Walk with us through spontaneous and unapologetic adventures. Join us in budget minded Sprinter DIY successes and failures: Sleeping 4 in a Sprinter 144.
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Here are the top three signs that life while traveling in a van with kids has gotten out of hand.
You endorse a Burger King vs McDonald’s french fry taste test.
Yikes!
2. You stop to buy fly strips. Yes, they still make fly strips and, yes, we needed them in the van.
3. You have a can of easy cheese in your purse.
Embarrassing as it may be, this was actually one day in our life. I can’t remember what got us to this point but I imagine it was a hot day and we drove quite a few miles. I was obviously delirious.
The day ended with a relaxing dinner at our campsite.
THEN … We woke up to this and everything was okay. As the kids would say: We were “livin’ the life”!
I use the term Camper Van loosely here. It was really a hatchback in Iceland.
We chose Laugavegur Hut to Hut Trek in Iceland for our next adventure. The trail follows the geothermal valley of Landmannalaugar and along the base of Eyjafjallajokull. Our trip was scheduled for mid-June 2010. On April 14, Eyjafjallajökull started to erupt.
I can’t remember all of the details but it seems like the hiking season started around the time we were scheduled to arrive. There was little available information regarding trail conditions. Finally, a few days before our flights, we learned that parts of the trail were covered in inches of volcanic ash. With that, I cancelled our trek.
We arrived in Reykjavik a few days later and settled into our hostel. We didn’t have a plan.
The next morning, we stopped to chat with our host. He recommended driving the Ring Road. That sounded fine to us. We inquired about a car rental and the conversation went like this: What kind of car do you want? It doesn’t matter. How long will you be gone? How long does it take?
The host eventually said that he may know where we could get a car. He stepped out for a minute and came back with car keys. We rented his car and hit the road.
Pingveller National Park was our first stop. It was amazing and beautiful and green and quiet. We spent all day hiking and looking at lichen. We made dinner at whatever time we were hungry and got back on the road.
We didn’t see a Marriott or a Holiday Inn. We didn’t even see a restaurant. We weren’t watching the clock and we weren’t tired. It was overcast but not dusk. We found a gas station and pulled in for gas. The gas station had a sign up that said: Closed. Will return at 8 am.
The gas station was closed for the night. What? We had failed to account for our latitude and the date in relation to the summer solstice. Now we were in Iceland and low on gas. Even if we had a full tank of gas, we really didn’t know where we were going anyway.
We woke up in our car when the gas station opened. That was our first night on the Ring Road in Iceland.
The next day we headed out and found a cafe in house on a cliff overlooking the ocean. The parking lot was fifty yards or so from the cafe and the walk was picturesque. From there we went on to check out the sights.
We saw craters. Viti was the first was saw and it was beautiful.
Viti
We saw Icelandic horses. They don’t look like other horses that I have seen.
We went to Geysir, the original geyser and hiked way up on a hill to look at it from a far. This was also the biggest crowd we saw in Iceland.
We survived a long, dark, one way tunnel between Dalvik and Olafsfjordur. Depending on which direction you were driving determined if you had the right of way or if you were expected to yield by pulling into a designated M space and wait for traffic to clear. It was nerve racking and bizarre but there wasn’t much traffic.
Shortly after that we found a campground on a grassy hill. Every tent had every guyline attached. There wasn’t any wind but we certainly took note that they seem to expecting wind. It was warm and the grass was perfect. We slept on the ground next to our car. I still expected a moment of dusk but it didn’t happen. There was basically the same amount of light, day or night.
Mývatn (Midge Lake)
We stuck to the Ring Road and headed south. It was substantially colder but worth wearing an extra jacket.
I have seen other glaciers but this was different. It was remarkable and stunning. The ice was shiny and clean; it felt ancient and fragile. Wow!
We woke up in the morning surrounded by fellow campers. We are the second camper from the left in the picture below. Everyone else seemed to be a bit more equipped than us. What I would have given for our Sprinter and Lil Buddy heater in Iceland that day!
Svartifoss, Skaftafell National Park
Our last minute tour of the Ring Road was a success. I am sure it has changed since 2010 but here are a few things I remember.
Hotels may be hard to come by and will likely not be exactly what you expect.
Be attentive to the time of day. We didn’t see any 24 hour services.
Cheese can be eaten for lunch and dinner.
Bring a rain jacket, a winter jacket, a hat, gloves, short sleeve shirt, and sun screen.
Expect to see whale and puffin meat for sale. We didn’t try it.
People in Iceland are tough. We saw people tubing behind a boat near Reykavik. I was wearing a winter hat.
The Blue Lagoon will not be exactly what you expect.
Blue Lagoon. Notice the lifeguard in a biohazard looking suit. The weather was crazy that day!
