Spacevan interior (completed) ...

Our second two drawer units arrived and Nick fitted them during his most recent time off.  

After discussion, it was decided to use a sheet of plywood to make two tops for the units, to give a bit more stability to them when being used as benches.

We bought the ply as a sheet, which Nick cut to size.  He rounded the front corners and decided to use an all-in-one stain and varnish product for sealing the sanded plywood.

I thought it might be cool to do a photo collage on each top but am still thinking about that - and we might well have many more photos to include after this year's big trip!

There was enough stain finish for a full coat on both sides and then a second coat on the top, visible side.  Brass bolts were used to attach the tops to the bases - and it all looks quite schmick!

I'd already chosen the red dirt coloured cord for Bandit's bed without much thought to the final benchtop colour - and we didn't consider it when choosing the stain - but all co-ordinates very well together.

While at Bunnings we picked up two packs of their interlocking foam mats, which are a bit smaller than other versions.  Nick used them to cover the usable floor on the upper, bed level of the camper trailer.

We've found the mats great for trapping dirt when camping and think this extra set will be even better for keeping dust etc out of our bed! 

The final tally for the drawer unit project was $788.20, which we are very chuffed about.  (The full cost was another $70.00 but we used Nick's work Christmas voucher to discount the price of the first drawer unit).  

For comparison, we have access to Cub's September 2022 pricelist and their 8-drawer tallboy unit was then priced at $1,523.00.

Light and bright!

When we bought our initial camping equipment in January 2009, we didn't want to use gas so chose a dual-fuel lantern and three UFO camping lights. At that stage the UFO lights were almost $17.00 each and the RRP of the lantern was $150.00 (without case).

The lantern reminded me of the pressurised kerosene lamps that had featured during my childhood - along with primus stoves and a quick-boil kettle. 

Our dual-fuel lantern was well-used on many trips and did great work till around 2016, when we upgraded to a newer model.

This post from late 2014 mentions our lighting set up.  There's another reference here from that same trip.  We acquired more 12-volt LED lights in 2016, during our 18-month stint of caravan living, while in transit between Victoria and Queensland. 

Those LED lights are still doing well and are being used in our current Spacevan.  We called into the 4WD Supacentre very recently, hoping to get an extension - but the current versions aren't magnetic and won't pair with our existing set.

On our February trip to Stanthorpe we used some cheap Kmart "bulb tent lights" inside our new Hub screenhouse.  (Those bulb lights usually stay in our shower bags, cos some cubicles are only dimly lit).

After returning home, we took advantage of Anaconda's summer sale to buy two Ultra Slim, battery operated lanterns for use inside the Hub.  We can hang them or they'll sit on the table.  They have three settings and emit nice light.  

Years ago I made basic covers for the UFO lights but I crafted much better protection for this pair, using a lightly quilted silk scarf for the outside and some dark fleece inside.

Let sleeping dogs ...

I've sewn all sorts of things over the years - including many curtains and some bedding but I have limited experience of making other furnishings.  

Many years back, I made cushion covers for Erin's bedroom space in a small "bubble" van.  Those covers were quite simple and were finished with hand-stitching, to avoid the need for zippers.

Fast forward to now, when I've had a lot more experience of zippers, albeit on small-scale zip pouch projects.  

After a fair bit of YouTube research, I felt reasonably confident of creating a zip cover for Bandit's custom dog bed. 

Given my level of confidence, I decided to make two covers - a waterproof under layer and a soft corduroy top cover.  Yep, call me keen!

Nick cut the foam cushion to size, from the mattress that came with the Spacevan (which we chose to upgrade).  

Another piece of foam had been used to fill the gap between the Mahindra's two rear seats, to give Mr Dog more room to stretch while we are travelling.  

No purchases were necessary to create the dog bed.  The under layer was made from an upcycled waterproof sheet and the outer cover used fabric from my infamous stash (a bargain opshop purchase from quite a few years ago).  The shorter zips were also opshop buys, sourced from the stash.  The longer zips are upcycled from rooftop cargo bags that deteriorated.  Had I bought the four zips from Spotlight even with a coupon, they would have been $25.00.

Some of the cover construction was new to me, so there was a lot of muttering as I battled through the first one, with constant reference to the YouTube tutorial - while eating jelly snakes! I did better on my second cover (and now know a lot more about altering zippers) but even so, I needed to finesse/fudge a little. I'm pretty chuffed to have finished though - and really like how the two covers work together.

Most importantly, Mr Dog seems happy with the new arrangement and we're hoping he likes sleeping there a lot more than crowding in with us!

Getting our money's worth!

At some stage in late 2013, we took advantage of a Ray's Outdoors sale to buy four grey camping chairs.  They had already done a fair bit of travel before our stint of caravan transit life, when they were in daily use for 18 months.

