New Zealand is a beautiful country
filled with incredible surfing locations
and today we're about to meet one young
surfer who has done an incredible van
conversion so he could spend his life
chasing the waves
[Music]
hey Johnny
hey Bryce are you good mate nice to meet
you yeah you took so this is your home
yeah how long have you been living in
the bed now it's been about one of the
half years on the road what was it that
actually sparked the move into event
paying rent yeah it was a had enough of
paying rent and saw a few other people
online doing a similar idea and sort of
came up with a few designs and ran with
it yeah I wanted to live in the van for
two reasons firstly I didn't want to pay
rent that was that was number one I was
spending a lot of time traveling over in
Australia and overseas surfing trips and
work and then basically the second
reason I just wanted to surf more so I
wanted to travel in New Zealand and surf
more and the only way to do that as far
as I could see was go to different
beaches go to different places and be
able to do that at the drop of a hat and
you did the whole conversion of the van
yourself but don't be version myself
yeah basically bought it as completely
empty shell just look like a steel box
like the inside of a container basically
and then just went from there sort of
tried to make some plans but you never
really end up following them did you
have any practical skills before you
started the kid out or was it just all
brand new to you not completely brand
new like I'm an electrician by trade so
that definitely helped but when it came
to woodworking I don't really have much
in the way of woodworking skills so that
was yeah that was a massive learning
curve for me just trying to understand
how to work all the tools and make
everything happen what screws you should
be using glues and different timbres and
yeah but you look back and you can't
believe how much you've actually learnt
I guess so how does living in a van and
working as an electrician actually work
it's been really good so I've basically
contracted to different companies
throughout New Zealand and it's
basically tied into with where I've
wanted to go and where I've wanted to be
at that time to build up a small client
base of different people that you work
for and just sort of hope they have
something on offer while you're in that
part of the country
and when you're not working this is your
backyard I'm not a bad yeah I always try
to park up as close as I can to the best
surf spots and things like that doesn't
always work out that way but yeah you
always try and end up being in the place
you want to be that's that's the whole
purpose of the van is to surf more and
to spend more time in the ocean so why
not park up right beside the ocean yeah
basically wake up in the morning first
thing do is check the surf report that's
that's standard
see if anything's changed see if
anything's better or worse if it's if
it's a day of me going to work it's it's
a pretty standard day I think it's a
pretty standard day compared to that of
anyone else you know you wake up you get
ready you go to work you come back you
cook dinner but and the weekends and the
days off and the time that I get to
myself like after a contractors ended
and I have a few months to myself if I'm
not going overseas and I'm spending it
driving around New Zealand then yeah
that's that's completely different then
it's just purely surf focused it's just
fine where the waves go there I'll get
calls from friends or other people that
are travelling around the country at the
time as well and they'll just say are
the surfs good here or it's not there or
let's meet at this place cuz there's
going to be some waves in two days or
something like that so it's purely surf
focused that is my time off is just
surfing time basically
well should we check out the van and see
what you've done yeah no worries alright
alright come inside oh this is really
nicely done
yeah the number one thing that I get
asked about is it's the sink like a toe
all this work with the wood and then
they end up asking me all about the sink
it is pretty good having a combination
of the gas and the water like that nice
and compact yeah and I still get back to
that obviously that doubles as a as your
splash back as well so well it's just
done like so comes up and then you have
to worry about having any kind of glass
or tiling or anything and behind the
kitchen like doing it like this is a
cupboard thing so this is just basically
bags and cleaning products and bits and
pieces there it's not too bad with these
with these drawers so this one these
drawers basically pick them up pretty
cheap and I had not planned on having
anything like that
in the van and then basically I just I
saw it in the in the store I was like
that would just it just fits perfectly
one either side safe heaps of space yeah
yeah underneath that in the kitchen they
said yeah to fresh water containers gas
bottle and Roberts bin and whatnot
underneath there so the van is all
self-contained it's probably
self-contained yes yeah that's right so
standard drawers and things like that
before yeah but some pieces in there say
the game with them
royal cans of food you put some pieces
on the side nice and then a good sized
French you've got in here too yeah
that's a that's an 80 litre fridge
that's 12 volts and 230 volts I've got
the solar panels on the top so during
the day like right now that'll be
running the fridge
100% no batteries required just running
purely off the Sun and then at night
there's an auxilary battery underneath
the driver's seat that will then top it
up basically during the night so you've
got fridge 24/7 and it looks like you've
built in this thing here which allows
you to extend your prep area in the
kitchen yeah basically that's actually
it was formerly part of the table so the
table used to extend the entire length
of the bed itself right but then found
that this was just super excessive you
don't need a table that big so cut the
table in half and then use the other
half of the table and it creates the
space here this guy comes down and this
connects into the side just there like
that
and then they've just basically doubled
your doubled your space on the kitchen
when I first built it this is all I had
and this little space here you think
it's enough but once you start prepping
food and you've got hot pots and pans
and things going on you just you need
more you always need more and it's quite
clear how you've managed to fit the
toilet into their area as well
yeah just basically just a little cubby
hole for the toilet underneath there
have never had to use it but there it is
because you just have to have the toilet
containment that's right yeah so it's
got it there it is ready to go if need
be I guess it's an emergency toilet
shall we say fair enough to because I
actually basically it's like this and
this big doubles as my office yeah so