We made it to Cairns! We ended our time with Kill Bunny by spending the night at the perfect camp site. Three or four other groups were camped there as well. It was a beach front parking lot with hot showers and all of the amenities.
People were curious as to why we had driven so far. We only met one other person that drove from Melbourne. He arrived in Cairns around the same time that we did but he started his trip four months before us. We hadn’t felt rushed. Actually, we kind of felt slow. CD walked from Mexico to Canada in four months; it would have felt weird to take that long to drive from Melbourne to Cairns but maybe we should have slowed down a bit more. I don’t know.
In any case, we made it! I felt a bit of relief when we dropped off Kill Bunny in one piece. I also felt a bit sad and lost. So here I was walking through this “lagoon” while eating a snow cone.
Cairns Lagoon
It was windy and overcast so snorkeling and diving boats weren’t expected to sail for a few days. We opted for a guided tour to the Daintree Rainforest. We were the only guests and our tour guide, Jim, was pretty straight forward. He opened up with “back when I dropped out of society for bit.” He went on to offer advice on mango wine, lemonade fruit, and commune living. He warned us about aggressive eight foot long snakes in the sugar cane fields, cassowaries that disembowel their victims, and crocodiles that leap from rivers. The tour included the site of Steve Irwin’s death and favorite local pubs. His dialogue covered politics, religion, hot sauce, Mexican food, human rights, the environment, and tequila.
We spent the next few days drinking cocktails and waiting out the weather. The Great Barrier Reef was worth the wait. It was like snorkeling in an aquarium, as far as I could see. We say an oyster so large that it felt like it was out of a movie.
We flew back to Sydney and spent a day walking a hiking trail around the city. Don’t ask me what it was called.
During our time in Australia, with the Kill Bunny, we learned that speed limits can be aspirations more than limitations, brush turkeys can be aggressive, cassowaries aren’t as prominent as the signage would have you believe, sugar cane fields smell like sweet corn, it isn’t easy to see a platypus, and when in danger in the wild I will throw CD to the wolves and run.
Our road trip was complete; we made it to Cairns! We ended our time with Kill Bunny by spending the night at the perfect camp site. Three or four other groups were camped there as well. It was a beach front parking lot with hot showers and all of the amenities.
People were curious as to why we had driven so far. We only met one other person that drove from Melbourne. He arrived in Cairns around the same time that we did but he started his trip four months before us. We hadn’t felt rushed. Actually, we kind of felt slow. CD walked from Mexico to Canada in four months; it would have felt weird to take that long to drive from Melbourne to Cairns but maybe we should have slowed down a bit more. I don’t know.
In any case, we made it! I felt a bit of relief when we dropped off Kill Bunny in one piece. I also felt a bit sad and lost.
Cairns Lagoon. Road trip Cairns
Daintree Rain Forest
It was windy and overcast so snorkeling and diving boats weren’t expected to sail for a few days. We opted for a guided tour to the Daintree Rainforest and were the only guests and our tour guide, Jim, was pretty straight forward and he opened up with “back when I dropped out of society for bit.” He went on to offer advice on mango wine, lemonade fruit, and commune living. Additionally, he warned us about aggressive eight foot long snakes in the sugar cane fields, cassowaries that disembowel their victims, and crocodiles that leap from rivers. The tour included the site of Steve Irwin’s death and favorite local pubs. His dialogue covered politics, religion, hot sauce, Mexican food, human rights, the environment, and tequila.
The Great Barrier Reef
We spent the next few days drinking cocktails and waiting out the weather. The Great Barrier Reef was worth the wait. It was like snorkeling in an aquarium, as far as I could see. There was an oyster so large that it felt like it was out of a movie.
We flew back to Sydney and spent a day walking a hiking trail around the city. Don’t ask me what it was called.
Here are a few things we learned during our Wicked Camper road trip to Cairns.
Speed limits can be aspirations more than limitations
Brush turkeys can be aggressive
Cassowaries aren’t as prominent as the signage would have you believe
Sugar cane fields smell like sweet corn
It isn’t easy to see a platypus
When in danger in the wild I will throw CD to the wolves and run.
Road Trip CairnsRoad Trip Cairns
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Not only were things crazy outside of the Kill Bunny but it was chaos inside as well. In addition to our clothes and food, we were hauling CD’s skis, poles, boots, and winter clothes. It turns out that sleeping next to a pair of K2 Off Piste while using snow pants as a pillow is not particularly comfortable.
A hostel in Sydney agreed to store CD’s skis. It was like a weight was lifted. Now I could freely roll six inches to the right without taking ski bindings to the ribs. What a relief!
A clinking noise showed up. Once it started, it was consistent and did not change as we shifted or turned. Clink, clink, clink. We turned up the ipod to block it out but it continued. We eventually found the source. I had left the spare set of keys in the passenger side door lock. Easy fix.
