Who are you and what is your backstory?

My name is Chrissie Junge and I live in Brisbane, Australia. Four years ago I packed up my apartment, sold all my belongings and moved into a van. It wasn’t a conscious decision, more I noticed myself month by month plucking up the roots and feeling more free as I lifted the weight of contracts, heavy belongings and other things that tied me to my location. 

I spent most of my life dreaming of being an author and illustrator, and bringing to life a story I wrote when I was ten years old. Not knowing where to start, I put my dreams on the back burner and have worked through an array of industries, landing eventually in disability support. 

I had been living alone in a pretty rental apartment after breaking off a 7 year relationship. Coming from sharing a small house with 5 men, I thrived alone, with nothing but my own belongings surrounding me.

 

The vanlife has been the best thing I have done for myself, physically and mentally, but it isn’t something I want to do for my entire life. I want to marry, have children, and soon buy a home for myself. 

 

I’m a hard worker, but I did find myself becoming lazy around the house when I got home. A lifestyle with less housework and more freedom was calling out to me. My favourite days were those spent with a late morning in bed, lunch or a day outside with some friends and a nice cooked dinner.

 

Take us to the moment you decided to begin your Vanlife?

It was a big breakup that put the vanlife wheels in motion for me. Never was it a big ‘Ah-ha’ deciding moment, but more a behind-the-scenes silent process. Newly single, I spent most of my free time having dinner with friends, going out for drinks, or going camping. The apartment I’d been so happy to rent all to myself became more of a chore than a solace. I’d return home after a couple of days away to my dying house plants and cobwebbed windows. 

My car at the time was a Volkswagen Beetle, and I began carrying a backpack with a change of clothes and a toothbrush in it. The sense of freedom it gave me was silly really, it made me feel like I never had to go home. I was the master of my own destiny. So naturally I started thinking of the next steps. Carrying a tent as well? I didn’t relish the idea of camping in an ordinary suburban street. Then I thought about buying a Ute, and thought ‘well, I may as well get a van if I’m going that far’.

My biggest reservation was parking the thing. I avoided reverse parking in my tiny beetle!

But the idea was firmly jammed into the decisive sector of my brain. My belongings were all put up for sale, and I smiled bigger with each piece that walked out the door. Amazing the things I had that I didn’t need - candle holders, photo frames, side tables. My apartment took on the vibe of a flea market. I was obsessed with being able to fit all of my things into a van, and just being able to drive off at a moment’s notice if I felt like it. I still don’t know what I was running from.

 

Becoming an author is something I have wanted my entire life, and now that I’m working hard towards the goal, I feel happier than I ever have in my life. My book called Alfredo... Some profits from my book will be donated to animal rescues, and I’ll be working hard to spread the ‘adopt, don’t shop’ message as I market my book.

 

I didn’t have much money, about $5000 in total, but I worked full time and planned to live all around the prettier corners of Brisbane in my van to allow me to continue with my work.

Ten days before my apartment’s lease was up, I found a secondhand van that I loved. It was vintage, 40 years old, and mechanically speaking, a money pit. But oh, was it beautiful!

It was my home for a year, the last 3 months of which I lived in it’s broken down shell on acreage, and saved up for my next adventure - a truck. The truck I flew across the country to buy, an ex-masonry truck with a bare metal back. I lived in the back as I learned how to build it into a cosy tiny house. My vanlife journey was taken to a whole new level when I could live in something that I had built and customised by myself.

 

Tell us about the advantages to the Van lifestyle?

The best part about the van lifestyle is the ever changing backdrop. Waking up to a new view each day is just magical. It takes a few months to get used to the feeling of opening your eyes in your own home and trying to remember exactly where it is. Am I on the beach? Am I parked in the rainforest?

The hands-on experience has also been amazing. When I bought my truck, I couldn’t use a drill properly. 

First, I looked at some videos on YouTube, and next thing I knew I was cutting holes into my truck’s sides with an angle grinder and installing caravan windows. I learned all about 12 volt wiring and was installing handy gadgets and outlets all over the place. The most rewarding thing in the world is going to bed after a hard day’s work and thinking about how much more comfortable my home is. The cold winter’s day that I installed my floorboards, I woke to use the toilet in the middle of the night, and my feet left the bed and connected with the warm wooden floor instead of the usual metal truck bed. What a fantastic feeling!

