An overdue catch up…
- naomibowles
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
Well, after nearly two months of renovating, Lenny is finally ready enough for us to set off on our big adventure.
I joked in a previous blog that with a bit of blood, sweat, and tears we’d turn this van into a home - and I can now officially confirm that all three were heavily involved in creating this humble abode (try renovating in 35-degree heat with no air-con for two months straight… it’s really not a laughing matter).
Between the battery dying on day one (gifting us four weeks with no lighting or air conditioning), resorting to multiple last-minute “cowboy jobs” out of pure desperation, battling several determined armies of ants, and deploying a very landlord-style paint technique (cover everything - including the ants), it’s been… an experience.
But despite it all, we’re ridiculously proud of our little Lenny, and are now happily living in domestic bliss.
In the midst of all this, of course, was the whirlwind of Christmas (where we taught Jack’s 11-year-old sister how to play Beer Pong and Battleshots), New Year (where we caught up with a long-lost friend who’s also just moved from Jersey), and our seven-year anniversary (which we, very romantically, spent renovating the van and not speaking to each other, to conserve energy for more important things, like sweating).
Ready to finally hit the road, our inaugural drive with a fully loaded camper was interesting, to say the least. Drivers don’t seem to understand the concept of braking distance, so they love to dart into the tiny buffer we try to leave ourselves for our strained brakes. One particularly ambitious motorcyclist now lives rent-free in our minds, having somehow squeezed through the metre-wide gap between us and the 18-wheeler beside us… Don’t worry, I’ve already started filming for a vlog series titled Chronicles of a Passenger-Seat Driver. Poor Jack.
Our first stop was an exciting little town called Toorbul, where - according to Wikipedia - the local demographic is a whole 16 years above the national average (I feel this is an important detail for setting the scene of this very sleepy little town). Aside from one cloudy beach day on Bribie island, we spent most of our time in Toorbul learning all of Lenny’s little intricacies: how to set up the hot water, the filtration system, the fridge… as well as discovering his quirks, like how the toilet doesn’t work, the washing machine leaks, and the toaster and air-conditioning can’t be on at the same time less we wish to blow another fuse. In other news, we bought fairy lights for outside, so at least it’s aesthetic; Though I do fear that our neighbours asking whether this was our first time in a van is not a great sign.
From there, we ventured to the Sunshine Coast which, in our experience, is a somewhat optimistic name. We wandered around Eumundi Markets (Australia’s largest artisan market), attempted to walk the Noosa Heads National Park trail (thwarted by zero parking and 34-degree heat), and instead opted for lunch at the surf club. Our “Snorkel with Turtles” tour was cancelled due to rain (though not before squeezing ourselves into second-hand wetsuits and launching into the murky and unforgiving sea), forcing us to pivot to a Belgian chocolate afternoon tea for two at The Montville Chocolate Emporium (devastating, obviously).
Should the weather ever decide to cooperate long enough for us to achieve something outdoorsy, further blogs will follow. For now, I give you: A mostly complete Lenny (hugely over-engineered with voice activated lights and an incomplete wallpaper job):
Oh, and I should mention, we saw our first wild Kangaroo a mere 20ft from our front door :)
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