By this time, we had listened to nearly every song we own. We met some people. A truck driver cleaned bugs off our windshield with a fancy window bug scrapper. We ate cheese and crackers at least once per day. We chatted with a few bar tenders and drank wine with Kill Bunny at our side.
We weren’t sure where we could camp. We slept near other campers in rest areas and parking lots but did’t really know the rules. We slept in a campground that was a grassy field in Port Macquarie.
Sometime around this we bought an atlas of free camping along our route. This book changed our lives! We had a plan and felt informed! It turns out that camping in Australia is much different than in the US. Many parking lots, fields, and town parks welcomed car campers. One our of best spots was a parking lot on the beach with an ocean view, flush toilets, hot showers, picnic tables, and easy foot access to pubs and restaurants. According to our book, we were welcome to stay there for free for up to 7 days! Wow! A couple of families with kids and a few other couples joined us there during out stay. It was the best!
Our whale watching trip was cancelled due to strong winds and high seas. We happened across a free spirited boat captain that wasn’t deterred by the weather. I called him “Captain Ron.” The first thing he told us was that his boat had a bar. The second thing was: “tell me if you feel sea sick before you embarrass yourself.” The third thing was: “hold on”. Well, Captain Ron was our guy. We boarded his boat with a couple of other people and hoped for the best. He said things like: “Come on whales, show us what you’ve got.”
Well, it worked. Thank you Captain Ron!
Twin Tails
I thought the whales were a highlight, until my mind was blown the next day. Do you know how pineapples grow? Apparently, I didn’t! Ha!
Hi from cairns!the kill bunny made it, we dropped it off earlier, and oddly enough I really miss it already. we also discovered that many of the basic wicked vans are far more offensive than the kill bunny and I am just glad we didn’t have to drive around with x-rated sayings or pictures painted on our van. (some of these vans I wouldn’t even have been able to take a picture of for this family style web page!) we ended our time with kill bunny by finding the perfect camp site. A beach a few hundred km south of here – 3 or 4 other people were camping there as well – some totally set up with televisions, comfy chairs, and everything. Geoff was amazed at how far we have driven, since he left victoria in may and is just here now. anyway, there is nothing like free and legal camping at a beautiful beach.By the way, I have this new habit of checking the restrooms for snakes and spiders before getting too comfortable there — well, this morning I checked high and low and did not feel there were any creatures too close — then, when I flushed the toilet and looked down — an usually large frog was clinging to the INSIDE of the toilet bowl! I even had to stop to take a picture of this …. now, I just have one more thing to check for!oh – I had an encounter with a crazy killer brush turkey – these guys look like turkeys and are called turkeys but run around picnic tables acting like seagulls and instead of having beards they look like they are wearing a yellow hawaiian lei.I don’t know if I have mentioned – there are huge electric barbecues everywhere and they are similar to a griddle and used often for cooking eggs and such. also, many vehicles have snorkles and it has taken us three weeks and a couple conversations to really figure this out – apparently flooding can be quite a problem — kill bunny did not have a snorkel and would never have made it.I still haven’t found tyler – he was in cairns when I was in surfers paradise and now we are playing phone tag and I feel like we must have passed somewhere on the road this morning … we are checked into a huge hostel — the hostel experience here is completely
different from my experiences in europe – these are more “hotel-ish”, less quaint — Overall just completely different from my past experiences – but I didn’t spend anytime traveling by wicked camper in europe so I really don’t have a good comparison.The wind is at about 30 knots today and is supposed to be again tomorrow … several people recommended that we do not try to take a snorkeling trip to the reef until the weather improves — so we will gamble and try to schedule one for thursday or friday. now, I think cd is making his birthday margaritas and we will take it from there!– hopefully will get some pics up within the next couple days.
hi againall is well here in cairns. we booked a tour up to daintree rain forest … really went crazy, spent a bit more money, and went for the tour that only holds six people. We were lucky again — no one else booked that day and we ended up with a private tour … our driver, Jim, came out of his shell right away … I knew we would all get along when he started a sentence by saying something to the effect of : — “back when I dropped out of society for a while” … we covered politics, human rights, the environment, mexican food, hot sauce, tequila, … he told us where to get the lemonade fruits and the mango wine … as well as where to get a pint with the locals … we even got the benefit of hearing Jim tell us about his years living in an australian commune. he warned me of the aggressive 8 foot long snakes that live in the sugar cane fields, as well as the cassowary birds that will use thier massive feet to disembowel you if you get between them and thier young. the sugar cane factories smell like the best fresh sweet corn and we learned about the beaches stinger nets and how a crocodile bit through one last year and the stingers came in. we saw the sight of steve erwins death, saw the movie set where steven speilberg is now and learned about how bill clinton was evacuated from port douglas on 9-11. we did see 3 crocs, 2 treen snakes, and a few other things …today we took a boat out to the reef finally … beautiful day for it … we snorkled on two separate reefs and three sites … kind of like swimming a huge aquarium but I did find the depth of the valleys/gorges throughout the reef really amazing … cd was happy that I did not see a reef snake, killer shark, sting ray — or a number of other things. we did see a reef shark and tons of bright colored fish …last night I ate “traditional lasgna” which was served with french fries and cd had fresh barramundi … we have learned that most of the time your cold bottle of beer is served in a coozie (sp) — how great is that … and in cairns it is illegal to take your food from a restaurant home with you … you can order take away but if you eat in they can’t give you the leftovers to take home … a foot long sub at subway is ~ eight dollars and it is impossible to buy homewade fresh squeeze lemonade here – but you can get any variety of meat or veggie pies in filo dough and pumpkin in one of the most common ingrediants in anything … don’t even think of trying to find edible mexican food … there is such a thing as “tree kangaroos” — but we did not see one … oh, and stinger season starts in november and special stinger suits are needed to swim outside of stinger nets …
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 TurkeyEmu
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
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 ApostlesFalls 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”.