One of the best experiences I had in my truck was taking a few weeks off work and travelling through New South Wales. I invited my sister along and we made no plans, but rather just hit the road and began exploring. It was summer, we stopped for coffee and breakfast each morning, and we spent the nights in beautiful beachside caravan parks or rest areas. We lit fires and roasted capsicums and swam in the ocean. The first part of the trip was spent in quiet coastal towns, and then we traveled inland and chased the waterfalls and rainforests. Most nights we ate raw peaches for dinner as we’d had big breakfasts and lunches throughout the day. My truck had been featured on ABC news the night before we left for the road trip, so people stopped us all throughout NSW to tell us they had seen the truck’s story and to wish us well on our getaway.

 

Tell us about the biggest challenges and downsides to the Van lifestyle?

The biggest challenge for me was something I experienced a lot in my first van. It was 40 years old and realistically suited to be owned by a mechanic, not a 20 something woman with zero clues on vehicle maintenance. It broke down every other week, and not just little fixes. In 9 months I spent close to $20,000 on it, each time thinking ‘after this repair it will be perfect, and healthy.’ I was so naive. The problem with breaking down is, all my belongings are at the mechanic’s workshop! I’m lucky in a way, that I lived in my own hometown in the van, so often I was house sitting or able to stay with a friend until my van was fixed. If I was travelling, I would have had to stay in a hotel each time. There’s nothing quite like having to drop to the mechanic’s to pick up a pair of clean socks and a work shirt.

Another thing I did miss was entertaining friends. In my truck, I sometimes invite a friend over for a sunset picnic. I have a glass hatch in my roof, and we climb onto the roof at a lookout and enjoy the sunset from the top of my truck. It is just magical. But, as soon as I invite a second person over, three’s a crowd. My beautiful friends invite me around, cook me lovely dinners and share movie nights with me, and it is tough to not be able to return the favour.

Another big challenge is being so out in the open, and sometimes feeling very vulnerable. One night, early on in my vanlife days, I woke to what I could only describe as a mafia meetup in the middle of the night. Several very fancy cars pulled up into the park I was quietly camped in, and men in suits collected together nearby, peering suspiciously at my van. It was probably 2 in the morning and I was instantly wide awake, holding my car keys and trying to be invisible behind my closed curtains. The men began to shine a bright torch through my windows from a distance, put off from whatever shady business they had by my sheer presence. After a good few minutes, I could finally breathe again as they put the torch away and walked to the far end of the park. I don’t know what they were doing, but I don’t think they saw me and I’m glad to have had nothing further to do with them.

 

How do you find a sense of community when you’re always moving? How do you maintain and build relationships on the road? 

The sense of community for me has strengthened since moving into a van, and especially since building my house truck all over Brisbane. People notice me out and about, especially when I park in popular family destinations and have all my doors open. The older generation love to share ideas for the truck, and stories of their younger nomadic days in a van or their grey nomad retirement vision. People offer a workspace, tools and tips on pretty locations to stay. A few months ago I met a lovely wedding venue owner who gave me a bunch of bananas and some avocados he grew. Since moving into a van, I met a lot of likeminded people through my website and Instagram page (@brisbanegirlinavan). They’ve messaged me, saying they plan to do the same and I’ve met some over coffee and made great friends with a few of them. It’s nice to run into them in all the locations I park throughout Brisbane! 

As the van is my home, I don’t have to pack a bag to go and visit family, or have a camping trip away. My bags are always packed and I am always ready.

My boyfriend of two years and I met when I was already living in my house truck. He was fascinated by the idea, and soon began spending the odd night with me, parked among the trees. If we have early plans the following day, we can find somewhere close by to park up the night before and save a long journey in the morning. When we met, we both went to the same gym which helped as I used it to a shower before I built one in my truck. We could wake up, have a nice breakfast and coffee with the back doors open, and then drop to the gym together for a shower and start our day.

 

How do you support yourself financially?

I spend each night at a different location in my own city, so I am lucky to be able to maintain a normal, stationary job. I’m a disability support worker on Brisbane’s bayside and I’m also about to publish my first children’s novel, written and illustrated when I was a child. My book is titled Alfredo, following a rescue parrot on his journey home after being smuggled abroad. 

