When we met him, we immediately fell in love. We were given a tour of his features by one of the lads that worked at VW Kampers and after a 2 hour wait for payment to be authorised we were set! Off to Hurst View in the New Forest – our favourite campsite and somewhere we had only been with tents before.
Driving Waky for the first time was hilarious. It felt like he was all over the road but we soon realised that was the to be expected sloppiness you feel driving a bus. To adjust the seat position, you had to use brute force and to keep warm, you had to find a blanket! To be fair, the heating did work, but you had to position your leg right next to where the heat is output from the little box behind the gearstick, and in all honesty, it was not enough to make good on the freezing January temperatures.
As we hadn’t seen Waky in the flesh for long, I can remember not being able to remember the exact colour of him, so I kept having to take photos of his reflection in the side mirror to try to work it out!
We arrived at our trusty campsite about 9ish, popped the roof, cracked open a beer and made beans – Bush’s vegetarian beans - saved from our last trip to America. We grilled toast and by using the stove, Waky was so comfortably warm! With the hook-up, we had endless light and music and it wasn’t long, with bellies full, before we unrolled the rock and roll bed and drifted off to the sounds of an approaching storm!
It was quite a storm in fact and in the early hours, I awoke with water dripping on my head. It wasn’t a big drip but it was enough to soak the sheets in the corner, so I just moved a bit closer to Tim and thought we’ll sort it in the morning. Turns out it was a small leak in the space roof but nothing a bit of sealant hasn’t managed to fix.
After a few more hours sleep we awoke to sunlight flooding through the windows and blue skies. Waky’s yellow curtains accentuated this and he glowed, filled with the warmth and energy of the morning. We dozily rose, got on with making some tea and unbelievably, as it was so warm, had our first ever Waky breakfast in t-shirts with the doors open. A feat of magic that Waky seems to excel in – no matter what the time of year – he makes the sun shine! What a way to start our lives together!
