Category: Throwback Travel Series

Throwback Blog Series: Our First Camper Van. Part II

by Molly O'Rourke, posted in Throwback Travel Series

We were back on the road with Kill Bunny. Wild animal encounters were becoming more frequent and more nerve racking. At first we were out looking for Kangaroos. Then there were kangaroos everywhere. As it turns out, they don’t really seem very interested in playing.

These guys watched us hike and ended up witnessing a moment of truth. The path was well worn. It was a typical hike with trees and grass and kangaroos. We were walking side by side when, out of nowhere, something jumped up and stabbed my foot. Without hesitation, I pushed CD towards the wild animal and took off running down the trail. Moments later, I come face to face with the stick that had grabbed my foot. If there was ever any question what I would do in the face of an emergency, it was answered during this hike. If it’s me or CD, it looks like CD is going to have to look out for himself.

Back in the parking lot, we made breakfast and headed towards the beach.

That is where CD was attacked by this bird. It wasn’t shy about diving right into his cereal bowl.

Bird that attacked me at Pebbly Beach

We picked up the pace and focused our sights back on the beach. We walked a couple of hundred feet on the sand and were enjoying the view when we saw this. It was indifferent to us. I was less indifferent to it.

Lizard at Pebbly Beach

That was our morning at Pebbly Beach. I was starting to feel a bit jumpy. I will skip the crocodiles in the river and the pythons in the sugar fields for now. I will mention the Emu in the road and the brush turkey that was stalking me. Has anyone heard of a cassowary.? Yikes!

Bush Turkey
Emu

I started checking everywhere for spiders and snakes. I carefully opened the washroom door at the park below. I looked on the floor and behind the toilet for snakes. I looked in the corners for spiders. I peed – more quickly than sometimes – and flushed. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something bright green in the toilet. A frog was inside the toilet! It was holding on to the top of the toilet with one leg, just under the toilet seat, while the rest of its body fought against the current of the toilet flushing. What!! I can’t believe I made it out of there alive.

A Frog, after the water stopped running and he tucked back in to his hiding spot

Throwback Blog Series: Our First Camper Van Adventure.

by Molly O'Rourke, posted in Throwback Travel Series

This is a story about the first camper van that we loved. It was a remarkable pink and white van from Wicked Campers in Australia. It’s name was “Kill Bunny.” We didn’t name it. The name was painted all over it.

Wicked Campers can’t be mistaken for anything else. If you have seen one, you remember it. We reserved the least expensive option. When we arrived to pick it up, they pointed us to what I considered to be quite an offensive camper. It was painted with a giant bunny holding an automatic weapon. The word “kill” was painted on my door. The back door was painted with the following words: You aren’t drunk if you can lay on the floor without holding on.

Wicked Camper’s front entrance proudly displayed van’s painted with John Lennon’s “Imagine”, The Beatles, flowers, and jelly beans. Even Fat Albert looked good to me! I suggested that CD go in and ask if we could trade for “Imagine.” It turns out that less offensive graphics were considered an upgrade. Well, Kill Bunny it was! Over time, I saw Wicked campers painted with Kamasutra, even more shocking sexual references, and down right offensive sayings. With progressively more off color graphics, I came to love the Kill Bunny more and more.

The camper came with all of the basics. This included a table that converted to a bed, a single propane burner, two camping chairs, and clear instructions. The instructions were given in the form of stickers. The stickers said things like the following: If you swerve to avoid a kangeroo you will likely roll over.

Kill Bunny was a wild ride! It bounced like crazy at the slightest bump or cross wind. CD remarked that the speed limits signs were now more like aspirations than limits. Our driving days were short as it was easy to believe that hitting any animal would be a disaster. Our headlights weren’t really up to par and the shocks were crazy!

We started by heading West from Melbourne towards the Twelve Apostles. Inspired by Point Break, we stopped at Bell’s Beach and admired the view. From the Twelve Apostles we headed North towards Falls Creek Ski Resort.

Vincent at the Twelve Apostles
Falls Creek: Skiing, snow shoeing, hiking all on the same slope.

We hiked through the woods to the golf course in Mount Beauty in order to see our first Kangaroos of the trip. From there we headed East again.

Just as Kill Bunny was starting to feel like home, it started to squeak louder than ever before. It turned out that we threw out a throw out bearing. Who knew?! Wicked Vans took care of the repairs and we were back on the road in no time.

We got to see the power of Kill Bunny first hand when CD turned around on this country road. The back wheels dipped from the shoulder of the road down an incline that was at least 1-2 feet. Kill Bunny was stuck! The combination of grass and a slight incline was too much for the Bunny to over come. Don’t worry, I rolled up my sleeves and pushed it out. That was the last time we turned around a gentle slope.

Stayed tuned for our next blog post, titled: “Peeing with Amphibians”.