Okay, we admit it… we’re a little bit (read, incredibly) jealous of Elise Cook’s life. After spending the past year travelling around Australia in a caravan with husband Domenic Palumbo, the couple recently decided to ditch the bricks and mortar house and move into their van full-time. A move that makes our inner gypsy soul skip a little beat in happiness at just the thought.
Enter days spent journeying from town-to-town to promote their wine brand, Down The Rabbit Hole, with the van life giving Elise and Domenic the opportunity to connect with great bars, bottle shops and people. And then there’s the content creation side of things – with the couple’s adventures proving to deliver great fodder for Instagram. Which is where we come in…
After stumbling across Elise’s dreamy feed of van adventures throughout Australia, we decided to track the travel influencer down to find out more about her life from the road. Read on to discover Elise’s happy dance moments, capturing magic memories, and how manifestations are a “thing”.
Missed the last articles in the 50 Questions series? Click the links to read interviews with Angel Food Style creator Sophie Elkus, KJ Pinc, and By O Square.
1. Best beauty product of all time? Akhal face oils
2. Five beauty products you can’t live without? Body moisturiser – everyday, face oil, sea salt hair spray (I love KEVIN.MURPHY HAIR.RESORT.SPRAY), Light mineral foundation (I love Esmi), and a toothbrush
3. Hair “done” or messy? Messy!
4. Makeup or no makeup? I’m 50 / 50 here. Love days or weeks makeup free, but when I do wear it, I keep it simple and love it too
5. Favourite fragrance? Jo Malone London English Pear & Freesia Cologne – amazing
6. Favourite item of clothing? My old denim overalls. Live in them. Or one of my many printed floaty dresses
7. Favourite fashion brand? At the moment… Yoli & Otis, Spell Byron Bay, Rowie the label, or Arnhem
8. Sneakers or heels? Slides? 🙂
9. Gym or exercising outdoors? Outdoors, always
10. Yoga or running? I do both almost every day
11. Healthy eating or treating yourself? We’ve cut out all processed food and eat a lot of veggies – and I love it. But I do treat myself with a Scotch Finger and a cuppa quite regularly. It’s the one thing I just can’t give up!
12. Can you cook? I can… but my husband is far better, very creative, and quite the chef. He comes up with the most delicious veggie-based meals…
13. Favourite food? Scotch Fingers. Haha. Or spinach minestra on sweet potato mash
14. Favourite drink? Down The Rabbit Hole wine, for sure
15. Best place to eat out? Outside the van by the sea
16. Happiest moment? A tie – the day we drove our kombi van, Scout, home, and the moment we said “I Do”
17. Saddest moment? N/a
18. Instagram or Snapchat? Instagram
19. Blog or YouTube? Blog
20. Iphone or camera? Camera
21. Type of camera? A Canon DSLR
22. VSCO cam or Snapseed? I have used both but I’m a Lightroom fan
23. Facetune or untouched? Not sure what that is…Facetune? Tunes your face?! – untouched
24. Favourite filter? If I ever use a filter, I use VSCO and normally S2
25. Shooting on-the-go or location scouting? On-the-go, as we go
26. 9-5 job or full-time influencer? Neither! We run our own business, Down The Rabbit Hole wines, which allows us to live on the road and keep working – and I write and take photos on the side
27. How did you get into blogging? I have always had a camera in my hand, long before I had a smart phone. And I also studied journalism. Whilst I ended up starting the winery with my husband, I’m always creating… Running events, writing, taking photos… Blogging about our travels was just a natural creative outlet for me
28. How much time goes into a normal picture found on your Instagram account? I love capturing images that tell a story, a moment in time that takes you back, or is beautiful or inspiring. A photo can be like a poem without words – so I always shoot on-the-go and just try to capture what that day or experience was about; travel allows for endless moments like these. I don’t want to look at a photo and remember something staged, it needs to capture a magic memory. Sometimes I’ll step out of the van and the sky will be all lit up and I’ll run for the camera, other times I’ll have the camera on me and wait for the moment. It depends on the day
29. Who takes your pics? Myself and my husband
30. Most exciting moment since being an influencer? When Tasmania tourism contacted me and asked if they could use my photos and pay me for an interview. We had already finished our trip, and it was our first long trip in our kombi, but I remember thinking – all I ever wanted to do was travel and take photos and now someone wants to pay me! Happy dance 🙂
31. Most terrifying moment since being an influencer? I don’t think I’ve had any… other than possums trying to break into the van while I’m sleeping – but they had no idea I was an influencer
32. Best campaign you’ve ever worked on? Anything travel-related. I was sent back to Tassie by the tourism board and we got to take our best friends along with us. The entire trip was organised for us, it was pretty amazing and very special. But I still prefer travelling on our own terms with no agenda
33. The best gift you’ve ever received as an influencer? Too hard to name – but I’ve had a number of occasions when I’ve felt like I manifested it somehow. [There will be] something I really want or my favourite brand or something I’ve been holding off buying… and then I’ll open my inbox to see a beautiful email asking if they could send me that exact thing. It buzzes me out!
34. Last thing you googled? Best coffee in Margaret River
35. Favourite film? ‘The Intouchables’
36. Favourite book? ‘The Bronze Horseman’ or ‘The Four Agreements’
37. Favourite song? ‘Elation’ – The Isbells
38. Favourite band? Forever changing. I’m always listening to music. We recently saw a Melbourne band called the Teskey Brothers play – amazing! Or… let me say my little brother’s band, Stork 🙂
39. Living in the city or living by the beach? The beach please
40. Summer or winter? Summer. Currently chasing the sun
41. Favourite travel destination? I love travelling anywhere, but at the moment I’m loving exploring Australia – and the WA coastline is blowing my mind!
42. Going out clubbing or quiet dinner with friends? Not so quiet dinners with friends, wine and a fire is my idea of a “night club”
43. Partner or single? Married
44. Siblings? Two brothers and my little sister. Plus three sister in laws (including Dom’s sister)
45. What city are you currently living in? We are living and travelling in our vintage Kombi camper van – currently in WA
46. Celebrity girl crush? Sienna Miller
47. Celebrity boy crush? Bloody Patrick Dempsey. Balled my eyes out when he died on ‘Greys’
48. Pets? Not just yet
49. Top five Instagram accounts to follow? @VanlifeDiaries @chrisburkhard @helloemelie @lisasanielle_ @eljackson
50. Favourite quote you live by? “It’s a good day to have a good day”
All images: @elisecook
