Discover Why #Vanlife Is So Much More Than Just A Hashtag

If you think the ideals of the hippie era have been replaced by the consumerism of the 21st century, think again.

Australians are escaping the nine-to-five and joining the #vanlife bandwagon. But what is the #vanlife movement and should you be a part of it? Jennifer Ennion finds out.

The old-fashioned Aussie road trip is going through a transformation thanks to a cultural phenomenon sweeping the United States.

Vanlife is infiltrating our shores and attracting a diverse following Down Under. Elise Cook, 27, and her husband, Domenic Palumbo, 29, have spent the past eight months travelling Australia in their 1972 Volkswagen Westfalia. They’re not backpackers, but entrepreneurs, running their boutique company, Down the Rabbit Hole Wines, from the van.

Amber and Keenan Badger are a married couple in their early 40s who are part-time ‘vanlifers’, travelling in a Kombi with their two daughters. Like Cook, they’re working to fund a more simplistic, adventurous lifestyle.

Michael Brunell also doesn’t fit the road-tripper stereotype. He may be travelling solo, but he’s in his mid-30s and is a flight dispatcher, taking breaks in shift work to hit the road. These travellers share a passion to downscale and explore, and that is what #vanlife is about.

The movement

Although people have been living out of their home-on-wheels since the hippie trail heyday, when Europeans travelled overland to south Asia, vanlife is different. It has a bohemian appeal but is more than a movement for hippies and hipsters.

It started in the US not long after Instagram was launched in 2010, when Foster Huntington – who had given up his job and apartment in New York to move into a 1987 VW Syncro – began uploading photos and tagging them with the phrase #vanlife. The hashtag, which promoted an enviable, nomadic lifestyle, caught on and today more than two million posts have been tagged with it. Booming in North America, vanlife is still in its infancy in Australia.

explore adventure van life combi travel country road trip — The old-fashioned Aussie road trip has been reborn (photo: Elise Cook).

Cook explains the appeal: “We are so flooded with artificial light, constantly plugged in, bombarded with expectations of what success and adulthood should look like… that I think people are feeling a need to find a way to totally strip that back and reassess who they want to be and why. In our experience, vanlife allows that to happen, especially here."

Brunell, whose vehicle of choice is a 2009 VW Crafter, has noticed that van travel is no longer the domain of European backpackers travelling between Perth and Sydney, but more Australians are becoming vanlifers, and we’re taking a glamping approach.

The Vanlifers

It was six years ago that the Badgers unwittingly became vanlifers. The NSW-based couple had a regular van for weekends away but swapped it for a Kombi two years ago and began taking longer holidays. They’re currently on the road in Western Australia with their daughters Coco, 12, and Indigo, 10.

“Owning a Kombi has been a dream of ours for a very long time," Amber Badger explains. “It was something we put in the later-in-life basket… but we had a momentary lapse of rational thinking. One day we just thought ‘you know what, why wait?'"

As a self-employed leather worker, Badger can be flexible with her working hours, while her husband uses his long-service leave from his job as an electrician to travel. For them, vanlife is about slow travel and downscaling.

“It really strips us back to the core values," Badger says. “We drive slow. We’re sitting on 80 kilometres an hour. Everyone’s passing us by," she laughs.

Vanlife has a similar appeal for South Australians Cook and Palumbo, who purchased their VW for weekend jaunts. Their trips also grew longer and the pair eventually moved into the van full-time. They’re now embedded in the vanlife community.

“You sit around with people who are trying to live a little more consciously, people who are interested in really living this life we’ve been given, and you have the most incredible, life-changing conversations," Cook says.

Nostalgia plays a part in the attraction for Brunell, who recalls childhood caravanning holidays. Doing the “van thing", he says, is an extension of that. But he also wants to save on rent, as he already has a mortgage – and there’s the freedom.

“I look at people working nine to five, catching the same train every day and it just drives me insane," Brunell says.

