The Dress Rehearsal
At the moment we’re spending a few days away in the caravan. This will be our last trip away before the “big trip” and the opportunity to iron out any little changes we want to make in preparation.
A few things we’re still working out include:
1. What bedding to take.
We’ve all been using sleeping bags (mostly unzipped mind you) so this trip Farmboy and I have brought our doona. It looks lovely and homely set up on the bed.
The trick will be how much space it takes up when the van is packed up. We won’t know this until we get home (given it just got tossed in the caravan to get up here). I suspect it will be a lot more comfortable. Of course, the kids are now complaining that they want their doona’s as well so not sure what we’ll do there (other than space, their sleeping bags are a lot easier when they’re sleeping on the couch – which they’re currently taking turns in doing).
2. What table to take.
We’ve been using a camping table that has 4 chairs attached to it as our “outside table”. I think it’s important to have something we can put outside so that we don’t always have to eat inside. However, we are considering whether to purchase one of those roll-up camping tables instead as they take up less room. We do have camping chairs which we’ll take regardless although I do like the camping table with the chairs attached.
3. Do we really have to take the kids?
LOL. They’ve been a little bit excited so far this trip and I’m not sure I can keep this up for 100 days!!!! Mind you, it has been a busy weekend and I’m pretty tired. I’m sure the people in the caravan next door think we’re the grumpiest parents that they’ve ever heard!
4. What to do about internet connection
I was planning to head off and see what happens in terms of internet connection. Now that McDonald’s have free wifi and so do most public libraries, we really *should* be able to find connections most places. Plus, most caravan parks offer casual internet usage for a fee. Here it is $5 for 30 minutes!!!!! Aaarrgggghhhh. Seems pretty expensive (I know it wasn’t that expensive when we were in Canberra).
I’ve been considering whether I should splurge on a Next-G Telstra connection that uses mobile towers. Need to do some more exploring on that one (I know it’s about $149 for the actual USB attachment but not sure how much the fees are). While it’s a more costly option than finding free connections, it would certainly be rather convenient.
5. Cooking in the van
Every time we go away in it, I try to practise different meals to build up our repertoire of “caravan meals”. Tonight was a bit tricky as it’s the first time I’ve made hamburgers and everything has to be done in stages. The grill is tiny so only fits 2 hamburger buns at a time. Which is fine because I only have a small frypan as well. Dinner had to be made in shifts. Tomorrow I’m planning on trying a roast in the dreampot. Fingers crossed it works (if not, at least we’re not far from some take away places!).
Plenty to think about anyway but mostly the smaller details being worked out now. The kids are LOVING every opportunity to be in the van which is great. Hopefully they’ll look back on these times with fondness. I’ve been keeping a log and by the time we finish with this stint away we’ll have slept 38 nights in the van already. Not bad going given we only bought it late September last year!!!
P.S. I think I just wrote a list post - kind of. Those who read Lightening’s Blogworld will understand the irony of that! 
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Wouldn’t a tightly rolled doona take up just the same space as a rolled up sleeping bag? Why do you have to roll them up anyway? Couldn’t they just be left on the beds? I can understand packing up things that would roll around and get spilled/broken/otherwise damaged…..but doonas? They’d just lie flat. Can you tell I’ve never been caravanning?
Have you got a vacuum for the van??? If so could you use the space bag thingies that you vacuum the air out of them for all the quilts etc……
Make sure you look into other providers as well as Telstra - you should be able to get coverage maps from the different providers so that you can work out who the best would be to use.
When we “lived” in the caravan at the farm, Mum used to love things like tacos as it was easy to feed a bunch of people in different shifts. Also look into whether the caravan parks have a BBQ that you can use - send Farmboy off to cook the meat while you prepare the other bits and pieces. And he could toast hamburger buns on the BBQ too
I’m think that I’d be doing away with the table with chairs attached. We have an aluminium one that rolls up when not in use and it takes up a lot less space.
Most places have such good camp kitchens now too that when we go away if we want to eat at the table we tend to use those. I know some of the ones we’ve been in have full kitchen type facilities too which would make things like hamburgers much easier and quicker.
Our friends who went round Australia in a camper trailer reckon that the hardest bit for them was restricting clothes and personal items.
There are so many things to experiment with and pro’s and con’s to everything. All part of the fun
Here’s some of the things we’ve learnt/decided on along the way:
We’ve made the switch from doonas to sleeping bags. The doonas took up too much room when we packed up. The down side of the sleeping bags is they need to be stuffed into their sacks each pack up, but MUCH more efficient space wise.
If you’re getting rid of the table with chairs attached, consider if your camp chairs are comfortable to eat on or if they’re high enough for the roll up table.
Like Gemisht said, check out other wireless providers. Telstra has the best coverage but is the most expensive. If you’re sticking to major population areas, you’re likely to find someone cheaper. Caravan park connections are probably the most expensive option.
You’ll love the roast in the Dreampot. Very yummy gravy too
We have found through travelling around that Steph’s next G pre-paid internet connection works really well. You have to put $20 per month on to keep it active (just like a pre-paid phone) but as you can imagine that hasn’t been a problem. Steph doesn’t really use it at home as she doesn’t need to but it’s been great for when we have been away and the service areas are just as good as your phone.
Can you leave the beds made up when you fold up the caravan? We make our beds up in the camper and leave it that way. I’m a doona girl, and so is Steph. Can’t stand sleeping bags.
You’ll find that a pre-paid Internet dongle will be far cheaper than paying internet cafe fees.
Hi Jodie
Just thought I would add tot he earlier comment about the “space bags” - they also do travel ones which you just roll up once the contents are inside to compress the air out. Not sure how large they are though, but may at least fit the children’s doonas in them?
My girlfriend’s favourite caravan items are her convection microwave (she took out the regular oven) and her cast iron electric frypan.
We baked biscuits in the convection oven and made the most awesome roast lamb with the crispiest potatoes in the electric frying pan!
Lis