Good bye 2011 Hello 2012

As 2011 comes to a close, I find myself today not exactly where I wanted to be.  We started the year with great expectations and ideas, we were going to get Number 3 finished and registered, and we were going to be living in it, and have taken it out for a few week end trips around Tasmania by now.  Well, unfortunately, that hasn't happened.  Looking back at the photos of where we were when we started, we realise we have accomplished a lot really, but unfortunately there were times when we just had to come to a stand still.  Terry being injured and having to take 2 months off work really made things difficult for us.  You see, Terry is a casual, and if he doesn't work, he doesn't get paid, so for 2 months we were living on just my wage. That really put a strain on our finances, we still had a mortgage to pay, as well as all the usual living expenses, and on top of that, it was winter, so we had to have the heaters on in the house to keep the children that I look after warm.  So the electricity bill went from about $300 for the quarter to about $700, but we made it through that patch and once Terry was well enough he went back to work and we were able to continue with our dream.

This is what Number 3 looked like in January 2011

2011 had many ups and downs.  One of Terry's brothers spent most of the year in hospital, every time we thought he would go home, another infection hit, and would send him right back to square one. It was difficult for us, because he lives in Brisbane and we just couldn't afford to go up there and spend time with him, so we called him daily, and that became difficult, there is only so much a person who is confined to bed can talk about.  We ended up talking about the weather and the hospital food, so then we decided to make them weekly phone calls.  That was better, but still hard to find things to talk about.  You know how you usually ask, so what have you been up to, well "lying in bed" doesn't exactly make for stimulating conversation.  He did manage to go home a couple of time through out the year, and I think at one stage he was even home for 3 weeks before he had a fall and broke his leg and ended up back there.  I must point out that Terry's brother has diabetes, and gets some very nasty infections.  He was also fitted with a pacemaker earlier this year, and managed to get a really bad infection from that and in the end they had to remove the pacemaker.   We are happy to report that he is home now, and hopefully, will stay there for a long time.   My mother also had a few health scares this year and was in hospital twice.  She lives near us, so we were able to visit her often while she was in hospital and make sure she was alright when she came home.  She is still not 100% but is getting there.  Other family members have had minor health issues, but nothing really serious.
To be quite honest, I can't wait for 2011 to be over.  It has been a tough year for me, and one I will not look back on and say wow, what a great year, but for the life of me I can't pinpoint exactly what it was that made it like this.  Sure we have had money issues, but on the whole things haven't been that bad.  I haven't lost anyone, we still have our house, our bus is coming along nicely and my family is healthy and settled.  I have made some fantastic friends this year, both on Facebook and in person, and have had some great times with them.  I have caught up with old school friends whom I haven't spoken to in 30 years, and look forward to catching up with them when we start travelling.

We were planning on spending the week between Christmas and New Year doing the plumbing on the bus, but unfortunately we didn't put the order in on time, and we missed the Christmas deadline.  That means we have to wait till the middle of January before the company opens again, and we get our order, so instead, we decided to clean out the garage.  Boy what a job that turned out to be.  I wish I had thought to take some before photos, because the transformation is amazing.  We can actually walk around in there now, and there is plenty of room.  We absolutely filled the ute up and took a heap of rubbish to the tip.  Most of it went to the recycle shop really, because it was all stuff we were keeping in case we needed it later.  I bet they were happy to see Terry pull up and empty the ute out.  

The shed,  I haven't seen it this tidy for a long time.

 There was a lot of good stuff in there and a lot of it was new, but there comes a time when you just have to say, get rid of it, and that's exactly what we did.

