When Kayla Collins spotted an old burnt-out van in her neighbours' backyard a few years ago, she knew it deserved a second lease on life.
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It was then that the idea for Newcastle's first speakeasy mobile bar, The Roaming Eagle, was born.
Collins, of Stockton, and her business partner invested $40,000 renovating the 1950s Carapark, resheeting the frame and adding new flooring while maintaining any original features they could salvage.
"It was basically scrap metal when we found it," Collins tells Weekender.
The gleaming silver converted caravan has become in-demand at events, mostly weddings, since it launched in 2016, with the bar already fully booked for the year ahead.
The popularity of The Roaming Eagle encouraged Collins to create a sister mobile bar, which she has nicknamed Boozy Suzie.
In order to keep up with the volume of inquiries, Collins gave herself three weeks to get the '80s-era caravan into shape to start taking bookings.
The van was gutted and the original windows were removed and replaced with timber servery windows, giving it a fresh, modern makeover.
The name itself was the first one she came up with.
"I wanted something fun. The Roaming Eagle is cool for what it is, but when I wanted to do something different, I didn't want to run it under the same name," Collins says.
"I didn't want to mess with the brand and have this big pink van [laughs]. Boozy Susie was the first name that popped into my head. I tried to think of others, but I kept going back to it."
Before launching Boozy Suzie earlier this year (at her own wedding to husband Dan held at Stanley Park), Collins says she set about ensuring that each bar offered its own distinct personality.
"The Roaming Eagles really is based on the Prohibition era, whereas Boozy Suzie is a whole different style," Collins says.
"Suzie is big and white, pink and peachy, whereas The Roaming Eagle is more of, I guess you could say, the 'man's' bar.
"The Roaming Eagle is always the boy's pick when they're helping plan a wedding.
"Whereas with Suzie, when I was planning the look of the van, my husband said 'It's a bit girly, won't you cut out some of your demographic?' and I was like 'No, the women are always the ones who plan the weddings, so they'll go for it [laughs]."
Both of the mobile bars are fitted with taps that can be hooked up to beer kegs, but cocktails are their speciality.
Collins has spent more than a decade working in hotels, starting out at The Gunyah Hotel in Belmont when she was 18 and eventually moving on to become licensee at The Crown & Anchor Hotel, so she knows a thing or two about concocting a great drink.
Her list of cocktails is endless - from espresso martinis and Aperol spritz to lavender lemonade margaritas and strawberry and cream sours. Boozy Suzie is also fitted with its own frosé machine for frozen rosé cocktails.
"We can do absolutely anything, there is no limit," Collins says. "We had a wedding a few weeks ago and the bride wanted as many cocktails as we could come up with from a list of ingredients. She said 'I want 10 cocktails'. Some people stick with beer and wine, so it's great to be able to go to town with the cocktails."
The mobile bars operate under a BYO set-up, so those hosting the event supply all of their own liquor and Collins and her staff provide bar service.
Collins also offers styling, with the inclusion of florals and greenery, as well as decorative rugs, lighting and bar carts.
Although they cater for birthdays and engagement parties, Collins says she prefers weddings. "I love the people," Collins says.