed in was run down and not maintained. It was messy, overgrown and unkept but the view I had out of my window while I still worked my full time job made it all worthwhile — and they served great coffee.

I was unprepared for the 8 storms that passed through the second week of my stay but it was just another learning curve. When the caravan’s rocking like a boat bobbing on the water, well that’s when I needed to conquer my fear and ride it out.

My maiden voyage was a success in my eyes and I hitched up yesterday and moved on; all while it was bucketing down of course. I didn’t move far, but onto a beautiful private farm with a dam and all the peace and quiet my little heart could desire.

I’ll let you know how it all goes from here. Today is Day 17 of full time van life and yes, I’m still terrified of what I’m doing but hoping that fear will slowly dissipate over time.

Bon Voyage Atkinsons Dam. 

Originally published on Medium