How to make vanlife happen

– If you have children, consider home-schooling

– Test out vanlife on short trips

– If you’re a part-time vanlifer, create a packing list you can refer to

– Ensure the van is insulated so it’s comfortable in extreme heat and cold

– Sort out your power, solar or otherwise, so you can free camp

– Understand the mechanical basics of your vehicle and travel with a small toolbox

The Great Ocean Road has captured the hearts of Australians with its astounding scenery since 1932, but going off-course can enrich your experience with untouched nature, foodie delights and charming towns.

It’s a chilly 16 degrees. My husband pulls on a steamer and jogs – as all seasoned surfers do – into the water. We’re at Bells Beach , the legendary break on Victoria’s Surf Coast that’s home to the Rip Curl Pro, the world’s longest-running event in competitive surfing. Each year, over the Easter long weekend, up to 40,000 people descend on the region for the event. Today, though, we have the beach almost to ourselves, and the less-than-favourable temperature doesn’t deter my husband from surfing this famous break.

Torquay to Anglesea and Aireys Inlet

The red dome of Split Point Lighthouse in Aireys Inlet. (Image: Tourism Australia)

The nearby surf town of Torquay marks the starting point for the Great Ocean Road . Unfolding our map, which we have marked out with a highlighted route for our children to follow, we set off for lesser-known Anglesea, a chilled-out town 20 minutes south of here. Its wide, sandy beach is a gentler swimming option for our young family. Groms can learn to surf here with Go Ride a Wave, which also runs stand-up paddle boarding on the Anglesea River.

Split point lookout — The lighthouse overlooks the Shipwreck Coast. (Image: Tourism Australia)

After a couple of nights in Anglesea, we hit the road again, first stopping at Aireys Inlet. Here we stretch our legs at Split Point Lighthouse, which was made famous by the 1990s television series Round the Twist, before driving under the Memorial Arch that welcomes us, officially, to the Great Ocean Road.

This 243-kilometre coastal road was built by returned First World War servicemen and serves as a permanent memorial to those who fought and died during the war. Carved into rock using hand tools and horse-drawn carts, it was a huge engineering feat and provided much-needed access to isolated coastal communities.

Lorne to Birregurra

Lorne is a delightful beachside stop for lunch and browsing boutique stores. It’s also the gateway to Great Otway National Park , which comprises a varied landscape of old-growth forests, cool-temperate rainforests, heathy woodlands and rugged coast. With the highest rainfall in Victoria, the region is home to many waterfalls – 10 of which are within 10 kilometres of Lorne.

Turning slightly off the main drag, we wind along a gum-shaded road to Erskine Falls. Here, our son leads the way through the hyper-green rainforest and down 200-plus stairs to the cascade that drops 30 metres into a lush fern gully. We hop over large boulders to get closer to the falls, enjoying the entire place to ourselves; it’s worth the return climb.

From Sheoak Falls Picnic Area, there are walking trails to Henderson Falls, Phantom Falls, Won Wondah Falls and Kalimna Falls, some of which follow an old timber tramway from forest-logging days, which only came to an end in 2008.

You can follow your appetite north to the town of Birregurra, which is part of the Otway Harvest Trail that connects farm gates, markets, wineries, breweries and distilleries. It’s home to three-hatted modern Australian restaurant Brae , helmed by celebrated chef Dan Hunter, set among native gardens and an organic farm, and Otways Distillery, which produces small-batch spirits using local produce and botanicals.

Brae restaurant — Brae is a three-hatted restaurant in Birregurra. (Image: Tourism Australia)

Apollo Bay to The Otways

Back on track, the cliff-hugging stretch between Lorne and Apollo Bay is breathtaking. At Teddys Lookout, we overlook the winding road ahead and St George River spilling into the ocean. We spend languid days in Apollo Bay, a buzzy seaside town that boasts a three-kilometre-long, crescent-shaped beach with a backdrop of rolling green hills. One evening, as the sun sets, we take the steep 10-minute walk to Marriners Lookout, which affords panoramic views of the ocean, hinterland and town.

A 15-minute drive along the road, Maits Rest is a lush rainforest gully that has been protected since the early 20th century. Wandering along the 800-metre boardwalk, we inspect the delicate moss-covered forest floor and the gnarled roots of 300-year-old myrtle beech trees, then crane our necks to see their canopies, some 50 metres above us. It’s therapy in nature.

