Have you met my friend Benny?

By Bobbi-Jo // 31 March 2011 // Comments: 4 // Related Categories: Benny, Best Backpacker Job, Traveller blog

FAVOURITE BLOGS REPOSTED - Remember Benny?  From the Blogging Bobbies 3 month Road Trip.  Well if you didn't read all about one of the best ways to see Australia's East Coast - in a campervan!!

Road trips?

Fun.

Driving in a camper van?

Extra fun.

Driving on the opposite side of the road?

Piece of cake.

Having to parallel park said van (which is three times the size of your own car)?

Scary, but doable.

Driving for the first time at night on the opposite side of the road after being warned repeatedly that kangaroos like to JUMP OUT AT YOUR CAR AND BREAK YOUR WINDSHIELD and scratch you to death slowly and painfully?

Holy god.

As I was making the trip from Bellingen (upcoming post) to Coffs Harbour last night, I came to the horrible realization that I was the only person on the route. If there’s one thing I’ve learned, is that when it’s 8pm and nobody else is on the road, everybody knows something you don’t.

I still don’t know if there was an outbreak of killer kangaroos or a flood warning or if people just really like to go to sleep early in that area, but it was a little eerie. But also? A lot peaceful. There’s been quite a bit of open road for me on this trip, which in my little VW Jetta might have gotten old about 300km ago, but I’m luckily in the company of my dear Benny.

Benny has gotten me from Sydney to Byron Bay safely. He’s given me shelter from rainstorms and a place to sleep at night. He’s played some awesome jams along the way, even playing “Life is a Highway” at one point, showing off his flair for humor.

Now, I’m not the kind of girl you’d expect to fall for a camper van (what did you think I was talking about?)...I don’t camp. The closest I’ve ever come was a night that all of my friends wanted to set up tents at a campground that was curiously right in the middle of a big city and even then I couldn’t last the whole night. Campfires? I’d probably start a brush fire. Sleeping on the dirt? You’re looking at the girl that sleeps with no less than 11 pillows on her bed at any given time.

But luckily Benny has a stove and microwave built-in and two full beds inside. And until my travel partner joins me, I can work with the two pillows he brought along for the trip. In other words? I’m a convert.

When I pulled up to All Seasons Campervans and saw what I’d be driving and living in for 3 months, I was nervous. But the staff was amazing, equipping me with maps, a GPS unit and the reassurance that I wouldn’t crash and burn the second I pulled out onto the road. They’ve been around the block, so they recognize the look of terror when a driver from the US sees that the driver’s seat along with all of the controls are a mirror-image of what they’re used to. And they meet that terror with a soothing you’ll get used to it.

And it’s true. Within 20 minutes of getting out of Sydney and it’s roundabouts of doom, I felt right at home with (in?) my new travel partner. 772 kilometers later, Benny and I are still in one piece, I’m used to sleeping in him (he’s quite comfy and equipped with a refrigerator, canopy, tables and chairs as well, so I really have anything I might need), and I worry about him at night when I sleep in a hostel and have to leave him alone.

There’s also a little bit of campervan culture across the east coast, so I was thrilled earlier today to see another All Seasons Campervans driving towards me. I think Benny fancied her, she was quite shiny had very plump wheels.

Do they have a Missed Connections section for this type of thing?

And also keep an eye on YouTube and Flickr!