Introducing Luke & Claire from 'Vanlifestraya' adventure

Luke and Claire are adventurers to the core. After meeting and falling in love in Dubai, they moved to Australia where they built 'Dandy', the van of their dreams and travelled around Australia for more than 5 months... Now two is becoming three, and the young couple has settled down near Melbourne, and are eager to share Dandy the van with fellow adventurers.

Tell us a little bit more about you

We both met in Dubai, where we used to live. After living in Dubai for much longer than planned, we knew we wanted to eventually settle in Australia but also wanted the flexibility to travel. We discovered 'vanlife' through social media, and after craving a simpler lifestyle, we were instantly hooked.

Tell us more about your van

She's an LWB High Roof Mercedes Sprinter, and we built her to be a luxury boutique van with the perfect mix of functionality and light beach style. We wanted it to be a proper tiny home for long term living. We so went premium with the electric setup with lithium batteries so that we could still have all the creature comforts of a real home (Nutri-bullet, air-fryer, toaster, milk frother etc.) The extra length gives her quite a bit of space, so we were able to prioritise a decent size kitchen as well as a full queen size bed and lots of storage for surfboards, clothes etc.

What you love most about exploring Australia?

We could be wrong, but I don't think Australians know how lucky they are! Not only does it have incredible diversity, stunning beaches, mountains, rainforests etc. but the volume of free facilities (beach showers, public toilets, water hook-ups) is hard to beat in anywhere else in the world!

Who do you usually travel with?

Generally, just us two. But over our past trips, we were super fortunate to meet a vast number of awesome people who we'd now consider great friends. It's one of our favourite things about living on the road, the incredible # vanlife community that comes with it and meeting amazing like-minded people along the way to share incredible experiences with.

Tell us some of your favourite hidden gems in Australia

Oh, that's a tough one. In terms of destinations, we loved the smaller towns of northern NSW, in particular Cabarita and Hastings Point. We also loved the hinterland of that area (around Mt Warning) like Crams Farm as well as one of our fave campgrounds, Tyalgum Showgrounds which is set in a beautiful little town. Further north we loved Agnes Water/1770 and the Atherton Tablelands. Top spots would have to be Murray Falls, Wallaman Falls, Josefine Falls and both Big and Little Millstream Falls.

Why did you decide to join Camplify?

Well, we found out that we were pregnant! We had a couple of minor complications, and the hospital in Melbourne wanted us back much sooner than we'd initially planned so we blitzed it back down the coast to be back in Melbourne. We're just making short Victorian road trips now so we thought joining Camplify would be a good way for other people to check out life in our van as well as help cover some of the medical costs we've recently been incurring.

How do you plan to invest the money you earn via Camplify?

Back into the van for some small upgrades along with all the baby stuff that we'll be needing! :)

You can book your next adventure in 'Dandy' here.