Tête en bas

Down under wandering. Archipelagoes to islands; beaches to deserts; mountains to cities.

We all live in a Maui Campervan


  • English: We all live in a Maui Campervan
  • Français: We all live in a Maui Campervan

It’s the story of a canadian girl, an american guy, an indonesian girl, an australian girl, an australian guy and a french and canadian guy, who are in a campervan. Sounds like a joke, but it was not one. It was one of the most audacious sociologic experiment I ever tried. Gathering 6 peoples, who doesn’t know each other, and let them leave all together in the same van. Traveling 2,278 km in less than 5 days. Being sure that everybody is happy, and enjoy the trip. Yes, it was really audacious…

Once a year, my father organize an event called “les dragonneries”. This event gather thirtyish people during a long week end. Once, I heard him says that one of the reason he was proud of this event, was because it gathers peoples from all different kind of environment. People who would never meet if it was not of this event. It’s probably when I heard my father telling that that I start finding those “sociologic experiment” interesting. I tried some of those a few times, at a very small scale. It was one of the idea behind this trip. There was, of course, the wish to travel from Melbourne to Alice Springs keeping the cost as low as possible. But there was also a clear willing of getting to know others, in order to understand them.

Rachel.

Joshua.

Cassie.

Ben.

Indri.

And I.

Something in common? We all want to go to Alice Springs. We don’t want to spend to much cash. Nothing else. Randomness (or my subconscious, who knows!) wanted that we were three guys and three girls. Everybody seems to be happy about that, as if we were feeling that it will bring a kind of balance. And we will definitely need balance! As the organizer, my goal was simple: I wanted this small trip to be a good souvenir for everyone, and avoid as much tension as possible. No suspense at this time: this was clearly achieve, way over the expectations!

The meeting was on saturday morning, at 10 AM, at Totenham train station. Five minutes walk from the place were we had to pick up the van. To my surprise (there were couchsurfers involve!) no one was more than 10 minutes late. I knew everyone, a little bit. I met everyone quickly during the week. But it was the first time everybody gather at the same place at the same time. Knowing everybody a little, I was anticipating everyone roles. Planing how the tasks would be shared. Who would react how. We discovered, with Cassie and Rachel, that everyone respect the stereotype from his own country (countries for one of us).

Taking the van was an easy thing. The girl who take care of me was the same, one more time. She knows me quite well by now… it was the 3rd time after all.

He didn’t take long before the van was full with backpack and people. To my own pleasure, Rachel was the first one to take the copilot seat. In this trip, we were two with no plan for after the festival. Two who were thinking we might want to travel a little bit together after that. It was the perfect opportunity to get to know each other.

Rachel helped me to discover something about me I didn’t know, and definitely didn’t expect. I lived in Quebec for 10 years. During those 10 years, I’ve kept saying “Canada, I don’t know what it is. I’ve always been in contact with Quebec”. When I traveled to British Colombia (where Rachel come from), I realized that those people at the far hand of the country where not so much different than “us” in Quebec. A few months later, when I was driving across Canada, I realized that if British Colombia and Quebec where quite the same, all those between were definitely different. Strange feeling… that I discovered again with Rachel. As I did, she was trying to avoid tension, and make everybody happy. I felt that we were following the same stereotype. We were both… canadian. I was not french anymore. Neither was I quebecer. I discovered a citizenship I didn’t know I had. Rachel and Cassie both told me a couple of time that they never met any french like me. Maybe because from my french side, I just keep the passport. And some roots, really deep, and really localized.

He didn’t take me a long time to understand that there will be two different way of life in the van. The cabin, quiet and relaxing, and the van, in the back, more lively and on a party mood. In my previous relocation, I was alone with Iris, who didn’t really like to be in the back on the van when moving. As we were only two, it was quite easy to stop when one of us need something. With 6 people, it was definitely an idea to forget. Quickly, all passenger started to leave there seat, moving around. Moving, grabbing something to eat, watching from an other window, enjoying the back seat (transform to a bed for the first night, and until the end of the trip).

I liked this feeling. I liked to have those two difference feeling. Having people happy and partying in the back, and talking and relaxing in the front. When copilot started to change, I wondered if being in a front was a punishment (obliged to spend some time with the driver who doesn’t speak so much) or a reward (enjoy the landscape, relax, take it easy…). Links have been created quickly. And strongly. No one was has been forget in the process. The small family was doing well.

My role, I already knew it, was obvious. Anyone who know me knows that I always end up in this “position”. I was the father, the organizer, the driver. The one who has to think about everything, check that everything is okay, and that the van keep moving. All that was stressing me, a little. I know how slow a 6 persons group could be. I know how difficult it can be to move a group, even as small as this one. I was expecting to spend most of my energy doing that. I didn’t plan that I was going to be helped in my task. Cassie mothered all of us, checking that everyone was feeling okay. Rachel was definitely the older sister, who supervise everyone in the family, because parents are to busy. She took care of me, providing me with sandwich/water/music each time I had a special little query. Perfect copilot, available pour short little chat sometime, and sometime quiet, reading her book or writing. Ben was the teenager in crisis. Passionate by energy, electricity, battery and solar panel, he was giving as much information as anyone want to listen to. And disappear from time to time when someone disagreed with him. Josh, as a preteen, tried to take is room to. To show that he existed, and can tell interesting things to. Indri was the youngest one, quiet, trying (and managing!) to take her place in this crazy family.

Don’t think I’m saying what I didn’t say. I had great time with everyone. I would not have swap anyone for someone else. The result was not perfect, but was really inspiring. But there was still a question remaining. What was going to happen in Alice Springs? When a group form, a dynamic starts. And usually stop at the end. Everyone was it’s own plan at the end of the adventure. I had to find an other couchsurfer, Cassie was going to a friend. So was Ben. Josh had already booked a hostel. Rachel was a little bit lost, thinking that we were going to have the van for the festival. And Indri had no idea what she was going to do next. We could have stop at Alice Springs, everyone going on his own after that. That’s what I was feeling. When Cassie said that we could have a debrief dinner, I was sure. Once everyone settled down, I was not sure if it was a good idea to see us again so soon. I was thinking that everyone might need to breath alone for a little while…

It’s not really easy to sum up 5 days of interaction between 6 people without writing pages. It’s not really easy to describe the trip either. But it’s coming… soon.

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