They've had some more camping trips since we relocated to Queensland but Nick and I found them less comfortable on our very recent Stanthorpe break.

We're planning a two-month touring adventure later this year and decided a chair upgrade would be good preparation for that - and as luck would have it, Anaconda was having a great sale!

Of course, if there hadn't been a sale - we would have waited for one, cos we do love getting an excellent bargain!

We had mis-remembered where the grey chairs came from, so happily bragged to an Anaconda fellow of how well they'd lasted, thinking they'd been an earlier purchase from one of "his" stores!  Hah!

Spacevan interior (continued) ...

Our second drawer unit arrived at Bunnings while we were in Stanthorpe.  We collected it on Tuesday, soon after getting home.  

Nick installed both drawer units into the Spacevan later that afternoon.  They look great!

His next mission was to cut down the former bed frame.  The shorter format fits beside the drawers, to enclose the diesel heater.  It will be used as a base for Bandit's dog bed.  We have foam to cut for a custom-sized cushion.  Once the foam is cut, I'll sew a zip cover for the cushion. 

A second set of two drawers will be installed on the other side of the Spacevan.  I'll order those soon.  There is talk of fitting some kind of bench top to both drawer stacks but we're still thinking about that!

Stanthorpe exploring ...

We'd previously visited Stanthorpe in June 2017, not long after relocating to Queensland.  On that occassion the four of us, with Bandit, stayed in a pet-friendly cabin on Storm King Dam. 

We stayed at the same caravan park this trip, on a powered site just a short walk from the water.

Our November anniversary trip had been planned for bushwalking in the Girraween National Park, without Mr Dog.  It wasn't an option to leave him behind for the rescheduled booking - but fortunately there were lots of dog-friendly options around the area.

We had a lot of fun exploring around Serendipity Rocks nature reserve - and revisiting Donnelly's Castle.  There was a short walk around Mt Marlay also.  Mr Dog had such a great day, he slept super-soundly that night!

Cafe dining isn't something we usually do with Bandit but there were a number of dog-friendly wineries, so we chose one of those to visit on our last day.  

We ordered a wood-fired pizza and Mr Dog was very happy to be given a morsel!

The tourist information centre has a multi-page list of the wineries and their various dog-friendly conditions.  We were given a brochure about dog-friendly walks in the area also (and I had researched at home as well).

Stanthorpe setup ...

We bought our first gazebo in January 2010 and have had others since.  They were used a lot in our earlier days and one stayed up almost permanently during our transition period in Victoria.  

Ballan was often windy and we regularly kept the gazebo in it's lowered position to increase wind resistance.  There are some pics, here.  (We also used loops to prevent water pooling in the rain).

When I saw a Drifta clip of the Wild Land Hub Screenhouse, I was very interested and immediately showed Nick.  I am allergic to sandfly and some other insect bites, so particularly liked the thought of being in a protected zone!

Drifta had an Australia Day sale and we bought one Hub, with two walls for only a few dollars more than the usual retail price.  We opted to collect from our closest store, rather than pay freight - which meant we could view other equipment in person, and visit a nearby 4WD Supacentre as well.

Each of our three hardfloor campers came with an awning (and walls) but generally we set-up in the basic configuration, cos that's easier - which is what we did on our first night in Stanthorpe.

After exploring on Saturday, we set up our new Wild Land Hub Screenhouse.  It went up quickly and we enjoyed sitting under cover.  The prediction was for lots of wind overnight, so Nick packed away the Hub before we went to bed.

He set it up again on Sunday and it then stayed up for the remainder of our break.  We were very impressed with how well it held up against the wind and rain - as were our camping neighbours.  Even with just two walls, we were surprised at the difference the screened area made to wind/warmth.  (We are thinking of buying a few more walls but might wait for another sale).  

The Hub is lighter than our gazebos, sets up and packs down quicker and really is quite nifty.  Call us fans!

Stanthorpe scheming ...

Our November anniversary celebrations were originally planned for Stanthorpe but wet weather meant we travelled to Tin Can Bay instead.

We decided to use our Stanthorpe booking credit for one of Nick's roster breaks.  

I had a rough menu plan, which helped my meal prepping and packing for our four-night holiday.

Space is limited in our 38-litre Engels and we only planned to take one fridge with us, so I packed butter, olive oil spread and some shredded cheese into small containers.

I made a half quantity of my usual pikelet mix, using milk powder and stored in a plastic bottle. It needed water, an egg and some golden syrup on-site.  

After some good shakes, I could pour into the pan. (I've used the same dry mix previously but not thought to mix in a bottle).

Salad isn't my best thing, so I tried the mason jar method.  I made two versions to try. (We took three jars with us and left two at home).  

