The road is my part-time mistress

Tell people you’ve just brought a motorhome and right away, you'll be fielding questions about when you're going to ‘do the big lap’. I don’t quite know why motorhomes have a reputation for full-time living, but for me, the road is strictly a part-time mistress.

Of course some people do buy a motorhome and then hit the road for impressively long spans of time (years in many cases) and I marvel at these road loving individuals, couples and families. The vehicles themselves are quite impressive and eclectic as their owners often are and many a wet ‘campground afternoon’ can be whiled away in the company of these travel happy folk. 

Personally, I love to see how people fit their life belongings into an often tiny house on wheels. There are the Trakka owners who trend towards a zen like minimalist state. Older Winnebago owners seem to be forever adding new nooks, hooks and can holders (as well as having on board, a friendly pooch or two).

Jayco owners seem to love clothes lines and technology (in equal quantities) and the coach and bus owners? They are my favourite of all.

That feeling you get just before you enter someone's full time living bus and see how they've made the space work… priceless. Bus and coach owners must be amongst the most diverse travellers on Australian roads.

From the uber ‘grey nomads’ in top end custom coach motorhomes (happy wife, happy life) to families with impossible amounts of children (I can barely manage two) who create their home in a mobile space most people would consider impossible. How do they do it?

When Peter Cairns, his partner Alison and their five children hit the road in their converted 1984 Austral Tourmaster bus in 2005, who would have guessed they would still be going strong almost a decade later. Five children and two adults I hear you cry. Amazing! Astounding!

Well if you're impressed by that, Google Peter and Alison or visit their

Facebook page and you'll discover they now have five more children for a grand total of 12 people living in the Tourmaster - this is the stuff of legends.

Meanwhile, back at ‘home base’, we recently sold our 2004 Winnebago Leisure Seeker (a fantastic holiday tourer with small kids) and replaced it with an almost vintage (1989) 23ft Winnebago which gives us an extra 3ft of internal living space, for slightly longer stays, with now much larger kids.

The additional space comes thanks to a much shorter cab on the older Mitsubishi Canter vs the more modern Iveco on our previous motorhome. This extra space might not sound like much, but that extra three feet gives us two bunks, a single bed (along side the double bed / daytime dinette) plus a double bed over cab.

Do we need seven berths for four people? No. Do we absolutely love having the extra space? Yes! Are the bunks for dwarves? No, they're normal length (you would be surprised how often I have to field that question).

Seeing as you seem interested, I just replaced the toilet in our new (old) Winnebago with an RV specific composting toilet. The new toilet is waterless and works by separating the solids from the liquids and composting the ‘bio-mass’ with coir potting mix blocks available from any hardware shop.

The advantage of this new system is that we will save about a third of our fresh water supply from being flushed down the loo (literally) and composting toilets have a reputation for minimising odours. I'm a little skeptical on that last point so I am awaiting 35 degree summer days to put this claim ‘to the test’ . You would be wise to hold your breath. 

Of course the real benefit of all this saved water and a bathroom smelling of roses is more time to enjoy life on the road with my gorgeous wife and two wonderful children. Camping is more fun when you don’t have to contend with daggy dump points and dubious water supplies, but dear reader, you have probably already guessed, these are just excuses.

I live for the sweet intensity of part-time travel. Give me three weeks school holidays and I will show you a travel itinerary that could make a tour guide swoon. Much longer than that however and even the most golden sunset can’t keep me from pining for ‘unlimited' hot water, ‘flush as many times as you please’ toilets and a ‘bank’ of electricity that never goes flat.

Yes, I know I should be better than this. I admit I feel slightly disappointed at my non-eco friendly addiction to these lush, plush comforts of home, yet even as I write these things, I am realising they're not really what makes me return. 

What I return for is that feeling, when I turn that last bend in the road and see my home up ahead. It’s a feeling that makes my heart sing and my hands drum a happy tune on the steering wheel. It's the feeling of coming home ….and it's a feeling amplified by the knowledge that this time, bio-mass is taking care of business and I don’t have to empty the toilet!

See you out there on the road and do share below, I love a good yarn in the comments section...