Noeleen and Steve
Pippa Wischer and Hayley Hillis
Digital photograph
PXE 1015/11a
We both come from caravans. We were living down in Melbourne. I built us a big twenty-six foot caravan which we sold when we moved up here. That was three years of my life building that. But we were sick of the city. So here we are. And it’s better here because we’re all older. We got this smaller caravan. The annex was an old cool room which I knocked down. So I know how to use my hands and I’ve got a lot of imagination. So we attached the two and painted them both ... her choice of colour! Noeleen’s daughter sends us letters to ‘the funny green caravan’. We’ve added the pavers and garden stuff over time.
We know everybody here. You meet everyone. You can’t help it. We have parties here but you learn to respect other people’s privacy. You’re got to ‘cos you’re living so close together.
I drive taxis at night-time and the missus goes out three, four nights a week. And people ask if I get upset and I say ‘About what?’ I’ve always said if some bloke put the hard word on Noeleen I’d get a phone call — ‘Come and get me! Now!!’
Like forget it. I can’t see any point in worrying about that. It’s what Noeleen likes to do. This is what I like to do. I’m not a club person. I like being at home. So it fits. It’s not their life, it’s ours.
We wouldn’t buy a house. No way. Not now. Even if you could afford it, why would you want it for? It’s only the two of us so why would you want a big house? This is what we like, this here. This is where we’re staying.
Regrets? We don’t bother with them. You make your decisions and then you go for it and if you don’t like it then you’ve got a chance of changing it. So we’re both happy anyway. That’s it. That’s us.
Noeleen and Steve