KOMBI TIME CAPSULE

“THEY SAY THAT THE ADVENTURE BEGINS WHERE THE PLAN ENDS. I HAD REACHED THE END OF MY PLAN. WHAT FOLLOWED WAS A SIX WEEK TRIAL AND ERROR PERIOD WHERE THE LOCAL MECHANICS TRIED WITH ALL THEIR MIGHT TO SUCCEED A MOTOR CONVERSION ON MY VAN.”

THE BEGINNING

Tonight is the three month anniversary since starting the road trip. It is also the final week that I will spend on the coast before returning to Cape Town for the arrival of spring and the early summer south-easters. I am sitting in my van; the same van where it all began.

I think the idea came about when I was travelling home along the east coast with a newly acquainted friend, Rudi, in the first week of this year. Early January always seems a great time to set goals and mine seemed clear as day: in two years time I see myself living the van life, full time. Putting some more committed thought in, I’d move along the coast in search of the best surf and wind conditions while exploring new parts of my home country.

Not long into my brief investigation into the used van market, I came across a 1984 Volkswagen Transporter 3 campervan in March; totally unique in its look, with a fibreglass high top and an electric blue paint job. I didn’t ask too many questions after I heard it start first time and, before I’d thought things through much more, I’d made the purchase and had the keys in hand.

The van project very quickly became an obsession with each of the restoration projects taking far longer than I expected; three times