The young Aussie couples living on the road

JONNY and Jess had two mortgages when they decided to chuck it all in for life on the road. Now they’re asking how could they ever go back?

Imagine waking up to this — it’s easy to see why vanlife is appealing. Picture: Mitch Cox.

IT’S NO secret Australia’s housing market is seriously unaffordable for young people. There’s constant speculation the real estate bubble will burst, but prices keep creeping up.

Some milennials have consigned themselves to a lifetime of renting.

Others are mooching off their parents to save a deposit.

A few have chucked everything in to live in a van.

THE VANLIFE MOVEMENT

“It started over coffees. We’d seen the hashtag ‘Vanlife’, but no-one had really set it up as anything. There was no Instagram showing the whole community.”

Jonny Dustow is one of the minds behind Vanlife Diaries, a digital movement that started in Australia and is followed by nearly a quarter of a million people around the world.

“It’s about people, the environment and sharing stories,” he told news.com.au.

“The key to starting was to support our community and share adventures and stories, and creative ideas about how to survive on the road.”

He and his friends Jared and Sam knew there were a lot of people who would be interested, however, prior to Vanlife Diaries there wasn’t a platform to allow them to do so.

Jonny and his wife Jess are both teachers, and they live in a Mercedes Sprinter.

They started doing basic van trips on the weekends because it was a cheap way to travel.

At the time, they held two mortgages, but a decision to sell-up allowed them to build a new lifestyle around their shared interests in travel, surfing, film and music.

“We didn’t want to be paying a mortgage for 30 years that took most of our wages and limited our current lifestyle,” Jonny explained.

It seems the pair hasn’t looked back.

“It’s the best feeling to wake up in a forest or at the beach, next to the ocean or a stream and listen to the wildlife or take a swim,” they wrote on their blog, Rebel on a Rainbow.

While they always plan to keep a van, Jonny told news.com.au they would ideally like an off-grid tiny house or shack as a more permanent base in the long-term.

“In saying that the cost of living with rents and mortgages has become out of control so we are steering clear of committing to massive mortgages in the foreseeable future.”

TAKING A CAREER BREAK

Many vanlifers are young professionals seizing the opportunity to see the world.

Sophie Lacey and Austin Allen have just returned home from a year on the road in the United States and Canada, living in a Ford Econovan called “Bernie Vanders”.

“We love travelling, and the plan had always been to go and live overseas for a while, and get out of Melbourne,” said Sophie, who works as a speech pathologist.

“We really just decided to go for it and see what would happen. We knew we wanted to see a lot of the national parks, and we kind of planned around that, about a week ahead at a time.”

They left Australia with about $20,000, earning a bit of extra cash by working along the way.

“All in all it wasn’t that expensive. Buying the van was one of the most financially sensible things we did. It’s just insurance and fuel and food,” she told news.com.au.

Yellowstone National Park was one of the highlights of their trip, and the pair cherished opportunities to see bison and bears up close.

“At the peak of the season, there are so many tourists the animals just disappear,” she said.

However, despite the natural wonders, settling into fulltime vanlife wasn’t easy.

“It’s crazy, and it’s really hard to do. I think maybe some people would be able to just jump in straight away, but we just like having lots of stuff,” said Sophie.

“You just get into a routine. We found how easy it is to live without all that stuff. When you don’t have it, you just don’t need it.”

Austin is a cabinet-maker, and they made the most of his skills while converting the van, ripping out the seats and building a bed with storage underneath.

They also picked up some children’s furniture from Ikea.

As far as luxuries go, they fitted the van with a gas stove and a camp shower, but both say they missed having access to a proper bathroom.

“When we moved in, it was winter, and most of the places we camped were snowy,” she said.

“But we really miss the van. We miss living that way. We could definitely do it again, easily.”

THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE

Some simply pack the bare essentials, hit the road, and make it up as they go along.

Cleo Codrington and Mitch Cox met while studying their final year of graphic design at university, and they’ve been travelling for the past two years.

“The most interesting part of our lifestyle is the freedom and ability to camp and explore anywhere we want for as long as we want,” Cleo told news.com.au.

“If we love a certain area there is no limit to how long we spend exploring it.”

So far, their travels have taken them to every corner of New South Wales, as far north as the Daintree Rainforest, through the outback to Darwin and down to Alice Springs.

“The hardest part would be planning around the weather as this is one of the few restrictions we can’t control,” Cleo said.

“Spending a week travelling around in the rain can sometimes not be the most enjoyable experience!”

Living in a van has definitely changed their idea of conventional housing, in that they now see larger-scaled homes as an unnecessary waste of space and resources.

“After living with extremely limited amounts of water and power it has made us realise how wasteful society can be,” Cleo told news.com.au.

She said while they do look forward to owning a house in the future, it’s “unrealistic” for them at this point in time.

“The way the housing market is going, it seems almost impossible to afford to buy without becoming hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.”

To survive on the road, they’ve become incredibly efficient at budgeting, from finding the cheapest meals, to camping for free and minimising daily expenses.

“We also make a bit of money on the road doing occasional graphic design work and license photos to tourism companies,” she explained.

They have an incredible amount of talent — sharing almost 120,000 followers on Instagram.

“What inspired us to live in a van is how affordable it is as a means of travel as well as how much ground you can cover.

“A plane might get you from A to B but you miss out on all those amazing places in between!”

They’re currently working their way around South Australia, with plans to explore Victoria and Tasmania before heading home for Christmas.

“Some of our favourite beaches are still within a three-hour drive from our home in Sydney!”

WHY IT’S GROWING

In some ways, vanlife is a throwback to the days of kombi vans and tie-dyed shirts.

“People have been travelling in vans since the 60s, and having that chilled-out simple lifestyle,” said Jonny.

“Basically anyone from any walk of life can do it. You don’t have to be super rich. You don’t even have to own a van, you can rent one. We see it as a better way to travel.”

He thinks the movement took off because it’s more than just an Instagram account and a website: it offers members a platform to meet other vanlifers and travel together.

“We didn’t expect it to get as big as quick, as fast,” said Jonny.

“We’ve let people make it their own community. A lot of other people have tried to start social media accounts on Vanlife, but we really go the extra mile with gatherings.”

It’s paying off, and there are more big things to come.

Vanlife Diaries is currently working on a documentary with Sydney filmmaker Jim Lounsbury, and members are planning to travel to the United States next year to connect with the growing community in North America.

Find out more about Vanlife Diaries on their website.