Van Life Q&A | Giveaway, Expenses, Travel Plans & Finding Work

People think that because I'm on YouTube, I must be loud, outgoing or built for crowds. But the truth is softer than that. I've always lived in the quiet. Even as a child, I was the one playing alone, building whole worlds out of silence, feeling completely at home in my own company. The little version of me never left. She just grew up and learned to carry that quiet with her. And now, living in a van, the world feels even more still. Some nights it's just me, the walls, and the hum of the wind. And somehow, that's where I feel most myself. Not overwhelmed, not lonely, just grounded. My introversion isn't a mask I hide behind. It's the way my heart beats, slow, steady, soft. YouTube might look like confidence from the outside, but for me it's something gentler. A way to speak without the noise. A way to share my story without losing the part of me that needs space to breathe. Being introverted isn't a flow. It's a quiet kind of strength. A stillness most people rush past. And if you carry that same softness, that love for solitude, that peace in your own skin, know this. There is nothing wrong with the way you move through the world. Some souls simply bloom in silence. Good morning! I just went for a lovely walk, and it still feels a bit cool. Not really sure what's happening this summer this year. Seems to have, like, it's still on vacation maybe, I don't know. But I'm about to get ready for work, and first I'm going to make something for breakfast. And this has become my new fave. I stopped in at a coffee shop in Albany on a work run that I went in for, and I picked up at a cafe a blue muffin with cream cheese bagel. And it was so delicious. I went and bought some blueberry bagels to bring home and cook in my air fryer. Sorry, can you smell that? It's just divine. Just divine. Okay. We're going to have a Q&A today, because for those of you that have been following me and reading my posts, you know that I lost all of my footage from the videos that I was going to put up, and I spent two days trying to recover them, and with no luck. So I did find out that there are other people who have actually had the same problem using the same app as what I was. So what actually happened was I did a film, because I do everything on my phone in this app, and then I edited it and went to export it, which means it saves it to your phone so you can upload it onto YouTube. And then it came back saying unable to save due to phone storage, so I went into my phone storage and I got rid of some of the bigger videos that I had previously done for YouTube. And then I went back into the app to try and load it on, and I checked the video, and there was all of these black, blank spots, and I couldn't quite work it out. So I thought, oh, I'll just go back into my gallery and then reload them in. All gone. Two days of filming, all videos totally erased from my phone. I downloaded apps to try and retrieve them. I did everything I could. Didn't work. So, anyway, I am going to have this for breakfast. I found out the other day that the air fryer can actually do bread and toast it, so that's what I've been doing. I've been toasting the bagels. So, that one. Perfect. And the one thing that's going to make this so much more better is some Bremer Bay honey. You've got to try this. Mmm. And the honey just dripping off. I've got a little table. That's my bin. Perfect. Okay, so today we're going to do the Q&A. A couple of weeks ago, I actually put a post up about any questions that anyone wanted to ask me. But before we get into that, I want to let you know that I want to do a giveaway. And the giveaway is going to be this hat. This hat is brand new. No one has ever worn it. It's a wool hat by an Australian company called Will & Bear. I bought a lot of my family one of these, and we all love them. This is a large, a size large, and the reason why I love this company is because when you purchase a hat from them, 10 trees go get planted in the forest. So, that's amazing. It's wool. I wear mine in the rain. I wear mine a lot. And it still has pretty good shape, and it's been wet and everything. And if you could just share with a friend the video, I would greatly appreciate it. And this is just to say thank you. Thank you to all you guys for supporting me over the last couple of years. And I'm sure wherever this hat goes, it's going to be loved as much as I love mine. So, yeah. And I'll let you know in the next one or two videos later who actually got the hat. But, yeah. Okay. The question from Sharon James, is there anything about your van build that you would change? Yes. Not that I can change it, actually. Okay. One thing I wish I didn't do was the batteries are in the middle. I wish I had put the batteries right at the end of the build, and then that way I wouldn't have to worry about it. If you put the batteries at the back of the van, then I would have that extra space there for bench space. And I could have actually put the fridge underneath and had all like one big bench space because I cook a lot. And I love cooking. And I do make a bit of a mess when I cook. And to have a little bit more space would be amazing. The