The Van Conversion

We picked up our ex-delivery van in Brisbane, returned to Hervey Bay and checked back into the Shelley Beach Motel where we had become quite comfortably settled. We had some doubts about this van, but, everything seemed to work, even the air conditioning (thank goodness, as the temps were still around 35C every day) and we were reasonably pleased with our purchase.

Then, we were faced with an empty square of space that needed filling. Our ideas ranged from just throwing a bed in the back to building a comfortable home. We were somewhat limited by the mid-height roof of the van. In an ideal world, we would have been able to get a high-roof van with an extended wheel base which would have given us a lot more options. As we knew we were not keeping this van for the long-term, we bought what was available, in the shortest time frame possible and decided to do the best we could with it.

BEFORE

AFTER

The reality of our project ambitions and what we had taken on started to set in. We had a little expertise, but, no tools, no place to store supplies and no place to do the work which promised to be hot, noisy and dirty. But, we had to start, so, we did. It was a solid five weeks spent in a twilight zone of incredibly long, hot, dirty, dusty and very frustrating days. We set up shop every morning before dawn in a corner of the public parking lot, down at the boat harbour. We had a little shade in the morning and some in the afternoon, but, on sunny days we had to stop work between 10-3 as we thought we were going to die of heat exhaustion. We were working on black tarmac with a hot, dusty sea breeze continually blowing dirt on us. Between 10-3 we had to load all the supplies, tools and work in progress back in the van and drive up to the local Bunnings (building supply store) to get our daily fill of supplies. A short break for lunch and cold drinks at the motel and then it was back to the job.

Even though the job was horrible to do we are quite proud of what we were able to achieve with dollar store tools and no workshop. Basically, we did the whole thing with a hand saw, a jigsaw, a drill and two clamps. All our cutting was done on the pavement! I'm writing this right now from inside the van and I can say it's very comfortable. The extra time we spent to insulate properly helps to regulate the inside temperature. We can cook on our propane two-burner cooktop.

We have a great little fridge/freezer, tv and led lighting powered solely from our solar panels and batteries, meaning we can stay in free campsites a lot of the time.

The bed is large, very comfortable and during the day converts to a desk/table with bench seating.

Unfortunately, there just wasn't room for a toilet and shower, but, we plan to get a solar shower bag and porta-potti for those times we just can't find a public toilet.

Here are a few more photos of the finished product.

This fibreglass gas storage box, required to get a gas certificate, took two days to install. We had to cut a huge hole through the van in just the right place to match the sidewall profile. It was very tricky.

The day the solar panels went onto the roof was very exciting. To the rear, you can also see the roof hatch we installed which had to have a large, very precise hole cut into the roof.

The new awning-style side window was a nice, functional addition.

Here's a summary of the costs involved (all prices in AUD). We hope to recoup most of this when we sell the van. Our labour was 'free' and isn't included. To get a job like this done professionally is very expensive. Nothing is square in a van and although not quite as bad as a boat, every piece of material has to be shaped to fit and requires a lot of fiddling.

Van
10,000 Purchase (2003 Ford Transit, 175,000km, 5 speed manual, 2.4L turbodiesel)
  1,200 Registration and insurance
     700 Service
-------
11,900

Interior
 2,600  Solar system (professionally installed, 2x150w panels, 2x120Ah batteries, 30A regulator)
 2,500  Supplies and tools
 1,400  Fridge (Waeco CRX110)
 1,000  Finishing touches
    900  Mattresses (foam and covers)
    600  Side window
    500  Counter, cabinets, sink
    440  Cooktop (Smev)
    400  Propane storage box
    350  Propane hookup and compliance certification
     330  Hatch
     200  TV
  -------
  11,220

(11,900 + 11,220) = $23,120

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Back to Brisbane

After contemplating our future for a while it quickly became apparent that we did need to have some kind of a roof over our head. We didn't want to settle in one place. Another boat would have been ideal, but, nothing was catching our fancy. We decided we needed a campervan that we could live on and tour in while we waited for 'the one' to arrive on the boat market. Rentals were out of the question as it would be way too expensive for the long-term. We started searching to buy a campervan. Everything reasonably priced had 3-400,000 km on it! We looked at a few locally and frankly, they were awful. Newer ones were priced sky-high and often had features that wouldn't work for us (like our pet peeve, beds built side-to-side instead of fore/aft and therefore are too short for taller people like us). So, there was nothing for it, a van conversion seemed the only way to go. We found a reasonably priced, ex-delivery van for sale and had to return to Brisbane to get it. We had some hotel points accumulated (I've written about our Starwood Amex card before, it's great) and Brisbane had a Four Points Sheraton, so, we were able to spend three luxurious nights there while getting the van.