Becoming an author is something I have wanted my entire life, and now that I’m working hard towards the goal, I feel happier than I ever have in my life. My book called Alfredo is about an exotic parrot that’s kidnapped from his family’s yard and smuggled overseas where he lands with pirates and embarks on a wild ride to find his way home. Some profits from my book will be donated to animal rescues, and I’ll be working hard to spread the ‘adopt, don’t shop’ message as I market my book.

Working on editing and adding to my childhood illustrations in the back of my truck has been a fabulous experience, and I’ve met so many positive people along the way. My book and vanlife journey can be seen on my website as well - ChrissieJunge.com.

 

What is your one piece of advice for people who want to do what you do?

Firstly I’d say, look at something mechanically sound. 

The first day of driving in my truck after having to leave my old van, I had the most secure feeling. It was strong, it had a full service history, it was a good model. Old vans are beautiful and there’s nothing in the world like them, but security is more important. 

Install locks, an alarm and put block out curtains up so you can have privacy at night. I’m not saying you’ll have burglars breaking into your van every night, but you’ll sleep better knowing they wouldn’t make an easy job of it. 

If you are tossing up about how much solar to install, choose the maximum! I learned this the hard way, wanting to leave space on my truck’s roof for a deck. By the way I love my deck, but with the lights, a fridge, a laptop and phone charger and a fan running, it would be nice to have more solar power.

 

What have been the most influential and helpful books, podcasts, blogs, websites or other resources? 

As a female, I think more about the aesthetically pleasing parts about my tiny house build. Yes, I did the solar and the AGM batteries and the other dirty chores that made me swear and bleed a lot, but my favourite study was on interior style. Instagram’s @van.crush page makes me tingle, lots of cool ideas to be seen there - like screwing your jar lids to the roof so you can twist the jar into it. @tinyhousetalk are another, they do interviews of vanlifers which are handy to read - they even did one of my truck!

 

What does the future look like?

My future is looking bright. I’m wrapping up my four years of vanlife to move into a house with my partner and his dog so I can work on marketing my children’s book with unlimited electricity and more space. A big whiteboard is in order here!

Three weeks ago, someone rolled into my beautiful house truck and gave his face $14,500 worth of damage. The next day, I lost my job. Luckily, my insurance gave me a rental car and put me up in a hotel, where I looked for a new job and considered my life. Losing my car, job and home in the space of 2 days shook me up a bit.

The vanlife has been the best thing I have done for myself, physically and mentally, but it isn’t something I want to do for my entire life. I want to marry, have children, and soon buy a home for myself. 

My career as an author will hit the ground running if I have the resources I need to properly work on it, and I’ll be the happiest girl in the world to have achieved my dreams.

My truck will be getting fixed, and I’ll be finishing the last of the build and renting it out to other vanlife enthusiasts to enjoy, hopefully as much as I have.

 

Is there anything that you need that you can’t find or anything you are seeking help with? 

The one thing I need in life right now is eyes on my children’s book. I’d love you to subscribe to my mailing list at ChrissieJunge.com, follow my life’s journey on Instagram @brisbanegirlinavan, comment, like and keep an eye out for when my book launches.

 

Rapid fire questions

 

What are the top 3 Van essentials that you couldn’t live without?

• My upright fridge
• My 300L water tank (this came with the truck!) 
• My backpacker gas stove.

 

Top 3 favorite places you’ve visited?

• Utah
• Acadia National Park or all of Maine in general haha
• PNW

 

Where are you now?

I’m in my brand new study looking at the flowers outside, in the rental house I’ve just moved into with my boyfriend and his dog, Teddy.

 

How long do you usually stay in one place?

In my truck, I’d stay at a different place every night. There were a handful of favourite places I’d frequent, but I’d always mix it up.

 

When did you first start Vanlifing?

May 16th, 2016. What a long day that was!

 

Are you full-time or part-time Vanlifing?

Full time, until my move into a house this week. Nothing like the deep end!

 

How many weeks have you spent in the Van in the last 12 months?

Probably about 40 out of the 52 weeks. The rest I spend either house sitting, at work on overnight shifts, or at my boyfriend’s house using up all his hot water.

 

What kind of vehicle/rv/trailer/setup do you have? 

My truck is a 2000 Mazda T4600, previously a concrete/masonry truck for a privately owned business in South Australia.

 

Where can we go to keep up with you and your adventures?

Website - ChrissieJunge.com

Instagram - @brisbanegirlinavan

Facebook - Chrissie Junge Author - brisbanegirlinavan