For the past six months while I have been adjusting to life with Rheumatoid Arthritis and a significant reduction in my income while I was not working, this has been my home. It's not exactly Shangri-La and it has its limitations (ie: No running hot water or toilet and it's a bit of a walk to the amenities block) but at least it is vintage! It has served its purpose well and provided me with the perfect place to rest up and have some healing time. Summer here was great. Right behind my caravan there is a lovely pool surrounded by tropical palms and nobody else seemed to use it. I was in there every day, soaking up as much sun as I could to ensure my Vitamin D levels stayed good, and swimming sixty laps a day (it's a small pool) which really helped me get the mobility back in my ankles and hands. When I first came here I could barely walk and my hands looked like this:
I spent a lot of my time confined to my very comfy pillow top bed so the smallness of my space wasn't really an issue, besides my favourite TV shows are the ones all about Tiny Houses and I figure this is just as cool as a tiny home, right?
For the first two months before this place came up for rent I was living in Betty and had no TV, so I read a lot of books from the give and take library down at the office until I had saturated my capacity for romance novels (for some reason that seems to be the most popular type of book left behind by grey nomads!)
Moving into the onsite caravan felt like luxury after being confined to 13 feet for that long. I was able to get my TV out of storage and even had a full sized fridge to keep my stores of fresh pineapple, paw paw, rockmelon, ginger, spinach, celery and spinach for my morning green smoothies. Oh joy! Pineapple and ginger is grown locally so that is a special treat that is also good for me.
The other great thing about being here on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland has been the best ever beaches: Caloundra, Maroochydore, Mooloolabah are all just a short drive away and more sun and the magnesium in the sea water were especially healing for my aching body. I went to the beach a lot. My daughter came for visits and we'd go to the beach together so that was nice too.
Sunshine makes me happy!
Inside my caravan there is the bedroom, a dining area that I use as a desk when I am on the computer, and a small kitchen area with a plug in hot plate and fridge. The front of the caravan is a spare room where the kids stay when they visit and that I use as a dressing room the rest of the time.
The hard annex on the side of the van is where I have my lounge room and TV and book shelves and is where I set up my rowing machine. I bought some fluffy white rugs to cover up the yucky blue green carpet that was in there and brought in a vintage lounge suite and the super cool coffee table I got from Greazefest a few years ago and tried to retro it all up a bit.
Out the back I have my 1960s wrought iron outdoor setting that matches the long seat that I have out out the front. It needs to be restored eventually, but I think it looks cool there with the umbrella.
Unfortunately the new owners of this park are in the process of developing it to become an over 55's retirement resort. Most of the other renters here have moved on and their caravans have been given away free for removal and the annexes demolished. My caravan's days are numbered... and eventually, some time soon, it will be taken away and demolished too. Sad... It's the end of an era; for me, and the park and so many others around the country.
Time for me to think about where to from here... Good things are coming!
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