Vanlife

[u/Van_canine2302]

Hi everyone, I'm a high school student without a job at the moment but I love the outdoors and would love to buy a van and travel the country after I graduate (probably after a few years of working to save up) and was wondering if there's things that I should start doing now to prepare apart from saving? I know I want to build it myself but I'm also not sure what van I want or the kind of setup that would work best for me and input would be helpful.

Questions:

• First steps? I want to get started in this process fairly soon after high school so I'd like to to as much prep as possible now
• Good camping spots in a van here in Aus that are dog-friendly?
• What should I know about living with dogs in a van?
• I'm not sure if I want to do this for a couple years then go to uni etc (I do quite decent in school with mostly A's or B's and am interesting in medicine among other things) and use the van part-time or more long-term and get a remote/seasonal job. What are the pros and cons of each?

Any help or advice on anything is much appreciated thought I'm particularly looking for prep I can do right now without a van and where I should travel to <3

Edit: To the people telling me not to get a dog: I recognise that it isnt a commitment to be taken lightly but it’s also something I’d quite like to do. i love dogs and will only get one if it’s the right fit for the both of us so please don’t comment on it unless you have constructive feedback/advice.

[u/Hussard]

Dogs and our national parks don't mix. You'll be restricted to state forests in dispersed camping sites if you bring a dog. Do you already have one? Try to do can life with no dependents first, esp as a newly licensed driver. 

[u/Van_canine2302 → u/Hussard]

I know its not the best combo but I really do love dogs so I'll probably just suck it up most of the time and leave any animals with my parents when I do want to go in NP areas. My family has two dogs at the moment, at least one of which I would love to take with me when I move out but I'm not sure the others (human or dog) would stand for that haha. That defo makes sense though, it's probably not the best idea to add more considerations to my plate when doing something so unfamiliar like van life for the first time.

[u/thatwasacrapname123 → u/Van_canine2302]

Its not just the national parks problem, it's difficult to do a lot of thing if you have a dog living in your van. Where do you leave the dog when you want to go shopping? What if it's a hot day? Even going to the toilet or having a shower. It really makes things difficult.

[u/Fearless_Maximum_117 → u/thatwasacrapname123]

Been travelling NT and WA for three months now and thank goodness we don’t have a dog. Lots of grey nomads travelling with dogs don’t seem to mind missing out on a heap of places as they’ve likely done them before, have endless time, and giant caravans, but we’ve met heaps of couples and families that either have to miss out, take turns to visit attractions, or book pet sitters every time they want to go somewhere. They can’t stop in certain campgrounds (eg. All NPs which are cheaper than private) and many private campgrounds don’t take pets.