Brisbane is the capital of the state of Queensland and is the third most populous city in Australia. It's a river city, situated on the Brisbane River and is a long 15 km from where the river enters the ocean at Moreton Bay. Maybe you've heard of the 'Sunshine Coast' which is just north of Brisbane and the 'Gold Coast' which is just south of Brisbane. Both are very popular tourist areas. By contrast, Brisbane has just a few low-key tourist attractions and functions more as a business and government centre. The city itself is one of the oldest cities in Australia and is known for its distinctive Queenslander architecture which is charming and very unique. The vibe in the city, however, is young, new, modern and bustling.

Unfortunately, it is built on a flood plain, as evident in this picture and regularly experiences flooding, most recently in 2011.

We were able to beat the heat of the day by going on a delightful river trip. Small river ferries regularly ply the waters (love the kangaroo painted on these).

There are some tranquil sections of riverfront.

Then, there are sections like this, that looked like an ant-hill built for people!

 In a nod to London, there is also a South Bank, replete with ferris wheel.

Many lovely garden areas helped to keep the heat at bay. This one had many herbs you were encouraged to pick and taste.

The man-made beach, swimming area and wading fountains are very popular. Built above the river bank, they are right in the centre of town.

Stumbling across these Australian water dragons in the bushes was an 'interesting' experience.

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Australia Arrival

I know some of you have been waiting patiently for a new post. Sometimes our life moves so fast and in so many different directions, we can barely keep up with it! So, occasionally, the writing suffers.

We actually arrived in Australia almost two months ago now. So much has happened since then there will be a few interesting posts coming up soon. First, let's back up to the beginning. We flew into Brisbane, about midway up the east coast of Australia.

From there, we immediately made our way up to Hervey (pronounced Harvey) Bay, about four hours north from Brisbane, where we had business with a boat, an aluminium catamaran we'd had our eye on for a while. We spent two weeks running the numbers (it needed a lot of work), dealing with the should we/shouldn't we conundrum and finally decided to put an offer in. Unfortunately, after a long wait, the owner rejected our offer and we were not  willing to increase it. This left us in a bit of a quandary: what to do now? There were no other boats of interest available at the moment.

We decided to hunker down at the Shelly Beach motel in Hervey Bay to decide. We found the motel on booking.com and with a rating of 9.2 (superb) we figured they had to be doing something right. We weren't disappointed.

It's a modest establishment that is owned by two sisters. The units are self-contained, clean, very homey, comfortable and reasonably priced for a longer-term stay. It was also off season which helped with the price. The beautiful, empty beach was just across the street, restaurants and shops a short walk away.

Best of all, we were on the second floor and had a continual sea breeze across our balcony. We needed it. For the first three weeks in Australia daytime temperatures never went below 35C (95F)!(they are still hovering between 30-34C). Every day the white hot sun rose at five, blazed all day until finally setting around six. There was no rain at all and over 90% of the state of Queensland was in official drought status. The ground was scorched, everything crispy dry and desiccated. After the cool, wet weather we left in NZ, we couldn't handle it and were thoroughly wilted at the end of each day. Even local residents only ventured out for exercise starting at five a.m. and the streets were busy then. We had groups of cyclists passing along the road below and people chatting while jogging and walking on the eighteen km path that runs along the oceanfront. In the middle of the day, only tourists were seen.

As the sun came up birds started arriving. Every morning a large flock of incredibly noisy, fast-flying, colourful parakeets massed in the trees. What a sight. We also had flocks of white cockatoos. They are very pretty birds, but, have an awful squawk.

The birds on the lawn at the back of the motel were also gorgeous.

The long esplanade includes a nice pier at Urangan and a boat harbour. They made a good walking destination in the evening.

The long commercial strip has many restaurants and hotels. The main attractions in the area are Fraser  Island, a large island just offshore which has a tropical rain forest growing on sand, freshwater lakes and many native dingoes (wild, dog-like creatures). The thought of walking through a hot rainforest and on scorching hot sand in 35C degree heat didn't appeal to us, so, we left a visit for another time.

The other attraction is humpback whales which congregate in the bay with their young. They don't just migrate by, they hang around for a while and apparently the viewing opportunities are spectacular. Unfortunately, the whale season doesn't start until August, so, we were too early for that as well. We've made a point of coming back later in the year to see them.

All in all, it was a good spot to sit for a while and contemplate next steps. Viewing interesting new wildlife, like this spectacular pelican cruising around the boat harbour, was an added bonus.

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