We would like you to meet Dink. She is our new home that we decided to keep after spending a week in a teeny tent. Dink seemed like luxury in comparison. Not sure we still necessarily felt that way after a week back in a house...nevertheless, insurance has been bought and it cost a bloody fortune, so she shall stay.
Dink as in Dink the Little Dinosaur - small and very very old.
She is only small, with no standing room unless you count standing up through the sun roof (I think we will certainly be counting that in on many occasions). There is a bed that kind of folds up during the day, with two compartments for storage underneath the bed - one at the back that we will use mostly for luggage and 'cleaning' water, and one in the front that we will use as our kitchen. This has our drinking water, a fridge (so far, very effective!) and a portable gas cooker. It's not quite the 'easy access, low stress' set up we ideally imagined, but I think we will get by just fine.
We've made a couple changes since getting her, including a couple of IKEA trips and many Amazon Prime packages. We have a storage system for our 'kitchen', some extra storage boxes near the bed, pretty bedding (have to brighten it up somehow!) and some snazzy looking seat covers to try hide the brown. Can't seem to do anything about the smell...very musty. Hopefully we get used to it.
We've definitely come across a few challenges along the way; getting insurance was particularly painful and expensive, partly because of our NZ licenses and partly because no one knew what category of car Dink fell under. So much time wasted sorting that out. Also, navigating through websites to figure out what exactly is required of us to drive through Europe was no easy task. We think we have it figured out, but who knows?? Watch this space.
Dink is currently sitting in the local mechanic shop, awaiting a refreshing service and a few enhancements - power plug, immobiliser, solar panel - and hopefully we will get her back in time to drive away from London Town on Monday 10th July. Potentially wishful thinking but we have high hopes!
Not many photos yet, will put more up when we are all packed up to leave!
