My Instagram feed is filled up with fellow campervaners. I fricken love it aye.
The idea of re-purposing a vehicle to make it liveable. The fun of doing modifications, making mistakes, learning how to do some mod better, lighter, stronger and more efficient. It's why, in part, Angela and I took on the Chevy Ambo project last November.
Every modification is done thinking; will this add enjoyment and longevity to being off the grid. For me it is even simpler; what does the Chevy need to stay around the reef at Shippies for a whole swell. The reckoning is if she can handle that, then she's up for anything.
The big one was getting certified as Self Contained. It might sound weird but I'm really proud that the Chevy is legit. I've written web-logs about this before. About how Shippies is under strain and there is a need to be more considerate of the locals and the resource. It's the most read PhotoCPL web log done to date.
How's the bedroom view
Last week was the Chevy's maiden Shippies run. There was confidence the 4x4 V8 Ambo would power around the rocks, but there was also that little niggle. Is it too high, too wide, hell, in this case is it too heavy in sand? I've seen Daihatsu Charades, stock trucks and caravans around the reef, but there was still worry. She blazed around. In fact she was even put up on a dune to prove the point. I was a pig in shit.
Building
....building...
On Fire!
The swell hit on Thursday and grew throughout the day. It was a good day. A big day for around those parts. It was a surfing day, not so much a photo day. Thursday night was rough, hail laden fronts stormed through every hour. I nearly [nearly] felt guilty for being rugged up in my double bed with the heater on. By dawn on Friday the crew tenting it were packed and gone. It would have been a tough cold night. The wind cut the swell to ribbons.
Could I have driven up and just surfed all Thursday, then driven home that evening and caught as many waves? Easily. But spending a few nights off the grid, self-contained is way more fun. C'mon spring swells!
The Big Little Beach Book is not a surf book, it's a beach book. But Shippies was included, this is it's feature spread. The book arrives late this month, but Pre-orders with free P&P are now open HERE
