'It's a terrific life': How a professional muso ended up running a famous food van

Professional musician Joe Driscoll and his wife purchased the van from Paul West in 2019, and have given it a semi-permanent home at the Big 4 Wallaga Lake Holiday Park.

Mr Driscoll said he'd always thought it would be "great to sell food out of a van" after owning a takeaway food ship in Brisbane for many years, and jumped at the opportunity to purchase the famous River Cottage van.

"My wife spotted the van in Bermagui and pointed it out to me one day," he said. "I said it wouldn't be for sale and we wouldn't be able to afford it anyway.

"A couple of months later we noticed it hidden among some bushes at a property in Bermagui, and I thought I might just got and see what happens.

"A lady answered the door and I asked her if it was for sale. She told me it belonged to Paul West and gave me his phone number, and he was very interested in putting the van to use rather than having it sit there fading away."

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Mr Driscoll worked out a deal with Mr West and purchased the van just before the Tilba Festival in 2019.

"It was in reasonable shape, it just needed a bit of TLC," Mr Driscoll said.

"I made an effort to preserve the original colours and the rust work on the front to make sure it had that authentic look.

"Our first gig was the Tilba Festival which was a bit of an eye-opener. We were flat out busy."

Like many others, Joe lost out on his Christmas, 2019, season to the Black Summer Bushfires, and was then impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It was pretty hard going for a while," he said. "It's not too bad now though, and we're concentrating on providing a service in the park for the campers."

Mr Driscoll ran a music school in Brisbane before a tragic accident facilitated his move to Bermagui.

"I worked with an African-American blues musician Wiley Reed for about 45 years in Brisbane," he said.

"His health wasn't the best, but he survived quite a few serious illnesses. One day we were working at Southbank in Brisbane, and he tripped in the carpark and fractured a couple of ribs. He passed away not long after.

"My wife and I had always planned a trip around the country, but we couldn't go anywhere because I had so many gigs.

"When Wiley passed away, we renovated my parents' old caravan and decided to go around Australia.

"Bermagui was our first stop on that trip, and we loved it so much we never left."

Mr Driscoll said he helped run a coffee shop and did some gardening at the Ocean Lake Holiday Park when he first arrived, before moving to the Big4 when Ocean Lake sold.

"We've got a little villa here and we live in the park," he said. "We've got the beach and the lake, we do our food van and gigs - it's a terrific life."

When asked what his speciality dish was, Mr Driscoll said he prides himself on "gourmet hotdogs".

"We're called the gourmet doghouse because I've always loved to do hotdogs," he said.

"We do a lot of breakfast food for the campers, things like bacon and egg rolls, pancakes, anything that kids and families will love.

"We try to use local produce - our coffee comes from Alfresco Roasters in Moruya, and our bread rolls are from Bazza's Hot Bread in Bermagui.

"We think every little thing you put in your produce has to be just right, and we're lucky to have landed in a beautiful spot like this with fantastic local produce."