Tarn & Reece are the beautiful people behind Oakie on film.
They are photographers, travellers, ocean lovers & adventurers, who have spent the last couple of years living on the road in their tiny home on wheels, Oakie. They chose the vanlife in a bid to chase their dreams of wholehearted, simple living, close to nature & the people & things they love most.
They have been travelling around Australia with their puppy, Finn, spending all of their time creating, surfing, connecting with other nomad souls & of course adventuring all this beautiful country has to offer.
They are here to share their top vanlife tips with us, including some of their favourite locations to visit in South Australia, their home state.
What are your top tips for road tripping?
One of our best tips would have to be to download the “Wikicamps’ app. We use this for everything! It lists all of the free camps in whatever area you are travelling, including reviews & photos so you can get an idea of what the place will feel like. It also lists points of interest for things like hikes, swimming holes, beaches, & public facilities & water fill points. It will be your best friend while road tripping!
Trust your gut - safety is your number one priority while on the road. If you have a funny feeling somewhere you were planning to park up or camp at, then move on. Even if the place is fine, you probably won’t get a good night's sleep if you’re feeling uncomfortable, which is never a good time! On this note, always let people know what your travel plans are & always try to find where you will be camping for the night before it gets dark, that way if you do want to move on, you have plenty of daylight to find a new spot.
Be open to saying yes to adventures with new friends. Some of our best times on the road have been when we’ve said yes to adventures with other travellers we met on the road. Sometimes life on the road can feel a little isolating, so get out there & strike a conversation with other road trippers, not only will they have great stories to tell, they could also end up being life long friends. We’ve spent the past year travelling with friends we met on the road & it has made the whole experience so much fuller!
Always keep track of what the weather is doing. As surfers, this is something we check multiple times a day, but it is crucial to keep an eye on what the weather is doing so you can make your travel & adventure plans around it. We always try to make the most of the good weather days by adventuring whatever area we are in & we’ll use the not so good weather days to catch up on work & van jobs.
If you are wanting to stay in an area for a while, it is worth reaching out to the local caravan parks for a ‘work for stay’ gig. We have done a couple of these along our travels and they have been amazing! Most parks are open to giving you a site in exchange for an hour of cleaning or maintenance jobs a day. Not only does this save you money on accommodation, it also allows you to live in some of the most beautiful locations for as long as you like!
Must haves on the road?
A few things we couldn’t live without on the road would be
- A comfy bed (getting a good night sleep is crucial to being able to enjoy your trip so make sure you have a good sleeping set up before you leave)
- Our Pargo x Wandering Folk bottles (amazing for reducing plastic consumption & taking with you on all of your adventures)
- A good beach bag + umbrella (we love long days at the beach with our pup, so shade + being able to pack all our beach essentials + picnic needs is a must - we love the WF large insulated cooler bags)
- Packing cubes (organising all of your clothes when you have limited space can be a bit of a nightmare but packing cubes make it so much easier & neater!)
- Portable charger/ battery pack (this has come in handy so many times for us when we’ve had limited power)
What do you love about WF products on the road?
We have been using our WF products from the very start of our trip & we honestly couldn't go without them! We take one of our picnic rugs with us on every adventure (hikes, beach days, forest exploring), it’s so nice having a throw to lay out wherever we are & enjoy the scenery around us.
We also love using the throws to brighten up our little van space, we always have one on the bed for extra warmth when we need it, to protect our quilt from sun damage & of course to make the space look so much more beautiful! Other WF products we adore are the glassware for morning iced coffees or sunset drinks, the Pargo x WF drink bottle (we take these everywhere!) & the insulated cooler bag for all of our beach adventure days. Such beautiful products & extremely high quality.
How do you plan your trip/ know what to pack on your adventures?
If we’ve learnt anything over the last two years of life on the road it would be to just go with the flow! We hardly ever make any solid plans as they always seem to change depending on weather or if we love a spot & want to stay for longer, or we meet friends on the road & we want to adventure with them. Of course we have to make rough travel plans but when we do we like to give ourselves ample time to get to new locations etc. as we love to travel slowly so we can take all the time we need to soak up the beauty in each spot.
As for packing, one of the best things about living out of your van is you always have all of your belongings with you wherever you go! When we pack for day adventures we always make sure we take all of our camera gear (we love photographing the beautiful locations we go to), a WF rug, drink bottles with plenty of water, some snacks for a picnic along the way, our portable charger, & a good book!
Can you share your South Aus bucket list destinations?
We recently travelled through our home state, South Australia, and visited some of our favourite destinations along the way. Here are our must see spots for you to add to your SA bucket list -
- Fishery Bay, Eyre Peninsula: the entire Eyre Peninsula is incredibly beautiful with its raw coastline & crystal clear waters, be sure to give yourself a good few weeks to explore here. Make sure you stop in at Fishery Bay. It’s crystal clear water makes it an incredible beach to swim at & the best views can be found at the top car parks. You can also camp here for a small fee per night.
- Yorke Peninsula: another incredibly beautiful place to spend a couple of weeks exploring all it has to offer. One of our favourite places here is Daly Head, where you can camp with the most incredible ocean views. Be sure to explore Innes National Park while you’re here.
- Belair National Park: one of our favourite parks in SA to spend the day exploring. We love doing the waterfall hike & setting up at the top of the waterfall for a picnic with the most stunning views. It’s also dog friendly which makes it even better!
- Kings Beach, Victor Harbour: this beach is one of our favourites on the Fleurieu Peninsula. There is a lovely walk to get down to it with some incredible coastal cliff views. If you time it well, you can often get the beach all to yourself. We love spending balmy summer evenings here.
- Robe: a lovely little coastal town with some stunning beaches to spend days at. We love parking the van up near the jetty for ocean views while we cosy up with a good book. We’d recommend spending a few days exploring this area.
