‘Georgie Girl’ comes home

| Chris Riley

We went up to Perth and picked up our little Avan (Georgie Girl) on Saturday. It was around 4pm when we arrived home, so with an hour or two of daylight left, we set about emptying her out, and starting to give her a good clean.

Every storage compartment was full. There was crockery, cutlery, pots and pans, a gazebo, an awning, multiple hoses, absolutely loads of stuff. It was a bit like a lucky dip as we dragged everything out. Deciding what will stay and what will go was a job for later.

Everything out, we started to give her a good clean with sugar soap and water, a microfibre cloth, and an old toothbrush to get into all the nooks and crannies. We did what we could Saturday night, including taking all the cushions inside to clean. Using some carpet shampoo mixed up in a bucket of warm water, and a microfibre cloth, we did what we could to clean and freshen them all up.

Sunday morning we rose early and started again. Paul unclipped all the rubber backed curtains. They are turquoise in colour, but were looking very dull, almost grey really. Realising they’re no doubt as old as the 23 year old van, and possibly hadn’t ever been cleaned, we didn’t hold out much hope for them. Nor did we hold out much hope for the upholstered cushions to be anything but ‘replaceable’. Were we ever in for a pleasant surprise!

By three pm, and several changes of water in the bucket, she was all back together. The outside had been given a quick wash, a cat’s lick and a promise really. The inside walls, ceiling, and floor had all scrubbed up well. The curtains had survived their wash, and had been re-hung. They looked so much better than we’d expected them to look, and the upholstery on the cushions was looking brighter, and smelt clean and fresh. Friends arrived, and we sat around the little table and on the L-shaped lounge with champagne drinking a toast to the arrival of our little ‘Georgie Girl’.

After our friends left, we made up the beds and we slept there last night to try her out. We slept well – She’ll be just fine and dandy, and we’re looking forward to many years and many miles of travel with her.

We’re very happy, and are looking forward to this blog getting back to its original purpose – that of recording the ‘life of Riley on wheels’. I can sense my writing mojo may be about to return!

13 thoughts on “‘Georgie Girl’ comes home”

    1. She’s a little cutie. Funny we’re more excited about this van than we were about the fifth wheeler, and the brand new New Age Manta Ray. We quite like the idea of something little behind us rather than something that dwarfs our car, plus being so little we will have to do a lot more living outside, and that’s a good thing.

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      2. We’re all packed up now and about to take off on our first little trip in it Lindsay. I’ll be able to tell you more after this trip, and maybe between the two of us we’ll convince your friend it’s a worthwhile option. I’ve gotta say, we haven’t come across one disappointing thing yet. Fingers crossed that I’ll be saying the same thing at the end of the next three days.

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    1. She certainly did Amanda. I can’t believe how filthy she was. Honestly it took a few changes of water in the bucket before I stopped ending up with sludge. The mind boggles as to how people market some of their things. To our advantage though, as most people can’t see the potential behind the dirt. We’re pretty good at assessing the true condition of some things. Fingers are still crossed of course that we’ve assessed this one correctly. We still have to get the wheel bearings, brakes and tyres seen to. Hopefully the axle will be good, as it’s when they’re doing the other things that they’d pick up any cracks in the axle if there is any. She looks generally pretty sturdy though, and I doubt she’s been off road much.

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