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We tried suitcases, duffel bags, and plastic tubs but none of these solved our family of four’s Sprinter storage problem.
What Is Our Priority?
Easy and fast access to clothing and daily use items.
Where Did We Find Extra Storage In Our Sprinter?
Under a bed with a hinge.
Our bed has a hinge and folds up from the front.
It is then be held open by two pieces of wood.
Sprinter Storage under our bed. Easy to access, organized. I love it!
What Is Inside The Space?
Typically there are four red bins and two square black bins. We get one red bin each.
Four red bins hold our clothes, everything from socks to sweatshirts.
Two square black bins are there as well. One hold toiletries and the other holds a bag full of dirty laundry.
Past the black bins in an open space that hold our curtains and two blankets. Our curtains go up each night when we put away our toothbrushes and go back to storage each morning after we change our clothes.
Follow our blog for more tips and family Sprinter adventures. Have fun out there!
The insulation is mostly installed but the paneling has not been put back.
I requested the day off. The kids are out of school and today is “Thrifty Thursday” at our nearest ski area. I really needed to clear my mind and couldn’t think of a better way than heading over the pass and making some turns.
I am happy to report that despite the exposed insulation and last minute packing, the Sprinter’s first ski trip was a huge success!
Not only did we use the Sprinter as a dressing room for changing our clothes but we also used it as a gym for stretching, a cafeteria for snacking, a restroom for washing our hands, a laundromat for drying our gloves, and an apres ski lodge for putting up our feet.
Bluebird days with spring snow conditions are some of my favorite days. Today did not disappoint!
For five hours, I didn’t have a cell signal. I didn’t get phone calls, emails, or see the news. As a health care provider, I feel that we acted responsibly in the face of the Covid-19.
This was social distancing at its best! We didn’t get closer than six feet to anyone; we wore PPE (gloves and eye shields) the entire time! My kids washed their hands like they have a million times before and they didn’t mention scary rumors from school or tales of a virus.
I wish them clear minds. I wish them minds that are free from fear and anxiety that is even difficult for adults to process.
I hope our next few weeks are filled more Sprinter assisted social distancing.
We made it! Hoo Doo, Oregon. – and a great parking spot! Sprinter DIYThe insulation progress. Sprinter DIYSpring conditions at Hoo Doo. A bluebird day.
The insulation is mostly installed but the paneling has not been put back. It was March 2020 and we were early in our time of social distancing.
I requested the day off. The kids are out of school and today is “Thrifty Thursday” at our nearest ski area. I really needed to clear my mind and couldn’t think of a better way than heading over the pass and making some turns.
I am happy to report that despite the exposed insulation and last minute packing, the Sprinter’s first ski trip was a huge success!
Social distancing via Sprinter
Not only do we use the Sprinter as a dressing room for changing our clothes but we also use it as a gym for stretching, a cafeteria for snacking, a restroom for washing our hands, a laundromat for drying our gloves, and an apres ski lodge for putting up our feet.
Bluebird days with spring snow conditions are some of my favorite days. Today did not disappoint!
For five hours, I didn’t have a cell signal. I didn’t get phone calls, emails, or see the news. As a health care provider, I feel that we acted responsibly in the face of the Covid-19.
This was social distancing at its best! We didn’t get closer than six feet to anyone; we wore PPE (gloves and googles as eye shields) the entire time! My kids washed their hands like they have a million times before and they didn’t mention scary rumors from school or tales of a virus.
I wish them clear minds and minds that are free from fear and anxiety that is even difficult for adults to process.
I hope our next few weeks are filled more Sprinter assisted social distancing.
We made it! Hoo Doo, Oregon. – and a great parking spot! Sprinter DIYThe insulation progress. Sprinter DIYSpring conditions at Hoo Doo. A bluebird day.
Rambling Footsteps 