On a spur of the moment thing I decided that the best way to cure my work, home and winter blues was to hire a Wicked Van and spend a week on the road on my own. Hiring a Wicked Van is something I’ve wanted to do since my roadtrip to Sydney with Danielle a few years ago, so finally doing it was exciting for me. I had an ipod full of new music, 4 books to read and a cute little Dell Mini 9 laptop to blog the trip. Once my week’s long leave was approved, I paid for the van and within days I was off.
Took the morning slow and didn’t pick up the van until 10.30am. It came with an esky, camp cooker, kitchen sink, bed, two chairs and a table as well as a table in the van (for rain purposes I guess). Paintjob is mainly just graffiti, I would have liked a beatles one or something, but I didn’t see anything on the lot which I might have liked better (except for maybe the zombie one). Assumed it would be automatic but wasn’t unhappy when it was manual. Takes a while to get back in to the groove, a few crunches of third gear and getting through the city is shitty but I managed it.
On Wendy’s demand I drove past work and showed her and Cheryl my new home. They queried the pink handcuffs hanging from the rear view but I passed it off as bling. It’s kind of weird looking at a camper van in the loading zone of an office building but it was fun. Wendy took some photos for her husband, Cheryl got in the front and wished it was her and I tried to adjust the side mirrors because unfortunately they were manual. I still don’t think I’ve got them right.
At home I packed up the van with things that were handy thanks to Pauline’s recent birthday camping adventure while the dog looked forlornly on. I reassured him that Pauline would be home that night and with triple j blaring I took to the road. The idea was to not go too far so that I could work out the relative intricacies of the vehicle and camping while still in support range. I may be doing this alone but I don’t have to be stupid about it. I decided that Noosa would be my first night, but didn’t really want anyone to know that since it’s still within family visitation range. Looking at you Kelly and Mum. 😉 Having said that, I did stop in at Kelly’s work to give her a look at the van and to pick up supplies from Woolies. I also finally got to see the place where Kelly works – hard for someone who is so social to be the only one who sits in the office.
By this time it was about 1.30pm and I was anxious to keep going. Took the Sunshine Motorway to Noosa and found that being in this van means that people think it’s clapped out and won’t be able to get over 100km. They tend to want to overtake or be a little agressive and I don’t know if it’s in my mind or what but I keep thinking they are going “bloody tourist hippy”. I have noticed people slyly walk closer to the back of the van to read the writing though – it’s funny how they try to be subtle about it.
Arriving at Noosa I was annoyed to discover that the Noosa Triathlon is on this weekend. This meant tonnes of people in Hastings Street and no parks. I had to drive to virtually the end of the earth to find one just so I could visit the information centre. At least I saw some wind boarders utilising the river entrance and wind to surf board with sails which was great to watch. The walk did take me through the triathlon village where I felt out of place amongst the athletes lining up to enter. After deciding I wasn’t going to enter (a no brainer) I thought I’d check out the big tent, but all it had in there were bike and health things so I left quickly. A quick photo of the empty bar (nice idea to sponsor a health event Hahn), a short listen to a keyboard guy sing “No woman, no cry” and I continued to the information centre. They had lots of useful stuff there as well as helpful ladies who reminded me of Tru and Pru from Kath and Kim handing out the maps. Avoiding all urges to look at shops I returned back to the van to pick accommodation.
My first choice was one at North Shore which was on the beach but they were all booked out so I decided to head to Tewantin to escape the road closures happening due to the Triathlon. I found the Tewantin Noosa caravan park which is near the ferry at Tewantin. Arriving around 5pm I set about making my bed and organising dinner while it was still light. I had a great spot right near the camp kitchen which even had a fridge – nice touch. After dinner, which was a $3 on special steak and cous cous with feta and pumpkin I sat down to read a book. I think I was in bed by maybe 7.30 and asleep by 8pm – rager!
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I knew you were there cause I read your tweets LOL. But knew you wanted alone time. The van was pretty cool though. I tried suggesting it to mat but he said no. Only wants to take a winabago (spelling?). What a snob haha