Day 6 / Day 1: The Beginning


We set off at around midday, headed for the capital of Australia. Our campervan is actually just a van except instead of the back row of seats, there’s a mattress. By the end we’d grow quite fond of ‘Polestar’ (it was named already) but when I first saw it, it wasn’t quite what I was expecting.
We planned it so that today would be mostly spent on making ground up to Canberra as it was expected to take us quite a while. By sundown we just made it to the outskirts of the capital. Now we had to try figure out where to stay. One of the reasons I was so excited for this trip was because of the level of freestyleness I was expecting. We made rough plans and estimations on where we’d be and when, but other than that we were going to take things on a day to day basis.
Loving the shade at a stopover

Some submarine
On this night, freestyling almost proved costly as we couldn’t find accommodation. The girls were hesitant to park the van anywhere and spend the night, which is what I suggested, because it was against the law. I thought the chances of us getting caught would be very slim. On our journey to find a campsite we somehow drove through a carnival that had shut up shop for the night. It was like being on the set of a horror movie. I suggested we park in there, which on hindsight was definitely a stupid idea.
Finally, after about an hour of driving around mindlessly, we found a campervan campsite. It was a paid one but because we got there so late, the office had closed. Conveniently, the gate was left open for us to come right in and stay the night.
Our sleeping formation is like this. The 3 girls on the double mattress at the back. It’s quite comfortable but has the ‘close-proximity-to-others’ factor going on. I’m sleeping in the passenger seat with the seat down. It has the uncomfortable factor but the personal space bonus, which I prefer.
There was a free power plug at the campsite that I used to charge my phone (this would become a salient part of the trip).
I guess it was a pretty uneventful beginning to the trip. But it was good for getting a feel for how we’d work together and stuff like that. I think it’ll be good. 10 days together to look forward to for Alice, Kate, Cherri and Phil.
Peak of the day: Finding a power plug at the campsite
Pit of the day: Driving around unable to find a place to stay for an hour

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