A young couple turned a Coca-Cola truck into a tiny home on wheels and now live rent-free

• A couple converted a Coca-Cola truck to live in while exploring Australia.
• Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall paid $17,500 for the vehicle and spent 11 months doing it up.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall are both from Australia, but met while traveling and working in Japan.

They had always wanted to explore their vast country, which is almost as wide as the United States.

"We started looking into getting a motorhome and saw a few vans but a lot of them were quite small and I'm very tall, so the ceiling height wasn't great," Battenally told Insider. "Then we came across the Coca-Cola truck, purchased it in 2021 and started converting it."

The 32-year-old spent weekday afternoons and weekends over the next 11 months doing up the 2005 Isuzu truck, which cost $17,500.

"When I bought the truck I was living in a shared house with a bunch of friends in a coastal city in New South Wales and so I was working on it in my free time after work," he said. "I'm a carpenter so I had all the skills necessary to build it and it wasn't too challenging for me."

The couple, who were living in Wollongong, moved into their tiny home on wheels in November 2021 and spent a year living in it while saving cash for their dream trip.

They hit the road in January 2020 with about A$40,000 to fund their adventure.

The couple spent about A$17,000 on appliances, electrics, plumbing and fixtures and A$8,000 on materials to fit out the truck.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

Paul and Clara are now living rent-free and spend about A$500 a week on fuel and food.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

The truck has a queen-sized bed, a kitchen with an oven and gas stove, a compost toilet and shower.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

There's a storage area on the outside of the truck where they keep their surfboards, dirt bikes, and sports equipment.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

They kept the truck's tautliner with the Coca-Cola logo. They use it as a curtain to keep bugs out and have added a timber cladding wall behind it.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

Paul and Clara had windows custom-made for the truck.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

Clara, 27, a registered nurse, sells art to bring in some cash, while Paul does some carpentry work when it's available.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

The couple have a A$10,000 kitty for diesel and most of their expenditure is on fuel and food.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

The truck draws a lot of attention when they staying at camp sites and people often want to take a look inside.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

They plan to live in it for around a year while traveling around Australia and might stay in it while renovating a house in 2024.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

For anyone thinking about embarking on a similar adventure, Paul says they should "take the leap and just do it."

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

The duo is documenting their travels on Instagram at @colas_truckingadventures

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

They've recently been to Double Island, on the Great Barrier Reef, and Tully Falls in far north Queensland.

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall

“We love being able to move around every few days and waking up to nature and the freedom the lifestyle gives us.”

Paul Battenally and Clara Trindall