A new second hand car and a borrowed van

So now you know all about us and why we really need to get away.  Next comes what we are getting away in. Originally we were going to hire a van but a friend kindly lent us his. All we had to do was learn how to put it up and down as the cruiser would pull it really easily and since the little van isn’t much bigger than a large trailer or a 6 berth dog trailer, we didn’t need special towing mirrors or any extra towing skills.

The weekend after we drove our new second hand car home, we went down the coast to see Mum and Dad. Dad is a retired motor mechanic so we were eager to see what he thought of our purchase. He loved Lady Cruiser and took her for a drive down a dirt road with my husband. Trouble was he thought it was a rally car rather than a 4 wheel drive and gave it a flogging and in the process, my husband a white knuckle journey!

On the way home we went via our friend who owns the van’s place. We had a cuppa tea and then he gave us a quick demo on how to put pop the van up and down and a few other hints. He had cleaned all his gear out which was great but left us a few bits and bobs such as a jack, the awning and poles and so forth. Then it was time to hook up and do our first trip – from Southside Canberra to Northside Canberra! The little van was dwarfed by the cruiser but it towed nicely behind.

Collecting the van from the south of Canberra

We got home after our 40 minute drive and unhitched the van in our front garden. I had made a gravel space for a caravan when I re landscaped the garden at Christmas time. 

Re landscaping is a great way of burning off nervous energy when your husband is recovering from a heart attack and you get a great sense of achievement too!! After moving over 2 ton of smashed concrete (smashing cement is also good therapy) loading into trailer, driving to the tip, unloading, repeating this a few times then going to the garden suppliers for stones and more stones and mulch and more mulch, I recon I was the only person that ended up fitter by the end of January than they were before Christmas! Most people are struggling back to work after a month off playing on the beach unfit and fat! The best part of re landscaping whilst your spouse is recovering is that he can't argue or change things as mostly they are asleep. By the time they wake up and realise its all too late because you've done it. I did rediscover that my spine does not think much of mattock work or smashing cement with the back of a block splitter but its always nice to catch up with what my chiropractor is doing these days!

So our little van sat on the front all locked up for a few weeks but we really needed a dress rehearsal before we went away.

A good friend was having a farewell weekend away in Bombala. The friend is moving with his family to the USA. We are all in a running club called the Hash House Harriers which are drinkers with a running problem. We also are in the Bike hash which has similar values, drinkers with a bike riding problem so as you may gather, it was more a social  outing than hard core athleticism on display. 

So since its the middle of one of the most miserable winters on record and Bombala is that much closer to the mountains with all that cold snow on them, it made perfect sense to try out camping in a van that is 80% canvas. Mmm balmy!

First though we had to set it up to see how much cupboard space there was and to give it an airing.

With much skill, dexterity and more patience than I would ever have in my lifetime, Greg backed the little van down the driveway. This is no trivial feat as our driveway was designed by a little old lady who owned the house before us and she planted bushy trees on one side and roses on the other. The gates at the middle eat into what little space is left and so many times I have nearly taken the mirrors off the cruiser! The azalia and camilia bushes make for a lovely show in spring but the driveway barely wide enough for the falcon, even smaller for the cruiser and backing a trailer is almost an art form. In fact if there were exams on backing skills, assessors need only to get people to back trailers down our driveway.

So after a considerable time which I went inside and did other things and left Greg to deal with the backing, we got the van down the driveway. The next thing was to re grease the wheel bearings. Although our friend had told us that the bloke he bought it from had done them not long ago, you can never be sure and its easier to re do them now than have a wheel cease up on the road. To do this one of our neighbours came to help with a convenient tin of bearing grease he just happened to have.

From inside the house where I was there was much laughing coming from the driveway. I never thought greasing wheel bearings would be such a joyous task - so went to investigate. It turned out that beneath the hubcaps were the most spider webs you have ever seen in one space. If there had been a spider living there when we towed the van home they would have never been the same again.

Mass of cobwebs in the wheels

Bearings greased and wheels put back on we left the van up for a week to see if it rained whether there were any leaks. Unfortunately the only time it rained was the day we were going away and I was trying to pack it! Luckily I had put the bedding all except the pillows in the day before but the heavens opened and it chucked it down rain solidly. Van only leaked in the corner of the bed but I think that was because we hadn't put the canvas over the frame properly.

By the time I had a rant and a rave over the sheer inconvenience of another prospect of a  wet weekend etc etc, about 11am the rain stopped and by the time Greg came home from work it was freezing cold, damp and miserable but no precipitation.

Time to go.

Greg insisted on driving as he was having a good day for energy (since his attack, Greg has been fatigued most of the time. Nobody can figure out why and at one stage they were calling it chronic fatigue but another specialist we saw the other day said it wasn't. It doesn't matter, he just gets completely tired and has to rest. Some days he just is tired all day and can hardly function at all) So a good energy day is precious indeed as the next day could be a low energy day. Its unpredictable, frustrating and also annoying that no doctors can diagnose whats going on so at least we know and can take steps to fix it - or at least understand it.

I did call the local caravan park  earlier in the week to make a booking. The bloke who answered the phone almost laughed when I said I wanted to book. I mean you can never be too sure when a caravan park will be besieged by a convoy of grey nomads who book entire caravan parks out at once - but I guess they, like seasonal birds have gone north for the winter and any southern caravan park spots were there for the taking.

About Williamsdale Greg stopped the car to check the wheel nuts on the van in case they had worked themselves loose so I took a photo. It was so freezing cold when we got out of the car I questioned our sanity in choosing to camp at this time!

Checking the wheel nuts on the van wind chill factor was freezing

Rolling into Bombala after driving through sleet and rain and observing the black clouds surrounding the rain drenched countryside through furrowed brow - we found the caravan park.

The bloke on the phone was right, it was a 30 or so spot caravan park and there was one other van occupied, plus two that were onsite vans all locked up. The manager lived in another van. He came out to greet us after I hopped out of the car whilst jamming a beanie on my head, wrapping my scarf around my neck and finding my gloves and coat. You could not find enough clothes to wear! I paid the amount for two nights and he told us the code to the amenities block and wrote it on the receipt. Must have known how crap I am at remembering numbers. We could take our pick of spots and off you go.

We found a nice flat spot between the deciduous trees and parked the van. With surprising speed we had it unhitched, levelled, popped up, plugged in, bed made all within a half an hour which was good as we were running out of light and I think the temperature had dropped to almost zero. The tiny space inside the van made it almost impossible for 2 people to do things standing up so one had to sit whilst the other stood. In true Caz and Greg style, I decided it was happy hour and dragged out the gin and tonics, chardonnay for me, bickies and cheese and celebrated our first night in the holiday suite!

Cheers, our first happy hour in the van

I found some travel rugs to put over the foam seats for a bit of extra cosy and we plugged in a small blow heater that bought with a struggle, the temperature up to 8 degrees. Ahh this is living! We finished our drinks and went to find the pub that would be headquarters for the weekend. Our friends would have started to arrive and soon night one of the farewell party would be in full swing.