Cape Otway to the Twelve Apostles

The southernmost tip of Cape Otway is a delightful detour, home to the 1848-built Cape Otway Lightstation, the oldest surviving lighthouse on mainland Australia. We climb the narrow winding staircase to the gallery deck, explore the keepers’ quarters and telegraph station, and enjoy a coffee and some ‘famous’ scones at the charming onsite cafe.

It’s a pinch-me moment to finally see the Twelve Apostles in person. This unmistakable cluster of limestone stacks rising abruptly from the sea were never 12, however. When coined this in the 1890s as a marketing ploy, there were only nine; today, only seven remain after two collapsed in 2005 and 2009. We admire these Aussie icons from the viewing platform, in awe of Mother Nature’s ever-evolving artwork.

The Grotto is another natural attraction within Port Campbell National Park. (Image: Carmen Zammit)

Edging the wild Southern Ocean, this part of the coast – dubbed Shipwreck Coast – is made up of many sea-carved natural wonders including London Bridge, The Grotto and Gibson Steps. After exploring the lookout trails of Loch Ard Gorge/Poombeeyt Kontapool – its English name taken from the site of the 1878 shipwreck – we nestle into the sandy beach encircled by towering sandstone cliffs, as our children splash about on the water’s edge, and soak it all in.

Port Campbell to Timboon

Timboon Fine Ice Cream is part of a regional foodie trail. (Image: C McConville)

Just north of Port Campbell National Park, the region of Timboon is part of the 12 Apostles Food Artisans Trail, filled with purveyors of delicious foodstuffs such as Timboon Fine Ice Cream , Timboon Railway Shed Distillery and Apostle Whey Cheese. As an antidote to the indulgence, the 20-kilometre Poorpa Yanyeen Meerreeng Trail is a self-guided ride or walk between Port Campbell and Timboon through tall forests, over historic bridges and past sparkling lakes and farmland with grazing cattle.

Warrnambool to Port Fairy

Warrnambool building — A 19th-century building in Warrnambool. (Image: Peter Foster)

In Warrnambool, a town rich in maritime history, we take the four-kilometre Thunder Point Walk that traces the coast. The kids squeal when an echidna shuffles out from beneath the wooden boardwalk, and we stop to admire a seal lazing on a rock at the port.

Further along, the streets of quaint fishing village Port Fairy are lined with 19th-century cottages, old stone churches and Norfolk pines. Follow the historic walking trail to see some of the 60-plus National Trust buildings. Port Fairy is also home to Port Fairy Folk Festival (6-9 March), one of the country’s longest-running music and cultural festivals. You could time your road trip with the event for a fittingly celebratory end to any journey.

The Great Ocean Road can easily be done in three days, but we’ve spent a week on the road. The highlighted line on our now creased and well-worn map doesn’t follow the famous route precisely. It has sprouted branches in many directions, leading us to untouched rainforest and charming rural towns filled with culinary delights, and where we experienced some of our most memorable moments on the Great Ocean Road.

A traveller’s checklist

Staying there

The Monty is a highly anticipated, newly refurbished motel with a chic Palm Springs-inspired aesthetic set across the road from the Anglesea River. Basalt Winery in Port Fairy grows cool-climate wines such as pinot noir and Riesling in rich volcanic soil. Stay among the vines in its tiny home, complete with a kitchen, lounge area and outdoor firepit.

The Oak & Anchor Hotel has been a Port Fairy institution since 1857. Cosy up by the bar in winter or bask in the sunshine of the Lawn Bar in summer. The rooms are beautifully boutique with considered details, such as luxe baths for sinking into post-road trip.

Eating there

The Coast in Anglesea is a modern Australian restaurant focused on local ingredients. Grand Pacific Hotel has been a local landmark in Lorne since 1879 and recently underwent a restoration. It serves a mix of traditional pub and Italian fare alongside ocean views.

Graze is a cosy 40-seat dining room in Apollo Bay with a modern Australian menu complemented by regional wines. Apollo Bay Distillery offers tasting flights, a gin blending masterclass and serves woodfired pizzas.

Discover why #Vanlife is so much more than just a hashtag