The Art of Caravanning

While caretaking, fossicking, fruit-picking and camp hosting are among the most popular ways for grey nomads to make money while they travel … they are most certainly not the only ones. Indeed, it seems when it comes to supporting on-the-road-lifestyle the options are endless. Just ask Rob and Anne den Ronden.

This innovative and energetic couple are busy traversing the countryside in probably the most recognisable caravan in Australia? Put it this way, if you’ve seen them, you’ll remember them. Artist Rob has turned the couple’s 1978 Viscount into what he calls a gallery on wheels. Every square centimetre of the well-travelled, well-loved vehicle has been painted in Rob’s bright and distinctive style.

“I don’t think there’s many people who go past us and don’t pass comment,” he says. “I suppose we could really do with something bigger to hold all of the paintings but we’ve put a lot of work into it, so we’ll hang onto it for a while.”

Among the pictures on the back of the van is one of the artist himself smiling happily and these days, the den Rondens certainly have a lot to smile about. After 22 years running a contract cleaning business on the Gold Coast, the hard-working pair thought it was the end of the world when their most important client jumped ship. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“My passion had always been art and we had always wanted to travel Australia,” says Rob. “We sat down and decided that we could turn a negative into a positive. We took a business course, sold up everything we had, bought this van and hit the road to see if we could make a living from my art.”

The couple hasn’t looked back since.

“Rob’s style is called detailed naïve and it’s got quite a lot of humour in it and so it went down well right from the start,” says Anne, who describes herself as Rob’s marketing manager. “He’s been using some of the places we’ve visited to put together a series on mining. There is just so much material out here and so many great characters. We had an absolute ball at the gemfest near Emerald, for example where we met some great people and everybody was interested in what Rob was doing.”

The couple has been able to use a process called giclee to make limited edition prints of Rob’s work which they are then able to personalise for customers. They have also been painting everything from caravan park toilet walls to old gas fridges.

“Everywhere we look we see a new opportunity,” says Rob, picking up his brush once more. “A lot of people are horrified at the prospect of selling up and travelling indefinitely but that uncertainty can be great, it gives you a zest for life. Looking back I think you can safely say we worked in the contract cleaning business 20 years too long!”

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