caravans (a short project)

I am obsessed with caravans and have been since I was a child. So many of my friends had caravans and nearly all hated going on holidays in them. I couldn't understand why. The thought of having your own mini home with you wherever you drove seemed like a wonderful dream to me. Whenever we camped, I would look on from my tent with envy at those lucky kids who got to sleep in an actual bed each night, away from the mozzies.

Our next door neighbours had a caravan, and when they weren't away on the road, their daughter and I would play in it all day no matter how hot it was, making up holiday adventures with our barbies. We would hide in there when we played 'hide and seek' with her siblings, and once fell asleep all afternoon, not realising our parents were looking for us everywhere.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, travel limits and border closures were some of the harshest restrictions implemented. Not being able to travel more than 5kms from your house was almost brutal. I started to notice a distinct reduction in the number of cars on the road. Nobody had anywhere to go.

Along with the lack of traffic was a lack of recreational vehicles. They were all stuck at home too. Suddenly driveways and front lawns were packed with caravans and RVs. More so than I ever remember. They started to stand out to me wherever I went and it got me thinking about the people who owned them and how they were doing. No longer could they hook up their van and drive off on a long weekend road trip adventure. How was this effecting them?

More and more the caravans started to become like a weird mascot for the pandemic. They were sad reminders of what was once taken for granted. The good old Aussie dream of hitching up your second home and going somewhere new, anywhere!