other thing that I am actually going to change is I'm going to move this up a little bit and just make this opening smaller. But the bench seat, I'm going to make that bigger so I can put the lagoon table in and have somewhere nice to sit to eat meals and work on my laptop, etc. But they're the only two things that I would change. Everything else, I absolutely love in here. Trish, would I ever go to South Australia? Yes. Now, I did actually drive through South Australia back in 2018, I think it was, or 2019. I can't really remember. But I did do a bit of a tour through South Australia. And I thought it was absolutely beautiful. I love all the farming and the rolling hills. I'm sure there's a lot that I didn't get to see. Yes, that is definitely another place that I would love to go and spend a bit more time. I was actually born in Sydney. So I've done a lot of Sydney. And I'm not bragging. But I've driven across the Nullarbor seven times. So it would be great to do another trip along the Nullarbor. I would like to go up the guts of Australia, though, because when I was a child, we had a bus. And we traveled in the bus around Australia. And I remember a lot of those places that we went to. But now that I'm an adult, I would love to go back to some of those places and revisit them now, while I still can. So yes, definitely is on the cards. Do you have any plans to get out and have a look at the rest of Australia? Yes, I haven't done it so far purely because I have grandchildren. And they're in WA. So for me, it's convenient. But they're getting older now. And it's probably time for me to step out and go and visit some more parts of Australia. The main places that I want to visit is the Northern Territory, far north Queensland, and Tasmania. I haven't done Tasmania yet. I've done all of the rest of Australia. But I haven't done Tasmania. So definitely, that's on the list. Sage asked, is it easy to get caravan park jobs? Yes, it was for me. And I'll link the other video up here is how I find work while living in a van. I did go into a fair bit of detail of what work I've actually done, where I found work, and how you can also find work. So for me, yes, it was easy. I have a background in cleaning. I've also worked on the mines in cleaning the villages and also mine site cleaning. So for me, it was quite easy to get a position in a caravan park. If you join some of the Facebook groups, they have so many positions for cleaners. And they're always struggling to get cleaners. So if you're willing to do the job, and even if you don't have the experience, and you let them know, I don't have the experience, but I'm really willing to give it a go, just apply. Just apply. Or the other thing on the Facebook groups is you just put a photo of yourself and say, hey, my name is such and such. These are the skills I have. These are the areas that I'm looking for work. Does anybody have anything? And people will DM you. So that video, I'll pop it up here. Go and have a look at that. And there's some Facebook pages and stuff within that video and also within the description that could be helpful for you. And Sage also asked, what places do you hope to travel to you haven't been to before? Not in Australia, but Vietnam. I'd actually planned to do Vietnam back in 2020. And then the money that I didn't spend on going there because COVID hit, I used that to buy my first van. So I have a very good friend that's actually in Vietnam, and she is thoroughly enjoying it and loving it. And she said I will actually love it there also. So I'm looking at going to Vietnam next year, February, March. That is the plan. And I hope I get there. Have I considered getting a folding bike or a scooter? Yes. I did actually have a folding bike that lived under my bed in my Mercedes Sprinter. And I used that a fair bit. But the battery was starting to die. And I kind of wanted something a little bit bigger with bigger wheels because that one had the smaller wheels, and it was one of those fold-up bikes. And, yeah, I had it for four years. And I never had a problem with it. I absolutely loved it. Just purely for me, I would want something with – because I love going off-road into the bush and that with the bike, so I wouldn't mind a mountain bike that is also electric or a scooter. But until I get back from Vietnam, I'm not going to make that purchase. I'm going to hold off on that purchase because I want to just spend or save all that money to go to Vietnam for next year. John, how many years do you think you will continue to travel? For as long as I can, John. That's my plan. I have absolutely no plans to stop. If my health is good and I can continue to travel, I'm going to do it. I am trying to come up with more ways that I can earn money online so I can be more on the road rather than stopping at places for a couple of months and working. So next year, I'm going to work really hard on trying to establish something like that. But I have absolutely no plan on stopping anytime soon. Lani, do you have a contingency fund in case something expensive happens to the van? Yes, I do. So I worked on the mines for four years, and I did actually bank a fair bit of money. And I sold a house, which also