Wade and Dani

Thinking of building your own van?
Here are a few things we wish someone had told us before we started 👇

1️⃣Everything takes longer than you think. Always. Double your time estimate, then double it again.

2️⃣Perfection is overrated. You’ll never finish if you try to make it flawless. Good enough is enough.

3️⃣Test your layout before committing. Tape it out, live in it, imagine the day-to-day. It makes a massive difference.

4️⃣Weight adds up fast. Especially with timber. Keep it in mind when picking materials.

5️⃣Ventilation matters more than you think. A hot, stuffy van = miserable nights.

6️⃣You don’t need every single gadget. Start simple, upgrade later.

7️⃣Leave room for the things that aren’t in the build. Like hobbies, pets, or actual storage space for your clothes.

8️⃣You’ll change things. And that’s okay. Your first build doesn’t need to be your forever setup.

Every build is different, but if you’re dreaming of van life, we hope this helps you get one step closer 💭

#vanbuild #vanlife #sprintervanbuild #vanlifeaustralia

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6 months ago | [YT] | 27

Wade and Dani

Another set of raw, unfiltered snaps from our van build journey...

We’ve always promised to share the real side of life on the road, and these past 4 weeks have been some of the hardest yet.

With the pressure to finish as much as we could before leaving the warehouse, emotions ran high—tears, arguments, and more than a few moments of doubt 😔 (who remembers the day we shared picture 5 on stories???)

Building a van isn’t nothing close to sunshine and dreams; it’s hard work, deadlines, and sometimes feeling like giving up. But we’re pushing through, one piece at a time, and reminding ourselves why we started.

Thank you for being here through the highs and lows. Here’s to the honest moments that make the destination worth it. 💛

#vanbuilddiaries #vanlifestruggles #rawandreal #vanbuildjourney

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7 months ago | [YT] | 15

Wade and Dani

Life lately: a mix of van life and apartment life, with the cats always with us. 🐈‍⬛🐈

We’re in a “in-between phase”. We live in our unit that we love so much, but also in the van when that’s rented through Airbnb. We’ll continue doing this for a while until we decide on our next adventure. It’s a sweet spot where the past feels close (another lap around Australia is sounding like a good idea), the future feels exciting, and the present… well, it’s all about embracing the ride.

A bit tired? The last photo will answer this question 😂

As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.” So here we are, making plans, but also living in the moment.

#vanlife #airbnblife #homeiswhereyouparkit #travelcouple #lifeontheroad #adventureawaits #vanlifediaries

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8 months ago | [YT] | 34

Wade and Dani

Today we woke up really missing life on the road.

Since wrapping up our van build, everything’s been non-stop—managing our (new to us) business, creating content, juggling everyday life, renting out our place on Airbnb…

It’s been a ride, but we haven’t had much time to actually ride.

If you’ve been following our stories, you know we’re living in the van while our apartment is rented. It’s a fun shuffle—but it’s made us dream even more about our next big trip.

📍Where should we head next?

#vanlife #motorhome #vanlifeaustralia #vanlifelifestyle #tinyhouse

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8 months ago | [YT] | 14

Wade and Dani

🚐 WHY DID WE CHOOSE A VAN FOR OUR HOME ON WHEELS #2?❓

After more than 3 years living in our first van, when it came time to build a new home on wheels, we chose the exact same vehicle: a long-wheelbase Mercedes Sprinter 416.

Out of all the options, we realised that this van size gives us everything we want in a home (bed, bathroom, kitchen, etc.) and still offers enough space if we need to spend entire days inside. Plus, it’s a vehicle that handles really well on the road.

Over these 4 years of travelling, we’ve learned we don’t need more interior space than what we have now to live and travel comfortably (our home is just 7sqm!)

And honestly, going bigger would just bring bigger headaches—like parking, navigating certain roads, or getting through cities.

The truth is, there’s no “perfect” vehicle for your home on wheels — every setup has its pros and cons. The best one is the one that works for you (and fits your budget!). For us, the van has been an awesome choice.

Got any questions about choosing the right vehicle for van life? Drop them in the comments!

8 months ago | [YT] | 17

Wade and Dani

WE NEED YOUR HELP

We are looking to respray our van but can't decide which colour to choose.

Please let us know your favourite below to help us :)

1 year ago | [YT] | 8

Wade and Dani

The beginning of a new dream....Meet our newest van (no name yet - HELP!)

If you missed what happened or for anyone new following --> we started our vanlife journey with our 2 cats in a 2017 Mercedes Sprinter that we self converted into a campervan and travelled around Australia for 2.5 years.

