My campervan at Tanjung Tuan, Port Dickson

My son has been asking for a father-son outing in our campervan, which has been sitting idle at my house for a few months. He wanted to go to Cameron Highland, but I only have 2 free days and it is too short for driving up to the highland for just an overnight trip. In the end we settled for Tajung Tuan at Port Dickson, a place we have never camped before. The cape extends into the Malacca straits and has two beaches on each side. The northern side is called Pantai Biru also known as Blue Lagoon but it is really a cove instead of a Lagoon, the beach itself is less than a Km wide. Whereaas the southern beach, which is called Pantai Cermin, is at least about 4-5 Km wide. However, Pantai Biru is the better beach of the two and it attract more beach goers, at high tide during a clear day it really lives up to it's name with emerald-blue clear sea water. At low tide however the sea floor reveals itself to be muddy instead of plain sand, while it looks unappealing to the eyes, it is full of life with little crabs and small shell fishes lining the exposed sea floor. The Ilham resort is built at the same side and it takes up almost 1/3 of the beach front, however the beach itself is fully accessible to the publics. I parked my campervan at a grass field near the beach it was a really nice place to spend and night and wake up in the morning.

My son owning the entire beach in the morning.

My camper on the grass field at the end of the public access road to the beach. 

There are plenty of water sport available.

The mangroves in the background is part of the protected forest at the tip of the cape.

Mini car campervan conversion concept

Small cars camper conversion are interesting because it presents the challenge of providing maximum amenities with the minimum of space. In the UK there was a company that sell a campervan conversion kit  under the name of Wild Goose for the original Mini panel van/estate variant. From the look of picture it seems to be a viable camper for travelling. It has a pop-up top to extend the interior space to provide  full standing head room.

The mini Wild Goose campervan conversion

Below are the original Wild Goose brochures.

Fiat's own mini car the Fiat 500 also have mini camper concept, but is a trailer caravan type. The dimension of the trailer matches the towing vehicle and it was cute as a button. Unfortunately, it was a one off  that was conceived as a marketing and publicity tool for Fiat to show their 500 can be life style car. The caravan was so compact that there is no standing headroom, from the look of it, one would have to contort himself just to get in through the door. It was never mass produced.

A Fiat 500 with a matching caravan!

Here in Malaysia, Perodua have in the past, brought in special van  from their technology parent Daihatsu. It was a walk-in van based on their Mira mini car platform. Perodua even changed the cosmetic panels to their local Kancil version for study. They were probably exploring the possibility of make a Kancil variant for commercial use, with stand up room. However, the concept never made it to production. If it has, it would have been a possible candidate for small car campervan conversion in Malaysia!

The original Daihatsu walk-in van Mira variant in Japan. This variant is for Japan's domestic market only.

The Perodua Kancil's version of the walk-in van