Sarah and I were on holiday with my parents A-van on the south coast of NSW during January 2021, thanks to the pandemic closing off most other travel options. We had such a great time as a family, the kids were happy, off devices and relaxed. We started to think a year of #vanlife would be a great alternative for the current conditions.

I had been working for the week at WorkLife Berry, experimenting with what it would be like to work in regional co-working spaces while traveling thanks to a good friend of mine Kate Desaurnalds. I downloaded caravansales.com.au and started searching for a modern Expanda van.

Meanwhile our friends Colin & Louise were staying in a lovely retro van and Sarah was immediately in love, the next day she downloaded the internet to her brain as only she can when obsessed with an idea and had a plan to pitch when I arrived home. The idea made a lot of sense, the retro vans were a lot more fun than marine looking new vans and were at a price point that took a lot of the risk out of the decision.

There was only one real problem. We had absolutely none of the required skills. We had however completed a renovation of our own home and an AirBnB called “Mollies Place” in 2020 and we knew our sister Prue Laney would be excited about the idea of a tiny house style “Designer Van” project.

1 Day later we made an offer on a 1982 Viscount Grand Tourer which Sarah had researched as a reliable base for a reno and we picked it up on the way home from our south coast holiday. I’m sure Mum and Dad thought we were a little nuts (correct perhaps).

Here are some pictures of the original van.

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