yeah that works good to know that it's
still being put to good use
yeah it's not being used for the
intended purpose but yeah it's it works
it works and then living an event and
storage is often a really big deal so
what have you done for the damage issue
yeah like originally these were going to
be my primary storage places basically
the two chests underneath the bed there
which they are but they're a little bit
tricky to access like not sort of sort
of everyday access use so basically
that's when I use these use these little
storage areas here I've still get to
formulate a plan as to to maximize the
storage in these spaces perhaps maybe
some shelves and things or something
inside there but for now this is ends up
being sort of the the charging station
so all the power coming from the solar
panels it's basically coming down and
it's I've got my laptop in here I've got
my drawing battery as the drone
controllers cellphones anything else
like that it all just gets charged put
up in here safely out of the way it's
not going to get smacked around in the
back of the van it's really nice how in
this van as well you've also got access
directly into the vehicle cab it was
that was the selling point for me when I
saw this come up on trade me I saw it
had this axis way through here which not
many of them do they normally come as a
three seater you've got a sort of a
smaller middle seat here and when I saw
this one come up with the two separate
seats that was that was a deal-breaker I
was
I just jumped on it straight away so
yeah this is yeah
shoots difference being out it arrived
at a place especially if you arrive at a
campsite you arrive and it's raining and
it's winter you don't want to get out
and walk around the back like that so
walking through there is a huge bonus
yeah and then over here is your dining
area and sleeping area as well yeah this
is the the dining and bedroom set up
basically it sort of doubles as both
there's two rails that's it just below
the edges there the table comes down and
sits on to that edge of the rail there's
another little piece that extends onto
the front these two cushions on the side
drop into the middle and it becomes the
bedding area once the beard is down then
you've got a little bit of space
underneath the beam as well to put a few
bits and pieces you like that perfect
and this is just so nice a what an
amazing place to be able just to park up
and have some food and actually you can
you get to wake up here don't you yeah
and I have done many times yeah it's a
very very good place you've got a few
surfing spots only maybe five minutes
drive from here so yeah that's pretty
good
so how are you actually finding van life
develop itself like there's obviously
some challenges there's always making a
live inside of a vehicle but that's why
I've tried to make this as homely as
possible so basically trying to create a
space where when you get back to it if
you're coming back from overseas we're
coming back from work or whatever then
it feels like you're home it's not like
oh I'm in a vehicle is actually coming
back to your home
yeah I think I've done pretty reasonable
job of achieving that how do you find
just the practical aspects of living in
the van like finding places to pack up
and all that sort of thing not too bad
look around New Zealand you've got a
whole different areas called freedom
camping areas and it's also your
standard campsites and things like that
as well so during the winter I'll always
stay in a campsite for sure because then
I can plug the van in I've got my own
heater and everything's everything's
running on the 230 volt power system
that makes a big difference in the
winter during the summer you consider
get away with a little bit more you know
you can sort of go to places that you
wouldn't normally be and you know end up
not having a shower half a week or so
but you know if you're just chasing
waves it's worth it and having done this
as a setup to sort of avoid having to be
static and pay rent and all of that for
the stuff what was the cost of this
whole project the purchase of the van
plus all the parts and everything like
that
probably that ended up being around
$20,000 New Zealand Dollars but you
can't really put a cost on the amount of
time that it takes to build something
like this and that was something I
didn't really factor in it took a lot
longer than what I expected so yeah I
guess if you're the amount of time that
I missed out on work because we're
spending it building a van I guess it
was you could you could count that into
it as well but yeah 20,000 is the is the
bottom line basically and it's pretty
hard to put a value on the rewards as
well though isn't it I mean this is an
incredible lifestyle that you've built
for yourself yeah it's basically it's
basically I built the van primarily so
that I can surf more that's that was the
bottom line for it I just want to surf
more living in a house versus being in a
van I've surfed a lot more I'm on one
side of the island and then I see on the
forecast that there's some good waves
coming up on the other side I can just
jump in my van and go and there's
campsites there's freedom camping areas
all along the other side of the coast so
I just get there Park up done I don't
have to worry about booking anything I
have to worry about seeing if some
friends at home or available or whatever
I can just go there it's yeah lot more
flexible
I would never have seen New Zealand the
way that I have without this bed like I
had only been around the South Islands
just like once I'd done one little trip
around the South Island and come back
since I've had the van I've done it
multiple times and I've done it on
different areas that I didn't even think
existed and basically yeah so you can't
really put a dollar figure on that you
can't really you can't really say oh
that's that's worth this much money it's
it's not because you'd never would have
seen that if you didn't go and get in
the van and travel around it and other
people that live in the van as well they
have their say exactly the same thing
they say they didn't actually realize
how beautiful New Zealand was and
they're people that are born here and
live here they didn't even realize that
how beautiful it is and how many good
surf spots there are and okay the waters
cold that's cool but you know it's it's
so good it's so good to be able to see
it and appreciate it from a whole new
angle
well Johnny thank you so much for
sharing your home with me it's really
incredible and those waves are looking
pretty damn good so maybe we should get
in the water
yeah sounds good let's do it all right
choosing to live in a smaller space is
really about increasing the quality of
your life over the quantity of your
material possessions and there's no
question about it
the fact that this van provides more
surfing time definitely equates to
living a bigger life
[Music]
you