While away, we found a couple of opshop bargains. My heavy glass salad bowl was just $3.00 and looked a bit flash on the camp dining table! 

We had BBQ chicken and salad wraps for a picnic lunches on first two days.

There is no photo but I froze some Mexican mince to take with us.  I cooked rice before leaving home.  Our first night's dinner was super easy!

Breakfast was cereal, toasted muffins, fruit portions - with tea and coffee.  I cooked the pikelets on our last day, before packing up to head home.  

We had a cheese platter picnic on our third day, splurged on wood-fired pizza at a winery the next day - and then lunched at home on our last day, cos we weren't hungry before then!

The jar salads worked pretty well, with only minimal freezing.  I'll try some other combinations but liked how easy it was to tip the jar into a bowl and serve.  All dinners were simple.  We used the camp kitchen several nights as it had plenty of hotplates under cover.  It rained at times during our stay and there was wind, also.

Nick cooked BBQed chicken fillets with Morrocan seasoning for our second night.  I did steaks with garlic butter the third night - and we shared the final night's cooking.  Nick BBQed  lamb sausages and zucchini/ herb parcels, while I made up a packet pasta dish.  

I brought the chicken fillets from home.  We picked up other provisions from Stanthorpe Woolies on Saturday morning.  On Monday afternoon we called into the local IGA for some dessert provisions.  We had meringue nests with thick custard and berries for dessert - yum!

The Spacevan's gas burners didn't cope well in the wind so we used our butane stove on a few occasions, set up on the kitchen slide or on the table, inside our screened gazebo. 

Setting up the interior ...

The interior of our 2015 Spacevan is different to that of the 2006 model we first owned.  Our earlier one had an interior kitchen with lots of storage in two stainless steel cabinets, located on either side of the trailer. (The old gas fridge wasn't used and Nick removed it to create an extra cupboard space).

In contrast, our 2015 camper has one low bench seat on one side (it was formerly the lower bunk of an earlier fitout) and just a small storage box next to the bed on the other side.

As our bed runs across the end of the camper, there is a lot of empty floor space and a real lack of convenient storage.

The layout difference between the two vans was highlighted during our recent Chinchilla trip.  

Since coming home, there has been more talk about what might be a better layout option, within budget.  We've researched a few possibilities but think we've now found a winner.

The first part of the plan was to remove the former bottom bunk, frame and all.  The old frame will be shortened to make a smaller box, which fits over the wheel arch and diesel heater - to became a bed for Bandit.  We have foam that will be cut to size and I'll make a cover.

We tested the diesel heater during one of our backyard camping nights last year - and were quite warm but found the unit quite noisy, though that seems a common complaint.

Bunnings stock a range of garage storage units and we ordered one of the extra-large drawer units to try in the camper.  Our plan seems do-able, so we've now ordered a second unit.  

There has been a lot of opening and closing the camper, to determine the best placement of the drawer(s) on the first side.  The units are stackable and will bolt together.

A very pleasant young guy visited yesterday to quote on fitting a 12-volt system inside the Spacevan. (There was one in the past but most of it had been removed prior to our purchase).  

Given the planned 12-volt wiring work, Nick won't install drawers on the driver's side of the Spacevan just yet.

We expect to receive a "shopping list" of components soon and will work on acquiring those.  Once everything is sourced, we'll deliver the van to a local address so the work can be done (probably over the course of a week or so).  We're planning a longer trip toward the end of the year and are looking forward to having 12-volt options while away.  How good will that be?!

Esky upgrade ...

We've acquired a few eskies/coolers over the years.  The current tally includes two larger Willow coolers.  (The lining of one has cracked near the top but it's still usable).  

There is a third, slightly smaller one but it was always a bit awkward to use - mainly cos it's shorter/wider, with less capacity.  And there is a little, 6-can cooler also, which is rarely taken anywere cos it's just too small!

Now that we've down-sized our picnic kit, I've been thinking of buying a better-sized (and not-blue) esky.

I was vaguely tempted by Aldi's recent special buy retro coolers but they were only rated to keep cool for 12 hours. When Nick and I saw better quality coolers on special at a local camping shop, we bought one of those. 

We've been very happy with our two Engel fridges, which were bought in 2010.  They are in daily use at home as well as being taken away from time to time.  Both are still going strong.

The Engel cooler is rated for 36 hours of cooling or something similar. There were many colour options and the sales guy understood my need to colour match picnic and beverage cases, so helped line them up with both the beige and silver coolers for the best coordination! 😁 

Our new cooler had it's first outing yesterday. At the time of purchase we bought two larger, slimline ice bricks and they are a great fit.  Everything worked together very well.  Hooray!

