Mummy Milli

If you have read any of my other posts, I’m not sure if you have been able to tell already but we are a family of planers. What got my partner and I through the two weeks of quarantine (coming back to Australia), during Covid, was finding and purchasing Cassie the camper.  

Outside of Monkey and Chickadee, one of our biggest pride and joys has been the creation of Cassiopeia the camper. She was built and designed in 2020, before even getting pregnant. When we first designed the car we knew we had children in our future and, as we are self professed planners, we did what we did best, we planned for Cassie to work with one child, hopefully giving us a few more years of cheaper travel. This worked really well for us as it enabled us to have the van set up for two and a half years after Monkey was born and take many weekends away and one three week trip together.

Originally named as we had spent quite a while in the northern hemisphere where you can see the constellation Cassiopeia, hence why the constellation is the bed head in the car. Plus Cassie the camper is a fun name. 

We were tossing up between the Elgrand and the Estima but already guessed that a Toyota would likely win, simply due to spare parts and the knowledge to service them. Toyota’s are a mainstay within Australia. In viewing the Elgrands we knew we had made the right choice in the Estima, the Japanese version of the Tarago. 

We then managed the drive home with an overnight stop- the first night we slept in the car we just flattened out the seats and slept on a pillow of our own clothes. A far cry from how Cassie turned out!

Neither of us being designers, Hubby spent a while learning how to use CAD to do a mock up of our design. We did find however that no matter how specific we could be through the software, it did not always translate to the real world. Some artistic licence had to be taken when actually building the camper 

The build

I would like to take this opportunity to say we are very privileged that my dad trained as a carpenter and was happy to lend us a hand. Although it basically ended up with us lending him a hand, to build the bedframe, drawers and kitchen. Without his knowledge, tools and unending patience with Hubby and I, Cassie would not have been built. 

We had already brought the battery, the water tank and fridge so we knew and could test out measurements in place, which was extremely handy as this was where some tweaks had to be made. Overall we could not have been happier with the result. 

The build itself took place over about 2 months. The electronics had to be installed before the interior was strapped down. The interior can be broken down into 4 separate sections which can be taken out individually, to put in a seat or two, or it can all come out. 

Having traveled in campervans before, we knew that we wanted a stand up fridge and we had the height for one so we chose the Bushman 85X model. This fridge has been wonderful to have in the car even when not using it as a campervan. We love going on day trips or just being out all day and having to get groceries, it has been such a luxury. 

The kitchen is made up of the fridge, a long drawer, a cabinet with two sections and the door of the cabinet folds down to create a table over the long drawer. These storage options have meant that we have been able to take all that we could want and need and have it securely stored. Everything even stayed in place on the bumpy roads out the Arkaroola.

Organising the fly screens and curtains were a lot harder than originally thought. Being in Australia the heat and files are synonymous with travel and fly screens for car windows are easy to come by in camping stores. However there were none that fitted the large windows that the Estima’s have in their passenger doors. This resulted in me having to sew the curtains, but did give us the opportunity to choose the fabric, which was of course space themed as per her name. I also bought the largest fly screens I could and modified them till they worked, not perfect but we had fly screens.

We made every space we could either drawers, or storage space. Under the bed and accessible from each back door were deep drawers. Behind them, still under the bed, were lift up trap doors where we would store things we would use less frequently, as the bed had to be pulled apart to access them. Not something that would take long, just fiddly. In this section was also access to the second battery and the water tank, the outlet of which is accessed though a side door.

Couple Vs Family Travel

Since completing the build we have travelled in it both as a couple and as a family of three. While the bed is more comfortable and has more space as only two adults, we have found it was workable for the three of us.

One thing that really added to our comfort for both couple and family travel was designing the bed frame at a height where we could sit up comfortably in the van. Initially this made playing games in the van and getting changed in the van easy, but when adding a toddler the extra height meant nappy changes were easy, they had more space to move and play and getting them ready for bed was generally the best case scenario as we weren’t cramped in anyway.

It took a little trial and error, through a couple of overnight camping trips, (link to the first of many overnight trips with Monkey) where we figured out an extra section needed to be created between the bed and the chair that held Monkey’s child seat. This slight modification allowed us to travel, fairly comfortably, for three weeks, sleeping in the camper across to Melbourne.

The original set up enabled us to have an extra drawer instead of the chair and a traditional square shaped bed. However when the car was set up for three people the bed became an L shape. Monkey could fit behind his chair and Hubby and I would bunch up on the other side. I am a side sleeper and Hubby likes to sleep on his back so this set up worked for us.

Funnily enough during our trips as a couple, we filled all the spaces. We had a pull out drawer each for our clothes. The kitchen was full and so was the fridge.

Converting the car to hold three people meant that we lost one of the pull out drawers. We managed to get all three of our clothes into one drawer (with the help of packing cubes). What was a luxurious and easy set up for two people, was cosy (read cramped), manageable and still enjoyable for three.

For the kitchen we had to refill it much more frequently when there were 3 of us. When travelling with Monkey we have to make so many stops anyway and haven’t headed too far away from civilisation so this hasn’t been an issue for us.

Take aways

Overall we have been exceptionally happy with this design. We have managed to fit an substantial amount into a regular sized car and keep it practical for our growing family. Unfortunately with the birth of our second child we have had to dismantle Cassie, but we have managed to keep the fridge in the back, although with a different set up to ensure we can now fit a pram.

If Monkey had slept better earlier we would have loved to get out even more but it just wasn’t meant to be and we still managed quite a few family trips. Other than that there isn’t anything I would change about the build.

If you would like any more information about our build or our trips, please shoot me a message.