This nifty little addition has many benefits, primarily to offer bit of shade and privacy on the off-side of the van. Ours is a 3.4m privacy screen to suit Jayco Swan & Flamingo models, and was purchased from Campsmart for about $80. There's a couple of brands, in both grey and black and made from PVC shade cloth.

It simply slides into the sail-track on the caravan roof and is best done just before winding the roof up. If you need to do it later on, it can be done by standing on a chair or step ladder, feeding one end of the shade into the track and then pulling it along slowly until centred.

On the bottom corners are d-hooks with guy ropes and springs. Hammer the supplied tent pegs into the ground, tighten the ropes, and voila you have instant shade! When not in use, it comes with a handy little carry bag for storage. Great size to keep in the front of the van.

When we're staying off-grid, whether it be an unpowered site in a caravan park or a secluded spot in a State Forest, we use solar power to keep our battery topped up. Connected to the Flamingo's on-board power control system (Setec) is a 12v 100Ah AGM battery. This is sufficient for all our 12v equipment; including the lights inside and out, the water pump, stove ignition, fridge fans and a couple of USB outlets for charging the speaker dock and our phones. We also have a 600w pure sine inverter, which will convert 12v battery power up to 240v mains power for things like laptop chargers, cooling fans for hot days and of course the hair straightener!

To keep the battery charged when off-grid, we have a folding solar panel kit. This setup has two panels combined to provide 160 watts, with a regulator on the back of the panel. From the regulator, we connect a 6 metre lead with Anderson plugs to the battery, via a  short connection from underneath. When not in use, it has a tidy carry bag with a pouch for extra leads, battery clamps, etc. You can still get kits like this from BCF, Jaycar, Kings Adventure to name a few, and they come in different outputs to suit your battery capacity.

There's pro's and cons of portable panels vs panels that are permanently mounted to the roof. Van-fitted panels are really set-and-forget as they're always there, constantly topping up the battery and you won't forget to pack them! The downside is that your charging capacity will be affected if you're set up in the shade, missing out on that bright morning or afternoon sun. The portable panels can be left at home when not needed (or forgotten), saving space and weight. They can be placed in the brightest sun and moved to suit the suns position throughout the day.

Of course, when the van is plugged in to a 240v outlet in a caravan park or at home, the Setec takes care of battery charging and providing 12v power for all the equipment listed earlier. When driving to and from our adventures, 12v power runs from the car alternator to the van fridge and trickle charges the van battery at the same time, via an Anderson plug on the van drawbar, running through to the engine bay.

How good is it when you come back from the beach or a bush-walk and there's a tap nearby to wash your feet? Handy-hubby fitted a tap to the a-frame of our Flamingo as we forever have sandy feet!

At the moment, the a-frame tap is connected to a t-piece on the "mains" water pipe, which runs from the side of the van to the tap in the kitchen. This will let "caravan park water" run to both the kitchen sink and drawbar tap. We were concerned that if travelling off-grid and away from a water source, that our 90L tank would run-out if washing our feet twice a day, so we have attached it this way. If we change our mind, it is as easy as swapping the order of the non-return valve and the t-piece, allowing tank water from the 12v pump to flow to the a-frame tap as well as the kitchen sink.

Between the t-piece and the tap is a few metres of 12mm John Guest water tubing. The John Guest fitting system is easy to use as you just push the hose into the fitting, making sure the locking collar comes out, then you can add a locking clip if desired. At the drawbar is a brass John Guest to 1/2 inch wall mount fitting and a 1/2 inch brass garden tap.

All the plumbing stuff came from caravansplus.com.au, with the exception of the brass garden tap from Bunnings. Any good caravan spare parts shop will be able to get you going, particularly with many John Guest fittings available to suit your setup. The short length of garden hose with nozzle and fittings also came from Bunnings.

We have a fruit bowl at home so our forever eating warriors can easily grab a piece of fruit to snack on. Loving our long bench in our Flamingo, we didn't want to waste any food prep space for a fruit bowl, nor scratch the bench. We decided to hang our fruit in an organic cotton mesh bag from the camper ceiling towel rack and clothes hanger using two s hooks that hubby shaped to fit. Problem solved! The best part is when we run out of fruit, we take our bag with us and fill her back up again! 

This is our gypsy girl, our 2012 Jayco Flamingo. Before we bought her, she lived in a garage for most of her life and was yearning for adventures. This girl was born to travel! We've taken her many places, from Queensland, all over the South Coast of New South Wales and even 4 thousand kilometres around Outback NSW. She has never let us down! We love how easy she is to tow and the open layout inside, it's the first thing that everyone comments on. There is a queen bed at one end and a double at the other. Perfect for this tribe of four! There is an extra lounge cushion for when we want to put the table down and make another sleeping space. As we are ocean lovers, we wanted it to feel like our home away from home so we got the cushions upholstered, changing them from a brown to this gorgeous grey (check out tribe_teepee to see what our home interior design looks like). Just like the flamingo, her beauty really does stand out!