I've done a little research about our new Engel cooler (post purchase) and it seems they make excellent dry boxes also.

We'll still keep the other eskies at this stage cos there are still times when we picnic as a larger group.  (The coolers are used for bulk butcher trips, also).

We found at Carnarvon that the eskies were good for storing food that would usually sit out rather than go in the fridge.  Of course, fridge/freezer space is limited in the Engels, so having insulated pantry boxes was very handy!

Picnic case update ...

Given I posted of the updated beverage case, it seemed fair to include a picnic case update.  

We've used various baskets/cases (hah - basket cases!) over the years.  In earlier times we picnicked as a family and needed more plates, cups, cutlery etc, so had a larger format.  

I still have that green bag to use, when there are more of us out together.

These days it's just Nick and I most of the time.  A picnic-for-two set-up seemed more apt.  

I succumbed to Covid early last year and when I tired of watching YouTube, I upcycled a small lawn bowls case to picnic case (in between naps).  It wasn't until mid February that it had it's first outing, but I've enjoyed using it since. I like picnics!

The little red case holds some cutlery, two larger plates, a small serving tray and a cutting board, while the beverage case has other cutlery, two sets of smaller plates, two saucers and a baby cutting board.  They work well together on occasions when we have an extra person - or want to use more plates!

The beverage case has a stash of tea-bags and some coffee bags.  It's recent overhaul means there's now ground coffee for Nick's travel press, the press and my small teapot. You can see better pics of its contents, here.

Both cases have tablecloths, cos not all picnic tables are suitable to use as they are. The red case has a re-usable rubbish bag and a roll-top wet bag for washing up.  The beverage case used to have a plastic bag for washing up but we don't have many and I'm thinking of making a wet bag for it, also.  (Usually there is a mini tea-towel cos we rinse cups and dry them for re-use during the day).

Not long after converting the red bowl case, I found another red bowls bag made by the same company.  While still vintage, I think it might be a little "newer" based on the logo.  They look good together, though I'm yet to decide on a purpose for it!  It might work to carry a few non-esky items but would require some small tweaks to the interior and I'm not ready to commit to those, just yet.

We updated our stove last year.  As much as we like using the small dual fuel stoves, we've had several and they don't last as long as we might like for the price tag.  The butane one was bought on special for $30.00 and has been working well, so far.  It often stays packed in the car along the with the two cases, the kettle bag (with kettle!) and a 5-litre container of water.  

We take an esky for the food and lately I've been using an insulated drink bottle to hold milk, for extra chilling during the day.  If I'm feeling very flash, I'll pack ice cubes in one of our wide-mouthed thermoses for drink bottle top-ups!

Beverage case revamp ...

I generally take a teapot away with me, whether camping or staying in a cabin.  Nick isn't so fussy but was given an Espro Travel Press for Christmas - and liked using it at Chinchilla.  

We recently travelled into New South Wales to visit family and planned a picnic enroute, so I packed Nick's coffee maker.  

I happened to have my small teapot as well, packed more for our stay than along the way - but I enjoyed having it at the picnic table.

Both travel press and teapot were used on our homeward trip - and since, which prompted a rethink of the beverage case contents.  The case was an upgrade in 2015 and is still going strong.  Given it's usually just Nick and I picnicking these days though, I took out some excess cups to make room for the travel press, ground coffee and my smallest teapot.  Some small adjustments were necessary but all is now fitting nicely. 

I then used a magic sponge to remove some scuff marks from the outside of the case and wiped over with Koh cleaner also.  It's looking pretty good for it's age and eight years of regular use.  Not bad for a $5.00 investment, eh?! 

Chinchilla-ed celebrations!

New setup for the New Year!  We had intended to take our "new" Spacevan away in November but wet weather foiled our plans, so we stayed in a budget cabin at Tin Can Bay instead.

We didn't receive our new car till early December, so this was the first trip for it and the 2015 Spacevan. 

There wasn't a lot of planning.  Our destination was only chosen when we stopped for lunch, 1.5 hours/120 km after leaving home!

We thought we'd just stay one night away, though decided on a second night soon after arrival.  

There was some synchronicity in going back to Chinchilla, which had been the final campsite for our previous Spacevan and Elmer the Gold, back in April (on the way home from our Carnarvon Gorge-ing).  Mr Dog was very excited to join us for this trip, though was not impressed with all the ants taking over his food bowl! 

We departed home on our 18th wedding anniversary.  After consulting the archives we realised it was our 28th camping adventure, in just over 15 years.  There have been various upgrades over that time, since hiring a soft floor camper in late 2008 then buying basic gear in very early 2009 (and needing two cars to carry us and everything else to a free camp fairly close to home)!  

Here's to many more happy adventures!