I often get asked in one way or another. Why did you decide to live in a van?
Truth is, it was kind of an accident.
I grew up travelling Australia quite a bit as a kid, I always knew I wanted to live a nomadic life, I had no idea of the steps to take, and I wasn’t sure if it was even possible.
A few years ago I went on a trip to Western Australia for about a month, I met and saw so many versions of people living on the road. I was so intrigued by those travelling in a van, with an abundance of freedom, taking each day as it came living with everything they needed attached to them. The concept planted a seed in my mind and to what I later discovered began the early stages of my journey into vanlife.
I got back home to Victoria from that trip, back to working crazy hours across 4 jobs and hustling on my jewellery label as a 21-year-old single girl with not a minute of freedom or remaining energy for growth. Within a week of getting home, my car was written off, the autoimmune disease within was fiercely inflamed and my world as I knew it seemed to be crashing down.
Everything begun when a guy didn’t stop at the traffic lights and quite literally shoved me forward into another car causing my car to be irreparable. This was the push I needed to begin my journey into vanlife. Without that accident I might never have had the courage to buy a van & change my lifestyle. I’m thankful to that strangers poor driving skills for giving me the push I needed, even though it was more of a shove.
That accident was how I accidentally came to be living in a van.
I dove deep into my savings, named my new van Stan, learnt to park it, how to not hit every second curb (sort of), worked with purpose & drew up loads of designs. With the help of my dad and ‘Built for Advanture’ (a van build company{ADD HYPERLINK}) I created a van that fulfilled the dream I had when I first discovered the nomadic life as a kid.
The next thing I built was almost more difficult, a mountain of courage. I planned for a 2 month trip up the east coast of Australia in ‘Stan’ my van. I was almost ready to leave, when the 2020 lockdowns begun. I moved out of my share house, back to my parents and contemplated whether this 2 month dream trip in my van was even possible. The world was being shaken up and no one had a clue what was around the corner.
Despite the ever present anxiety, somewhere in between the border closures, restrictions & lockdown chaos I headed north in my van assuring my parents (and myself) that I’d only be gone for a month.
Once my fresh tyres left the driveway the tears started flowing and the brave courageous face I’d put on in front of my family soon turned. I was a bundle of fear travelling away at 100 kilometers an hour. I drove eight hours north with fear and doubt constantly swirling through my mind on that first day off to new and unknown things. But I had a point to prove (mainly to myself) – that I can do hard things alone.
I didn’t return to Victoria for almost a year, life on the road just kept getting better and the reasons to go home kept getting smaller.
As you’ll soon find out, 2020 turned out the be one of the most magical, adventurous and life changing beginnings to my journey. Filled to the brim with memories & mates forever in my heart.
Turns out the accident was the spark I needed to begin my journey into vanlife and the courage to put fear in the back seat.