The Journey starts here

Today is an exciting day as we take possession of our new home away from home. The faithful old ‘Panda’ (Expanda) has been sold to make way for our shiny new ‘Journey’.

We will no doubt miss the generous space and versatility of the tardis-like Expanda, but it’s time to go longer and further and to more remote places, so we’ve gone all-in and upgraded to full travel luxury, comparatively speaking of course. With no pop-outs or build-it-yourself parts (even the awning is automatic!) we hope that even less time and effort spent setting up the caravan means more time enjoying our trip – although our travel buddies may miss the spectacle of a good domestic during the setting-up-of the-campsite process. 😉

There’s a few things that are new to us with this van that we’ll need to get used to and figure out as we go – like how many pies will fit in the oven at once, how many socks and undies can we squeeze into a single washing machine cycle, how do we empty the grey water tank and most importantly how to avoid splashback at the dump point!

The challenge now is to pack and figure out where everything goes. It’s more involved than it first appears. This van is heavier than our last, so we’re necessarily more conscious of weight and the need to pack appropriately. Its easy to do and we’re all a little bit guilty of packing more than needed ‘just in case’. I was amazed how much stuff we had accumulated in the Expanda! There will definitely be a cull as we re-pack the Journey in favour of the pragmatic ‘less-is-more’ philosophy.

To the boys’ amusement, I have channelled my inner nerd and created a spreadsheet to calculate the weight of each item that goes back in – from BBQ (16 kg) to 5 x toothbrushes (0.02 kg) and everything in between. Of course, a few things are non-negotiable like coffee machine (9 kg) and case of wine (14 kg) – ok maybe two cases, we are going to Margaret River!

So far, we’re theoretically under our ATM with full water tanks and gas bottles, but with food and clothes still to come… I’ve also calculated our GVM and GCM with all five of us in the car. Again, we’re looking good and dare I say even have capacity to put on weight, which I’m pretty sure is inevitable. Regardless, a quick roll over a weighbridge is on the agenda before we head off, just to be sure.

It’s not for everyone, but we’re excited for where our ‘Journey’ will take us. Now it’s off to K-Mart to ‘Marie Kondo’ it with storage solutions.Read more