From our early days we have done the camping, camper-trailer and pop-top caravan thing. Each was fun, for a short while, but battling weird weather, fiddling around setting up and the drama/trauma of dragging an unstable thing behind us, I didn't want that any more. We have traveled extensively overseas but again, the 'joys' of cattle class airplane seats finally cured us of that. Besides, we have seen pretty much all the places we wanted to, sometimes twice.
I have been officially retired for many years but have always been active in various activities, sound mixing and the roadie thing for bands, and photography, studio, weddings, travel, etc. Last year the wife retired and it was time to live another 'dream', to see the 'other' places in Australia. We have been to every major city in Oz many times and even had a chance to see some smaller places, but mainly flying around the country, we saw very little of what was in between them.
We wanted a mobile home of some sort but not a caravan. It was going to be either a RV/motorhome or a 5th wheeler. Figuring that packing up each day for a short excursion or to 'go get some milk' would be a downright pain in butt, we went for a 5th wheeler. It needed to be very comfortable, for the wife in particular. I could dissappear for hours if I was somewhere photogenic and the wife need to be comfy. After much searching (around the country) we settled on a Forest River Wildwood Heritage Glen. 10m long and 4m high, it's a biggy. The size and mass of The Van determined the size of the tow vehicle, The Truck, a 6.6l turbo 2004 Chevy Silverado Longbox. With The Van weighing in at around 4.5 tonnes, The Truck had to be strong, lots of torque and 4WD. The Chevy ticks all the boxes.
The Van (some friends call it The Mothership, whilst others refer to it as The Palace, I like that one), has 3 slideouts, one for the kingsize bed, one on the left side with the leather convertible lounge, the other side holds the dining setting, tables and 4 chairs, no dinette for us. Between them along the back wall, with the big window, are two leather recliner chairs, which face the entertainment wall with its 42" TV.
The Palace has ducted heating and cooling to all rooms inc the bathroom, which has a shower with bath. It has a 200lt fresh water tank, 2x130lt grey water tanks and a 130lt black water tank. The island bench contains a double-bowl sink. We have a fair sized two-door 3-way (12, 240v, gas) fridge, gas oven and range with rangehood. The original incandescent lights have all been replaced with LED's.
I fitted a rear view camera to the back, just over the bumper, (more as a rear-view mirror but occasionally it helps with reversing). monitored on the 7" screen of our radio/DVD player in the cab of The Truck, via a rotary selector switch (I also have a camera over the tub looking at the hitch, a reversing camera and a forward-facing camera). I will be fitting at least a camera to the roof to give me an overhead 'clearance' view and probably another high on each side to give better side clearance views.
Apart from a tyre monitoring system (for all 8 wheels), I have a forward-facing dash-cam in The Truck for obvious reasons. I mounted another on the inside of the back window of The Van to record vehicles and other objects behind us in case of mishaps and problems caused by others (or us).
I don't have a generator nor any solar panels on the roof. I did buy a small 180 watt folding panel, just for trickle charging of our single house battery for when we free camp.
Since picking it up new (Jan 2016) we have had the freshwater tank explode which required a replacement with a baffled stainless steel tank, a tyre explode, which ripped out slide-out and other electric wiring under the van, which in turn necessitated in an upgrade from 15", 1100kg max load trailer tyres, to 16" light truck rims and 1280kg load tyres and dripping taps when park water pressure is a bit high. With our Telstra 4G dongle, we can get internet access (and email) anywhere, not cheaply but it's important, when you need it.
The wife doesn't enjoy the getting there as much as I do (I love my truck and it is an absolute joy towing The Van) but we both love living in The Palace when it's still.
