Irishman Bob Stevenson made a grand entrance to The Good Old Days Festival in his emerald green Gypsy vardo style caravan pulled by his grey mare Myrtle.
Bob had frantically finished painting the wagon in time for its maiden voyage, a trek from Narrandera to Barellan, accompanied by his sheep dog Fanny, and like-minded trekkers in horse drawn vehicles.
Originally hailing from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, Bob, of Maffra, had spent 2333 hours painstakingly building the wagon using original drawings.
His interest in horses was influenced by his mother who was a keen hunter and point-to-point competitor on her 17.1hh grey and 18.1hh bay horses.
“I belligerently got involved in horses and didn’t like them very much because every time I came home from school, I was sent out to exercise the bloody things, but I wish I did pay attention,” he said.
“I had a love for the heavy horses rather than riding horses.”
Bob had worked as a thatcher repairing and making traditional roofing for Irish farmhouses using reeds and straw.
He moved to Australia in 1992, ran an antique shop and took up building wagons and jinkers.
“I decided to have a proper holiday so build this vardo – it took 2333 hours over three years,” he said.
“You can’t buy plans, so I got hold of diagrams of an English Gypsy caravan and used a computer program to scale them up plus used lots of pictures off the internet to copy the carvings at the front.
“It is the colour scheme on the outside of one of the earliest models, but they were completely plain on the inside with no decoration whatsoever.”
The vardo is equipped with a raised bed, vertical sliding sash windows, storage, a bench seat, and small kitchen bench, roof top solar panels, LED lighting and fridge-freezer.
Bob said the original vardos would accommodate up to six family members as sleeping quarters.
He has christened the vardo “Wise Nancy” after an Irish clairvoyant friend.
“I have been trying to get to Barellan for years and I rushed to get this van finished in time and I’m very excited to be here.”
Ends
Caption:
- Bob Stevenson and his dog Fanny with his Gypsy vardo caravan and Matt Evans holding Myrtle.
- The interior of the Gypsy caravan.
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