Nights 3 and 4 in our new van:

Technology fail: we forgot that we had to turn on power to our TV arial in order to watch TV. We tried many turns to try to get a signal and gave up. It was the next morning when I remembered about the switch. We had the same one in the Winnie, so it wasn’t new to us.

Technology win: on Sunday evening I had a look at our Victron solar controller and found it has bluetooth. I’ve been able to install the app on my phone and can now monitor the solar power inwards, battery status, and power usage.

We planned to have one night at the beach in the van and ended up having two. After a swim and breakfast at Pinaroo Point we relocated to Whitfords Nodes carpark in search of shade for the rest of our day. We had mixed results and tried a couple of spots before giving up. It was a warm afternoon and we felt quite lazy. By about 4.00 p.m. things had cooled down and we went for another swim. The waves were a little choppy but it felt wonderful in the water.

Taking a lesson from previous overnights I had packed more food than necessary, which meant we had a possible evening meal on hand. We decided to stay the night in our new location. Someone came over to check out our van and he was also staying the night there, so we felt we had a good neighbour. We set up chairs and table outside to dry our bathers and towells, and Stephen had fun doing a big wash up of all our dishes for the day, plus the large frying pan.

Well, I think he had fun though someone warned him not to tip the soapy water in the bushes. We’ve decided to not admit we are staying overnight to car owners, just to fellow van dwellers so as to not invite criticism.

We had a good night although there wasn’t much of a breeze and the van got a bit stuffy by morning. We had been told that a triathalon was starting in the morning, then it was corrected to a market. In fact, it was a triatholon and people started to arrive at around 5.00 a.m. We packed up and got dressed quickly, then drove down the coast to City Beach. This time we wanted a view of the ocean and good shade.

After breakfast and showers we took up residence on a bench. When I went to buy coffees it took about half an hour, but well worth it. Stephen had a chai latte, of course.

It was quite interesting see how many people were up and about, even very early, at the beaches. I’m almost reconciled to summer if we can spend it staying overnight in beach car parks and enjoying swimming and basically having a leisurely time. Temperatures are milder than further inland and we had a south westerly breeze, very gentle.

If you are wondering about the title of this post, as I was waiting for our hot drinks at the cafe I noticed this sign.