gave me a little bit more money, which gave me enough to purchase this and also put into savings at least a year's worth of wages. So if anything happens, I hurt myself, something happens to the van, I have one year of wages to live off or to replace this. So that's my plan. Touch wood. Nothing happens, and I never have to use my savings for that kind of stuff. The money I have now, like I didn't have that back in 2020. I left with like $6,000 in my bank, and that dwindled very, very quickly back in 2020. And I just lived from pay to pay to pay to pay pretty much. And I did that for years until I got a job on the mines. And then I was able to start putting money away finally, seeing my savings account grow again. And I also have really good insurance. So I'm with CIL, and I've insured this for everything. So the van, everything inside, if anything happens, I'm not going to be left short at all. That's, yeah. But nothing's going to happen because this is my home. I'm staying in it. Super Donald wanted to know about my expenses. So I made a quick list of what my expenses are for the month kind of thing, what I spend in the month at the moment. So my insurance with CIL is $86.95 per month. My fuel at the moment, I'm only spending about $50 per fortnight. But when I'm traveling a lot, that can go up from $100 to $200 a week very quickly. This takes about $100 to fill it up, and it does about 750 kilometers. So I try and budget that like on where I'm going to be actually able to travel to. Also my groceries, I'm only spending around $80 a fortnight on groceries. I pretty much eat the same stuff, but purely because I'm budgeting, because I'm trying to save for the holiday for next year. So for now, like $80 is... I'm still eating porterhouse, chicken breast. I'm still eating very well. I do eat very well. So I'm not missing out on anything, but I am a little bit stingy in the food category. Coffee, I do go to the coffee van. I buy a coffee and a muffin twice a week. That's my little treat. And that's about $26 a week. I have Disney+, which is $16 a month, and InShot, which is how I edit all of my videos on my phone. I do everything on my phone. So InShot is $49.99 per year, and along with that, with the videos, you have to make sure that you get license-approved music. So I use Epidemic Sound. And that's $27.99 a month. That's a little bit expensive, I know, but it saves me having copyright claims and interfering with my YouTube channel. So it's well worth it in the end. My Telstra plan is $99. I do have a fairly high Telstra plan because I own the phone. So I pay $99, and that's 300 gigabytes worth of data. So that's plenty for me to upload my videos every week, and it really, I probably only use max of 70%, but that way I can download a lot of movies that I want to watch later. And then I just hotspot my laptop. I don't have Starlink or anything, no plans to get Starlink because this is just working just fine for me for now. So my expenses are around $520 a month. There's no way I could live in a house for $520 a month. It's just not possible. Do you plan on doing this forever? For as long as I can, yes. I will do this for as long as I possibly can. This lifestyle suits me. Being able to just go off and travel really suits me, and I'm not someone that likes to stay in one place for very long, so definitely this is my perfect lifestyle. It's a lot less stress for me to live in the van and more freedom. I don't want the pressure of rent. I don't want the pressure of working nine to five, six days a week. I like my life because I work six months of the year, and then I have six months off to travel. It's a perfect life for me. Will I get another dog or a cat? No to a cat, but yes for a dog. I did nearly get one not that long ago, but I decided against it because I was going overseas next year, and I don't think it's fair to have – when I have a dog, they're with me 24-7. I don't leave them unless I have a doctor's appointment or something. They come everywhere with me. Maybe next year I'll look at possibly getting another dog, but the other thing you need to think of with having a dog is it does affect where you can work and where you can travel because you can't go to a lot of national parks and stuff or stay in national parks if you have a pet. A lot of places, when you go to work there, they don't specifically like you to have an animal if you're working there. So for me, for now, I don't have any pets, but yes, a dog is definitely on the cards, maybe next year. Just so you don't forget, make sure that you make a comment of what you liked about the video or ask a question that I can answer you in the comments and to share the video, and I will announce the winner in not the next video but the video after. I'll put all the details down below, so if you're looking at winning, check in the description down below, and I'll have the rest of the details there. So I hope I answered everyone's questions. If you have another question that you want to ask me, pop it in the comments and I'll do my best to answer it for you. Okay, cheers. Okay, just going to get a drink. Let me check that that is on. Yes, and I'm going to get a drink. Check, check, check, mic check.