So, are we likely to buy a campervan or a house bus?
The jury remains out and probably the longer it remains out the less likely it is that we will buy a self-contained live-aboard vehicle. Much as I liked the past six days and enjoyed once again travelling with my bunk in sight (this time in the rear-view mirror), there were a couple of jarring points. The first and most obvious is that the dinette, semi-circular lounge seating at the rear of the vehicle had to be deconstructed each night and reconstructed every morning. That is a pain. It means there are limited options for an afternoon sleep and, when one decides to go to bed, then both have to go to bed. I would have much preferred to have separate north–south bunks, always available and with a table between.
Moving on from this, the camper we had seemed too high, too wide, and too cumbersome. If we did buy a live-aboard, it would probably be a converted bus. The good points of the campervan were the front-to-rear inside accessibility, the kitchen area, and loads of storage. The bathroom area was a wet room, meaning that every time the shower was used, the whole thing would become saturated with the water draining through a hole in the floor. In short, we didn’t use either the shower or the on-board toilet, preferring instead to use the campground facilities. I did run the tap in the basin once to check how easy it was to use. There was an immediate flood of water through the bottom of the bathroom door and into the kitchen. I turned the tap off and watched J wipe it all up. Once was enough. For the six days the bathroom was used as a coat store.
We stayed at Castlepoint for three nights and Greytown for two. Both camps were good and at each we plugged into mains power. This was a real bonus, a luxury we’ve not had on any other camping trips.
For the moment we will not make any decisions on whether or what to buy in the way of motorised live-aboards. We both enjoyed this brief taste and for us being in about a 25 sqm space while the rain poured down was really quite good. J and I travel well together.
Off Highway One 