From Lockdown
Dreams to
Open Roads

Stuck in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in LA during COVID with my American wife and stepkids, I found myself watching van conversion videos and dreaming of bringing the family to Australia — to the coastlines, the bush, the outdoor lifestyle I'd grown up with. The idea of a road trip through Australia became an obsession.

Visas approved, we made the move. I bought a Ford Transit and spent weekends building our dream campervan in a friend's warehouse in Torquay. A year of trial and error followed — including one complete teardown after a near-finished fitout. Eventually, it was ready.

Our first trip was to Warrnambool in regional Victoria. A cosy home on wheels, no fixed itinerary, complete freedom. It was exactly what we'd hoped for. We then packed everything and headed to the Sunshine Coast — through Wilson's Promontory, the South Coast of NSW, all the way up the East Coast to our new home in Warana.

We listed the van on Camplify so other families and travellers could experience the same freedom. It wasn't long before people were taking it to Cairns, Airlie Beach, Sydney, Coffs Harbour and beyond. Watching others create their own adventures in something we'd built was incredibly rewarding — even on the days we had to ride bikes around town because our family car was out on the road.

Demand grew quickly, so we added Vamuz II — a rugged GWM Cannon 4×4 built for the places that reward the effort to get there. Double Island Point, K'gari (Fraser Island), the coastal national parks of Northern NSW. Like the Transit before it, it found its audience fast.