Like many new migrants from Europe, Albert Schimmel was blown away by the beauty and the sheer scale of Australia when he came here from the Netherlands back in 1970.
And it didn’t take he and his wife long to decide they wanted to explore.
Within a week of arrival, the couple had bought a VW Kombi van and began converting it into a camper.
And, over the next five decades, they fell deeper and deeper in love with their new home country. They took three major laps around Australia, took a few trips up and down the middle, and went on five adventures to Tasmania.
Sadly, Albert’s wife passed away several years ago … but his passion for travel has remained.
Albert and Vaska were happy with their choice of a Wirraway motorhome.
Last year, he met up with Vaska – herself a veteran traveller – and the pair decided to do a Lap together.
Albert rented out his Townsville home and happily hit the road … but it hasn’t all been plain sailing.
“We set off in a Hino bus,” said Albert. “However, it ended up giving us one mechanical problem after another!”
The pair eventually replaced it with a 2007 Wirraway motorhome, which – given the sharp spike in fuel prices that followed – was an inspired decision.
“As it turned out, over the time it has saved us a lot of money,” said Albert. “When we got to Adelaide the fuel prices started to climb, but we never considered cutting the journey short.”
The pair never found any fuel shortages but, when fears about the potential impacts of the Middle East conflict were at their highest, they did notice RV traffic was noticeably lighter than normal. Interestingly, they also observed there were suddenly more hired vans than private ones.
Nonetheless, they found some popular spots up the northwestern coast were still very busy.
“Exmouth was nearly impossible to get a caravan park unless pre-booked,” said Albert. “We normally freedom camp and don’t tend to use caravan parks, but the WA west coast is very unfriendly towards ‘freeloaders’.”
However, Albert and Vaska found the parks they stayed at in Denham and Kununurra were nearly empty.
“Also Barn Hill, where we had been several times had a lot of space open and that’s normally booked out at that time,” said Albert. “I have heard stories of people bargaining with caravan parks in Broome for a better price.”
Albert and Vaska are currently ‘paused’ in the Darwin area, thanks to another vehicle-related drama.
“We’re spending more time here because a pothole ripped out one shock absorber mounting and, while parked, someone decided to smash our quarter door glass,” said Albert. “Now, all the parts have to come from down south!”
The pair will be on the road until October, so still have time for plenty more new adventures.
“At least we have not used the diesel heater for a while,” said Albert. “And there is still plenty to see between here and Townsville.”
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