10 commandments for life in a campervan

After a few months cruising the Australian (dirt)roads with our campervan, it’s time for a recap! We’ve done some counting and realized we’ve spent well over a 1,500 hours in our campervan up till now and during that time we’ve discovered a thing or two :)

We thought it might be useful to share a few first-hand tips & tricks for present/future campervan adventurers. For this purpose we’ve constituted 10 commandments or guidelines for living in a campervan!

1. Thou shalt organise thy stuff

Believe us – this is a hard one :) As you have to fit all of your belongings in one car things will pile up for sure! So try to think things through before you start randomly throwing in your clothes, kitchen utensils, toiletries, car tools etc. Think about what stuff you need to use daily and where it’s located most conveniently.

The last thing you want is to look for a new roll of toilet paper in the back box of your campervan when nature is calling all of a sudden ;-)

2. Thou shalt cook in unusual circumstances/places

On the ground, in the rain, surrounded by kangaroos, on the beach, in the car, under cockatoo attacks, in a bus shed… you name it, we’ve done it! When it comes to cooking, you have to get creative! With only one or two stoves gourmet options are limited, and you’ll quickly learn that wind is not your friend when cooking in open air ;)

We can promise you this: it’s never a boring day in the campervan kitchen!

3. Thou shalt drive A LOT

Especially when you’re driving around Australia like us… boy oh boy there are some loooong and winding roads down here :D ! But we absolutely love driving through all these beautiful landscapes and pit stopping in the smallest towns.

Whenever we have the option we prefer driving ourselves instead of flying or taking a bus or train. In return for lots of hours behind the wheel you’ll be totally immersed in the countryside and discover the most remote and interesting places that would otherwise be skipped.

4. Thou shalt not make a mess

You’d be surprised how quickly a tiny space (such as a campervan) gets dirty! At least… we were :) And wait till you add dirtroads or rain – arghhhh! In order to try and keep dirt and dust to a minimum we try to take off our shoes before hopping in the back of the car (thank god for flip-flops btw).

And of course, try not to postpone doing the dishes (*guilty*). Dirty dishes get sticky and smelly pretty quick when you’re driving around in Australian temperatures… not cool mate!

5. Thou shalt meet wildlife up close (very close!)

One of the biggest perks of driving/camping/sleeping right in the middle of nature is that you’ll see tons of wildlife! Animals can be very curious about their new neighbours and will sometimes come up really close to say hi – especially when you’re cooking or eating for some bizarre reason ;-) By the way, please don’t feed them! Not good for their bellies and/or natural instincts.

Some of the friendliest neighbours we had here in Australia were kangaroos, wallabies, pademelons, cockatoos, wombats, koalas, platypus, and echidnas. We’ve even met one wombat who used our campervan for a nice and long back rub :)

6. Thou shalt find bugs where thou doesn’t want them to be

Yep, you might not want to think about it, but it’ll happen. It kinda goes hand in hand with sleeping right in the middle of nature… not all your neighbours will be cute and furry koalas we’re afraid :) Be prepared to spot a few spiders, ants, bees, mosquitos (NO!) and other creepy crawlers in your campervan.

It happens in a regular house too of course, but in a campervan the “walls” are just a bit closer to where you’re sitting/sleeping. And we’ll spare you any discriptions or photos of some of these Australian creatures… Yikes hahaha :D !

7. Thou shalt be abnormally happy with a free hot shower

Ahhhhh the luxury of a hot shower! Taken totally for granted back home, a few minutes under a free hot shower after many cold ones is total bliss when you’re living in a campervan :) ! Forget the freakin’ cold showers or lukewarm camp showers for a minute and just enjoyyyy the hot-shower-moment…

We were so happy to discover that throughout Australia free hot showers are not that uncommon, especially in beach areas of course. THANK YOU Australia!

8. Thou shalt spend the day/night at amazing places

One of the biggest advantages of living in a campervan, is you’re totally free in deciding where you want to go. You wanna go to the ocean? Drive through the rainforest? Camp right on the beach? Sleep amongst the stars? Stay one more night? Leave earlier? You choose!

You’ll be able to have front-row sunrise breakfasts, ocean-view lunches, starlit dinners or even free overnight campsites if you’re lucky!

9. Thou shalt get tired of looking for a legit camping spot

We were a little surprised by the sheer amount of “no camping” or “no sleeping in vehicle” signs there are in Australia! We had imagined that we would buy our campervan, hit the road, and just sleep wherever we wanted! A little naïve in hindsight… ;) If you’re not staying on an official camping area (read: not free) it’s not that easy to find authorized camping spots in Australia as in many parts it’s illegal to camp in public areas (this includes sleeping in your car). So sometimes you’ll have to drive a bit further away from the coast or town in order to find an okay camping spot.

A useful app to help you find those secret (or not so secret) spots is WikiCamps. Through this app people share where they’ve found a free camping area, along with other “Points of Interest” such as free showers, toilets, laundromats etc.

10. Thou shalt LOVE it!

Though it might not all seem all that glamorous after reading some of the previous commandments… But then again, what did you expect :) ? You “suffer” through those in order to have the most beautifully free feeling there is!

CARPE DIEM is the campervan way of life.

Cruising scenic driveways, stopping wherever you want, setting up camp on a beautiful spot, sleeping amongst kangaroos and koalas, gazing up starlit night skies, having ocean view breakfasts… Those are just some of the amazing rewards and benefits of life in a campervan!