Sneek Peek Inside

You may remember the photos of Matilda I shared with you when I first laid eyes on her. Well without further ado here is a little peek inside.

There are so many pretty things I'd like to do to Matilda but it will have to wait until I get home. She was driven down out street to our house just a few days before we left on The Big Adventure and between packing up the entire house and the torrential rain, my efforts were severely hampered. I just had to make do with what I had lying around the house.

So consider this the "before" of a "before & after" revamp.

The main objective was to make it practical, fun and colourful. 

I picked up this "House & Home" sign from Borders for a steal when they were in liquidation. Actually, I bought a whole bunch of them and they were sitting in the shed until I found a house & home for the "House & Home".

The Kitchen. Gas Jackaroo Camp Oven & Stove.

Original 1970's wave curtains. Love them! These can stay.

At one end of Matilda is the Diner in original condition. This is where we eat, play games and be merry. The vinyl is so handy with 4 kids but I'd love to recover them in a bright red or a brighter lime green to match the exterior stripe. The same can not be said for the carpet. It gets absolutely filthy with all the dust, dirt and sand and the first thing I'd like to do when I get back is rip it out and install some checkerboard lino. There was no room on the walls so I had a large map of Australia laminated and it sits on the table.

The Diner converts to our bed. It's actually very comfy. It would be too hot for a doona but I had this quilt coverlet in the linen cupboard at home. I bought it in an op shop years ago in Hobart. The colour combination is maybe a bit too festive for everyday but it is a perfect weight and I love the pattern of the quilting.

At the other end of Matilda is the kids bed. The one purchase I did make was this original 1970's wave quilt cover from ebay, which luckily arrived by express post on the very last day in Sydney. The seller was so excited by our travels she popped a little parting gift in the package for us - the octopus in the photo above. The quilt was still in the original packaging, never been used and I just love it. It makes me so happy seeing the kids all bundled up at night under an item that was made in the decade in which I was born.

A lot of time is spent on their bed playing games and reading. They are all into different books but the one book they all enjoy is "Are we there yet?" as we are seeing so many of the sights documented in the book.

Sometimes they sleep like sardines all lined up next to each other. Other times they sleep head to toe, bless their little cotton socks! Even when we were staying with their grandparents and they were given their own beds, they still slept with each other like this head to toe.

More often than not they become a tangled mess of 16 limbs.

Here is the Pro Hart "Flowers" painting that the removalists left on the wall of our house and so we had to bring it with us. It adds a nice burst of colour, don't you think?

And as always, some pretty flowers from wherever we are at the time. These beautiful Frangipani's and Hibiscus courtesy of Broome Caravan Park.

So, where the mess I hear you ask? Most of it spills out into the "Big Top" gazebo we have annexed to the caravan and it's probably best I don't show you the inside of the car today :-)

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Meet Our Waltzing Matilda

Two weeks and 2 days to go....

I am still on the biggest high following our decision last Friday to pack up our life, the 4 kids and the Whippet and return to Tasmania via a 3 month adventure around Australia in a caravan.

There is a mixture of excitement and adrenalin in the household as we make our preparations. So many balls in the air.

However, things are falling into place ever so nicely. After a couple of days of scouring ebay, the trading post and the classifieds for a caravan, we found our little beauty, or rather it found us! And you will never guess where.

It was on our street! 

I know! What are the odds of needing a caravan in 2 weeks and finding one on your very own street, 50m away? One that features a bold stripe in none other than your favourite colour, Green? One that is exactly on budget? Exactly your style? And one that has you so excited you are kept awake at night as you mentally decorate it's interior and imagine all the memories that will be created within it's tiny body in the years to come.

This is how it happened. We live in a pretty street with an eclectic mix of Australian natives and rows of beautiful "Liquid Ambers". So, I go out the front door to let the Whippet take me for a walk. I decide to turn right. I never usually walk or drive along this section of our street as it is actually an avenue that loops back onto itself and so is like a dead end. I don't know why I did this day. It was obviously meant to be.

I turn the bend and I see a vision in white and green. My heart skips a beat. Could that be our caravan? It then sinks as I notice the house before which it sits has been knocked down. Perhaps this is someone's temporary accommodation?

But as I near closer I see a sign in the window "Urgent Sale". It was then that I knew it would be ours. We make some calls, have a look, the owner knocks $1000 off the price and agrees to pay for the rego which only ran out 4 days ago. $3,500.00 later and the deal is done.

Isn't she a beauty? Nothing fancy but perfect for us. It's actually a 1975 vintage Millard Capri. The addition of the word "Capri" makes it sound a bit posh don't you think? Can't wait to show you the interior.

We have named her "Matilda", in honour of Banjo Paterson's "Waltzing Matilda". It seemed fitting since this will be our family's maidan journey around Australia in a Caravan. And for those not familiar with Australian folklore, Waltzing Matilda is slang for traveling around (waltzing) with ones goods in a bag (a Matilda) over your shoulder. In essence, the caravan will be our Matilda as we journey around.

I am still swooning over the colour.

So excited are we by our new purchase that we are stalking her every opportunity. We now have to drive past her every time we get in the car and last night when my Dad was over for dinner and the kids were in bed, we went for a walk with our torches for goodness sakes and stalked her again. Honestly, we are like kids in a lolly shop.  I'm surprised how obsessed I am with her. Is this normal?

And here is our shiny new Tow Ball, which was fitted onto our car yesterday.

So what do you think of our Matilda? Anyone else into Caravans? Love them or loathe them?