Certainly doesn't look too pretty in this picture does it! Our ex-Wicked van has been thrashed and bashed by backpackers all over this country (we know this by the graffiti on the interior!). Surprisingly only minor mechanical issues were detected after a once over by a mechanic, which were promptly repaired. Safety first people!
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Then we were off on our first adventure! Down the Gold Coast highway, along the Tweed river and into the North-eastern New South Wales hinterland... to Nimbin! Now if any of you know what Nimbin is most famous for don't worry we certainly didn't go there for that! The hinterland driving was absolutely beautiful, gave our new camper a work out and we found a gorgeous almost-empty campground on the edge of town and a huge tree-lined river. Just perfect, although I don't we need to visit Nimbin again any time soon! You can see why a facelift was next on the agenda from the picture above hey? Definitely not my cup of tea!
So back home to begin the arduous task of cleaning, scrubbing, and even chemically-removing, the traces of previous travelers.
We all of the work work ourself (because we are scroungers and definitely not living the high life!), which included:
- sanding back the exterior slightly
- undercoat on exterior
- top paint on exterior - YELLOW!
- using nail polish remover to take of permanent marker from the interior
- then, realizing were are going to paint it anyway so could have saved myself 3 hours and a back ache!
- painting the interior ..with BLACKBOARD paint, oh so cool!
- scrubbing gunk from the seats, carpets and cupboards - I do not ever want to know what that stuff was!
- using spray adhesive to cover the ceiling with foam then yellow gingham material! hehe so cute!
- installing the fan
- learning how to check the various oil, water, air and battery levels
- AND, naming our new little beauty! IVAN was born!
Our very next camping test was the big one. Woodford Folk Festival for 8 long days of camping! I had never ever camped that long in my life. This was certainly going to test Ivan and ourselves!
What fun! I am sure you have more to tell us though.
ReplyDeletehaha that I do Hazel! It takes ages sending photos from my phone to email, then downloading them to the computer then uploading them to blogger, so I expect it will be a few more days before I get through to the most exciting part!
ReplyDeletexx Kim
Yay! How exciting. I'm also keen to get a camper one day. We hired one for a week and it was one of our best ever holidays.
ReplyDeleteHow fun.
ReplyDeleteI too have just bought myself a van with the idea of doing it up and then *exploring*
I called mine Wanda and together, I hope, that is what we will do.
Wanda and me, we will wander.
http://iwannawander.blogspot.com/
Barb.