Experiences of an A'vanner

Experiences of an A'vanner

Have been reading your site since it started, and thought it's time I wrote and thanked you for your efforts. I really look forward to getting the e-mail reminder each month about the updates.

While I'm at it, thought I'd also contribute a little about our A'van experiences.

We bought an A-liner 1D in December 1999, and took it around Australia for most of 2000 (February to October), during which time we covered about 43,000 absolutely fantastic kilometres. So what modifications and extras did we choose or make? I have to say, very little! I've divided things into the
few options we chose at the time, and some that I'd choose if I was doing it again.

Options purchased:

Awning - great idea - gives some shelter to take off/put on raincoats before entering van, sun protection for sitting outside. Once we got the hang of putting it up, we did so at most stops, unless it was just an overnight travel stop in fine weather. We ended up storing it in the car, so we didn't need to fold it up small to fit in the storage compartment of the van.

Solar panel. We stayed in unpowered locations for up to a week at a time. If the weather was not excessively hot we turned the fridge off at night to conserve gas. The panel was adequate for lighting (including reading) except one occasion at Carnarvon Gorge when we had 4 consecutive rainy and overcast days.

Reading lights. We're very glad we had these installed. The main lights are just not good enough for reading or sewing or any other fine detail work. In fact, they have lower power globes than the main lights, so use less battery!

Annex. We didn't get the A'van annex, but had one made by a local annex maker. This was made of all fly-screen material (no canvas). I have to admit we didn't use it often, but there were a few locations where the bush flies were dreadful, and some very hot evenings where mosquitoes were a problem (Port Headland being the place I particularly remember), so being able to sit outside without getting bitten was a bonus. The annex came with a draught sheet that clipped to the lower edge of the van, hanging down to the ground to stop insects coming into the annex from that gap. The annex walls attached to the existing zips in the A'van supplied awning, and attached to the van using bolt ropes into two pieces of vertical sail track riveted to the van at the front and back of the near side.

High-density foam mattress. We didn't order this initially, but after a couple of months we had one cut to size at a Clark rubber shop. Made a huge difference to the quality of sleep! We chose the 1D layout, with a fixed bed and only a 2-seat dinette. We had travelled in small motorhomes previously, and decided that making up the dinette into a bed each night was not our preferred option. Most visitors we had were from other campers / caravans, and generally sat outside, usually bringing their own folding chairs (we
carried three). On the few occasions when we wanted to sit two guests inside, we'd give them the dinette and we'd sit on the bed, with one person using the top of the drawer unit as a table, and the other the sink infill. After meeting several A'van owners with the sofa-style models, we found that they generally travelled with the sofa made up permanently as a bed anyway!

Options I'd choose if I had my time over:

Large opening window at rear. Definitely. We had a few nights when sleep was difficult due to heat and lack of a breeze. We carried a small fan/heater, which helped, but of course you need to be at a powered site. Warning - don't leave the fan blowing on your uncovered back all night! I did this one night in Darwin and could hardly walk the next day - all my back and thigh muscles refused to work! We planned our trip according to the seasons, and only used the heater a couple of freezing mornings in Alice Springs.

Light truck tyres. We had some problems with the tyres - you will have received an e-mail from Peter Bishop which includes my description of what happened - different problem from his, I think. Basically they were not heavy duty enough. As you can see from the above, we didn't add any weight to the van with extras, and were certainly not overloaded. We were 'upgrading' from tent camping, so are used to travelling light-weight. Cornering the van at highway speeds puts more strain on the inner tyre than people allow for - the tyre dealer said he would allow for 75% of the loaded weight of the van in rating tyres for such a trailer.

Bike rack. When someone comes up with a design that overcomes all the concerns about reliability and strength, I'd add one. We took a bike with quick-release back and front wheels, so it would fit in the back of the car, but it was a big hassle to take everything out to get the bike, then assemble it, so it stayed in the car more often than it should have.

Other comments:

We towed the A-liner with a 2L Toyota RAV4 automatic. The car was just great, and the only noticeable reduction in power was on steep hills, otherwise it was just a bit too easy to forget the van was on the back (I was new to towing anything!)

We saw many A'vans on the road, with a record 7 of them in one caravan park at Katherine. (Well I'm willing to bet it's a record outside of A'van gatherings!) We had a great 9 months travelling, and it has been difficult to settle back in to working life. I love the Around Oz site as it keeps refuelling my dreams to travel again.

Elaine Beller