We recently decided to upgrade to a 2019 Sprinter, and do it all over again (the build we mean).

We have a lot of experience living in a van, and building one. This experience really has allowed us to see what works and what doesn't work for us in a tiny space, so this time we want to fix anything that we didn't get quite right in the first build, or enhance our overall experience.

If you loved our previous van, this van will be heavily inspired by her and all the things we couldn’t live without BUT will also have so many new features that we really wanted and didn't have the first time around (divider wall, a huge skylight and a decent size bed).

So now it’s official. WELCOME BACK TO THE BUILD! Can’t wait to take you through this one 💫

#vanlife #vanbuild #diy #camper #campervan #tinyhouse #tinyhome #tinyliving #homeonwheels #vanconversion #diyvanconversion #diyvanbuild #vanbuilding #sprintercampervan #campervanconversion #campervanlayout #vanlayout

1 year ago | [YT] | 18

Wade and Dani

VAN BUILD 2.0! All your questions answered below 👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻

Why did we buy a new van?
* We LOVED our "old" van, but her layout didn't suit our needs anymore. We have lived in it for 2 years, so we know exactly what we want, what works for us and what doesn't. We can't wait to show you all of the changes we are making. We also wanted to sell our previous van while it was still with lowish kms on the clock to get the most $$ we could for it. :)

Are we building our van again?
* YES! We both love the entire process of planning, documenting, building and seeing the whole transformation take place. We will obviously have help some steps of the way, but 90% of it (if not more) will be all done by ourselves.

Is the new van bigger than the old one?
* Nope, same size. The only differences between the 2 vans is that the new one is newer (2019) and has way less kms (50,000)

When will the van be ready?
* We're aiming to have the van build complete in 4-5 months. We do have an overseas trip planned for 3 weeks in August, so we'll have to pause the build for some time.

Have we moved to a house/unit for the time being?
* We've moved into a warehouse where we're living and building the van.

Will we ever move into a house/unit?
* Maybe! Once we finish the new van we still don't know what we'll do, but one of the possibilities is to move back to our unit. Who knowssss?

We never really properly documented the process of building our first van so we are SO EXCITED to finally be able to share these moments with you! And we can't wait for you all to help us with some important decisions!

Any other questions?! Let us know and thanks for following along another crazy episode in our lives💖 We love you!


#vanlife #vanlifeaustralia #vanlifeideas #vanbuild #vanlifeadventures #vanlifers #vanlifewithcats #vanlifewithpets

1 year ago | [YT] | 15

Wade and Dani

WE'VE DONE IT!! 50,000 km in our LAP AROUND AUSTRALIA BY VAN 🌎🚍

Now that we are back in Sydney we have officially completed our lap around Australia... it is such a weird feeling, but we couldn't be more excited for our next adventures!! ❤️

If you are just arriving here, this map represents a summary of what has happened on this trip around the country by van 🗺 If you've been with us for a while, thanks for following along on our journey so far! ☺️

We have not done Tasmania yet, but that is in the plans for 2024...We are going overseas for a few weeks at the end of August and when we come back, we want to have a better idea of what we're doing next, so STAY TUNNED!!

The biggest goal we ticked since our last map update was to obviously complete the lap AND to create a Google Maps with ALL OF THE PLACES WE'VE BEEN TO!!!

After travelling around Australia for more than 16 months, we’ve marked all of the locations that we stopped to explore and to sleep, in a map. This map is up for sale on our website and will be constantly updated as we continue to travel and explore new locations.

Link is here: www.travelwithwadeanddani.com/shop/

#roundaustralia #roundaustraliaroadtrip #australia #travelaustralia #travelaustraliaguide #aroundaustralia #campervan #campervanaustralia #VanLifeAustralia #campervanlife #vanlifediaries #vanlifemovement #vanlifedreams #vanlifeideas #vanlifegoals #vanlifeisawesome #vanlifeau #vanlifeinspiration #vanlifeexplorers #vanlifefamily #tinyhomeonwheels #homeiswhereyouparkit

2 years ago | [YT] | 17

Wade and Dani

Sunday is coming up and Sunday is the day of a new episode on the channel!

We arrived in Karijini and it feels like we are IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!!!

Yes, there's Karijini National Park, but that's it. We'll explore the park and the beautiful gorges that are there, while trying to keep the van (AND THE CATS) white in the middle of all of this red soil.

I can't believe we are almost crossing the border into the Northern Territory.

What do you want to see from us while in NT??

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2 years ago | [YT] | 11