COMFORTABLY LOST

How to: Build your own stealth campervan

There’s something really enjoyable and fun about the idea of “stealth” camping. Further more, if you are a full time van-dweller, stealth camping or “boondocking”, as it is known in North America,  becomes an inescapable part of your daily life. While we will always prefer to park up in an area where overnight parking is permitted, or at least tolerated, such as a camp ground, road side rest…

Simultaneously oppressive, terrifying, beautiful and spectacular. Aside from the lush, rugged regions to the south of Santiago, Chile is generally a harsh, barren country. We knew this before we arrived. Karl had spent unknown hours scoring virtual maps marking out potential surf breaks and spots to camp for the night. Despite all this preliminary research and experience in the harsh deserts of…

If you are in the process of planning and designing a mobile home (including campervans) you will be all too familiar with the often overwhelming amount of advice, options, gadgets, gizmos and other so-called ‘must-haves’. Here at Comfortably Lost HQ we are all too familiar with information overload and ‘paralysis by analysis’. We’ve designed and built a number of camper vehicles over the years,…

So, we’ve decided to stay in one place for a year or two to save money and plan for our next major road trip. The Delica campervan, as awesome as it is, was simply becoming a big burning hole in our pocket as our driving changed from infrequent highway cruising and bush camping, to more frequent short-medium distance local driving on small winding roads. The reality struck us that we’d need to…

We recently spent four months travelling around Chile and Bolivia in a custom converted Mitsubishi Montero Sport (aka Mitsubishi Challenger in Australia, Pajero Sport in Europe, Strada G-Wagon in Thailand and Shogun Sport in the UK) camperwagon. The trip was a blast and we’re still slowly sorting through photos and gradually uploading the best and/or most interesting ones onto our Facebook and…

The Great Ocean Road was the first ‘tourist trap’ that we’d encountered since spending the Easter break in Esperance region of Western Australia some five weeks earlier. Between locations was some 3000km of travel, mostly featuring barren, windswept desert and isolated plains. By day two of our journey along one of the great Australian tourist meccas, the initial novelty of packed tour buses…

How to keep your vehicle looking schmick: Dealing with rust and elemental exposure

Many people living and travelling with a van or other camper vehicle are keen action sports enthusiasts. Surfing, skiing, mountain biking, rock climbing, hiking and so on. In Australia in particular surfing, in all it’s forms and crafts, is almost a national sport and one that is the core pursuit for many vanlifers. As nice as it is to camp next to a beach to wake up, check the surf and go for a…

BOGGED TO THE AXLES: A CAUTIONARY TALE OF WHY YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE PREPARED FOR THE WORST

It was late afternoon at the beach just metres from our campsite. We had been trying, unsuccessfully, to catch a fish for dinner for the past couple of hours as the surf was flat and the late-autumn weather was far too pleasant to not be outside enjoying our surroundings. Jahla’s initial enthusiasm for fishing had quickly diminished as she faced the realities of having to cut and rig the smelly…

One of the first things people ask us when the topic of our travels comes up is how we can live without a daily or twice-a-day warm shower. It’s strange to imagine for some people, but the reality is that unless you’re running marathons every morning, it really isn’t necessary to shower as frequently as most do and still stay reasonably fresh and clean. Of course we’re not advocating to abandon…

A topic of conversation that often comes up when talking about off-road touring with fellow travellers is what 4WD and recovery equipment to bring with you on short and extended trips where you will be encountering a wide variety of terrain on the way to the next secluded camp spot. We’re definitely not hard-core off 4WD enthusiasts. Actually, we avoid tracks that look too gnarly unless we are…

The gringo’s guide to buying a car in Chile (updated September 2015)

There’s a fair few guides on the internet concerning the somewhat complicated process of buying a car in Chile if you are a foreigner. Whilst they are all generally on the mark, the majority of them are out of date and do not reflect the most recent changes in Chilean laws concerning foreigners obtaining a tax identification number (RUT). As we have recently been through the process of buying and…

Solar power advice for campervans: Bigger is better

Let me start off here that I am most definitely NOT an expert on solar power generation and 12v electrical systems. Two cups of coffee, a few hours of my time and about a dozen open browser tabs later I am still as ignorant as ever when it comes to the technical facts and specificity of solar systems for camper vans. But, what I do have it real life, on the ground experience with generating…

Six items that perfectly compliment vanlife

Six of our personal favourite gadgets and accessories for vanlife that not everyone considers.

Clockwise from top:

KA-BAR Becker Campanion BK2 outdoor/survival knife: Perfect heavy duty, multifunction camping knife. Works well for chopping wood, clearing spaces for the hammock, creating kindling for the fire and more

Casino Illuminator 3240 watch: 100m WR, dual time zone, stopwatch, illuminated…

Vanlife in Australia: Is it financially sustainable?

For those that are inexperienced with the realities of “vanlife”, it’s easy to become smitten by the various blogs and social media posts that promote and celebrate this free and easy lifestyle. Don’t get me wrong, as long as you don’t mind roughing it a little sometimes and you have a love of outdoor activities, vanlife in it’s various forms will definitely be an enjoyable and memorable…

In over nine months and 26,000km of travel we paid for camp sites approximately nine times. From these we only stayed at a commercial campground/caravan park four times; the other occasions were low cost camp fees for state-operated National Park camp sites. As we travelled around Australia, we met many fellow travellers and prospective travellers who were interested in where we were staying and…

DIY blockout curtains for our Delica campervan

The first time I ever spent a night in the van I had a terrible sleep. Why? Simple rookie errors of a ill-prepared vehicle. I had no curtains installed to block out nearby street lights, only had a inflatable camping mattress on the floor, and, to make matters worse, I was sleeping on a slight decline without realising.  Good quality, blockouts curtains are a must-have item for any vehicle than…

Updated gear list: What we’ve learnt after nearly a year on the road…

Nearly a year ago we left Perth, Western Australia, to embark on our epic adventure around Australia. We rolled out of Jahla’s grandparent’s driveway at 5am in the morning. We were both utterly exhausted, both physically and mentally, after spending the previous year researching, planning, designing and constructing for our adventure. After spending the first couple of nights in the Margaret…