The truth about travelling in a campervan

The excitement and anxiety we felt the day Iain and I got our van was severe, we had slept in a hostel (Tropic Days hostel) the night before, so we had a little bit of time to find our feet after arriving in Cairns.

We walked, for what felt like forever, to get to Wicked Campers the van rental place. If you’ve ever been to Cairns you’ll know how toasty it is, and a long walk isn’t exactly very pleasant. Anyway, when we got there the lady at check-in was super lovely, she ran through everything with us, told us what we could and could not do. No off-roading, no taking the van on ferry’s and only use 95/98 fuel (this was annoying as it turns out 95/98 is the expensive and premium fuel.. which I wouldn’t even use at home).

We had been expecting a funky, spray-painted van, but as we had been persistent about receiving air-conditioning they upgraded us and gave us a plain red van. I was a little gutted but, when we looked a round and saw all the sprayed vans in the car park, none of them was overly appealing. They were quite rude and we felt that this would maybe stop us from being allowed into certain family-friendly campsites.

I was the first driver, and I stalled straight away. The good thing about Australia is that they drive on the same side of the road as the UK. There is one thing that is different, and that is that the indicator is on the right side, as in the wrong side, which is left in the UK.

One thing we didn’t know about small camper-vans was that the storage is under the bed, which is a good idea and a good use of space but maybe not that ideal when you have to lift the mattresses each time you want to get into the boxes and get your clothes. (Mental note, if we ever refurbish a van into a campervan, have drawers instead).

I don’t know if I’ve ever said but Iain is, 6ft. So sleeping in a small campervan hasn’t exactly been ideal for him. He has spent the whole two weeks crushed up in a small bed and taking up all my space. I have found it quite hard to sleep some nights so I can only imagine the struggle he has been going through. The mornings have also been very bright without curtains (only tinted windows) and the birds in Australia are significantly more noisy than the UK (significantly prettier too).

I think in hindsight, we would pick a different van. As every place we’ve stayed has shown us that our van really is the smallest and potentially the worst. It has done the job, however we have had to create curtains out of items in the van and live a slightly squished life. We have an Eski (a cool box) but not a fridge (we have had a mouldy cheese incident and it was not pretty on a hangover), and if I hadn’t been attempting to live the Instagram life by bringing fairy lights, we wouldn’t have had any lighting either. All this said, we would definitely do it again, but 100% upgrade.

Places we stayed

Wicked campers red campervan

Things I have learnt

Iain is too big for a campervan

I really don’t appreciate curtains enough

Australian birds are super super noisy

Remember to follow my instagram @lisacuthbertson to keep up with our journey.

Here’s a couple of my favourite Van snaps, enjoy!