Van Life
Living on Cloud NineOur Van – Introducing Cloud Nine
“Cloud Nine” is our current camper van. It’s a 2020 Citroen Relay 35 L3H2 2.2 diesel van. The official colour is Cumulus Grey, and although we didn’t know at the time of buying it that we were going to be living on it full time, it seemed apt to name it Cloud Nine! #LivingOnCloudNine
With no previous experience we converted the van ourselves from a panel van to our tiny home on wheels. We’ve written a series of blog posts to share our personal learning experience of building a camper van in the hope it might help others. We want to share tips and tricks, product reviews and recommendations, and the realities of living in a very small space!
Key Features of Cloud Nine
- Fixed king size bed (widthways)
- Under bed storage (garage)
- 2 x Polyvision Aero windows with blinds & flyscreens
- SkyMaxx Roof Light
- MaxxAir MaxxFan Deluxe Roof Vent
- Fiamma F80 awning
- Truma Combi Boiler (heat & hot water)
- Thetford Triplex LPG Cooker (3 burner, grill & oven)
- External gas BBQ point
- 20ltr underslung LPG tank
- Vitrifrigo 60ltr 12volt fridge/freezer
- 370W Longi Split Cell Solar Panel
- Shower & Simploo waterless composting toilet
- 82ltr fresh water & 63ltr waste water tanks (both underslung)
- And of course the kitchen sink!
Before
After
Van Posts
A Step by Step guide to how we built our Citroen Relay camper van
First up we had no experience and no idea where to start on how to build a camper van! That’s where YouTube came in handy. We spent hours sifting through hundreds of YouTube videos on how to build a camper van. Some of it was relevant to us and our...
The Story of Spot, our first camper van
It was after the Olympics finished in Sydney in September 2000 that we started shopping around for a vehicle that would take us not quite the length and breadth of Australia, but at least some of the way around this vast country. Our mission was to drive the...
How we chose the vehicle to use for our campervan conversion
Before we launch into how we chose the base vehicle to use for our campervan conversion, let us tell you why we decided to take on such a crazy project! Inspiration It was one fine day in Portrush when the first lockdown of 2020 had been lifted, that we met an...
Australia Travel Diary Part 8
A fist full of dollars 21 February 2001, Perth, Western Australia G’day All This post is just a quickie to let you know that we have found Spot a good home. After travelling just under 18,000kms (11,250 miles), we sold him yesterday to a couple from Dublin who are...
Australia Travel Diary Part 7
The end of the road with Spot 11 February 2001, Perth, Western Australia Here we are back in Perth again having completed our tour of the southwest, and bringing to an end our road trip through Western Australia (staying with the Cottons is becoming our second home...
Australia Travel Diary Part 6
Wine, waves and caves 17 January 2001, Manjimup, Western Australia Here is the first instalment of this year and no doubt there will be more. Happy New Year to you all! We had a really lovely Christmas with Al and James (and Debbie a friend of theirs from Stamford) -...
Australia Travel Diary 2000 Part 5
'Tis the season 24 December 2000, Perth, Western Australia First of all Seasons Greetings to one and all. Belated Chanukah Greetings to our Jewish contingent and to you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year - we will be thinking of you. We arrived safely in...
Australia Travel Diary 2000 Part 4
Hot, hot, hot 1 December 2000, Broome, Western Australia (We apologise in advance for the length of this post, but there seems to be a lot to tell) Hot, hot, hot is the way it has been over the past few weeks. We have had a period of about 14 consecutive days where...
Australia Travel Diary 2000 Part 3
4,000kms later 9 November 2000, Darwin, Northern Territory Australia As you can see from the title we have travelled a little further! The reasons why will follow in a moment. After Forster we spent a couple of days camping at a place called Kylies Beach in Crowdy Bay...
Australia Travel Diary 2000 Part 2
Buying a camper van 24 October 2000, Forster, New South Wales Well since we last wrote we have purchased our travelling companion - a camper van we have christened Spot. Spot is so called because we bought him in a place called "The Spot" in Randwick, Sydney. Spot is...