My next project is emptying out and sorting through all the stuff that is in what I loosely describe as "My Office"  The whole time we have been living here, I was going to use that room as an office/craft room.  I did put my desk and a couple of bookshelves with books and craft stuff in there, but then we kept putting more things in there, because we had no where to store them.  We moved from a bigger house with heaps of storage, to this place which is much smaller and there is virtually no where to put anything, which explains why the shed, which used to be a carport until we closed it off, and my office became our dumping ground.  I sold the book cases a few weeks ago, and so everything that was in them ended up on the floor, on my desk and anywhere else I could put it.  We also had a garage sale a few weeks ago and my sisters and niece brought some of their things over to sell.  What didn't sell ended up in there as well.  I have spent the last some time in there during the week sorting through stuff, and I have made a big dent in it, but there is still so much to do.  It has got to the stage where I just want to back the ute up to the gate and throw everything into it and say "to the tip".

My office after a week of sorting out.

Yes I am getting brutal, I have been throwing out a lot of things that only a few weeks ago I would have kept, I really think that's the only way to do it.  When we come back here, are we really going to want mouldy old bits of paper, I think not.  I really wanted this room empty by now, so my sister could start moving her things in and storing them here, but well, things never go to plan do they.  So  you see, this is why I am not too happy with the way my life is at the moment.  I feel very unsettled.  I really wanted to be at the next stage by now, instead I seem to be stuck in this state of confusion and clutter.  I am looking forward to the moment where we can say good bye to this life and start our new life in our bus.  As that moment gets closer, I am finding it easier to throw away things I thought I would never part with, because I realise my memories are inside me, not in or on something.  I am looking forward to moving into the bus, and only taking what we really need and leaving the rest behind.  I have come to realise that yes the bus might be 40 foot long, and there are only 2 of us, but there really is only limited room in there, and I just cannot take everything I thought I treasured. The person I really do treasure will be with me, and that is my husband Terry.  Apart from that I will be taking memories of my family and friends and know that I can still keep in contact with everyone through the wonders of technology.

This is the bus on 31/12/11

So as I sit here saying good bye to 2011 and hello to 2012,  I hope that the new year starts off better than the old one.  I don't make new years resolutions, but I am going to make a promise to myself and that is to laugh more, try not to worry so much and relax and enjoy life.  We are here for such a short time, and I am going to try to make the most of the time I have left.  So with less than an hour and a half left to 2011, I will sign off with a  HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY.  Take care and stay safe.

Christmas 2011

I have approached Christmas with mixed feelings this year.  The bus is nearly finished and we are excited to finally be moving into it, but at the same time, the nerves are starting to set in.  Are we doing the right thing?  Will we be able to find work once we leave here and are on the road?  How will we cope with the heat on the mainland?  I have been reading posts on Facebook and people are commenting of the heat, we are lucky where we live, the climate is very temperate and it's never really that hot. (although, trust me, 22 degrees here can feel like 30 on the mainland).  Yes, we are getting nervous, but at the same time, we are also excited about our departure.  Along with those comments about the heat, we are also seeing some fabulous photos that other travellers are posting, and we hope to be able to post some equally fabulous photos ourselves soon.
We have spent the last couple of weeks getting quotes for water tanks and fittings for number 3.  Unfortunately, we left our run a bit late, and we wont have them until the middle of January at the earliest. We really wanted to get it all fitted during the 10 days Terry had off over Christmas.  Never mind, there's still plenty of other things we can do.  Once we get the water connected, we can take the bus to be weighed and hopefully registered, then we can move into it.
I put the tree up later than usual this year.  I wasn't even going to bother actually, for some reason, it just didn't feel like Christmas, but when you have children in the house (I do family day care),  who are excited by it all, you really need to go with the flow.

Our tree

 I thought putting the tree up would help me get in the mood, but it didn't really.  I was a bit sad because this will be our last Christmas in this house for who knows how many years.  It will be the last Christmas with my family, and I don't know, but it could be the last Christmas we will all be together.  Well, all except for my oldest brother and his wife who live in Queensland.  I know we can always fly home for Christmas, but that's not the same, and we ARE looking forward to having Christmas on the road, catching up with fellow travellers and sharing stories and experiences, but there is something inside of me that is just a little apprehensive.
Christmas day turned out to be a fabulous day.  We went to my niece and her boyfriends place.  They just bought their first house and only got the key the Friday before.  They spent the weekend painting, then moved all the furniture in during the week, put the tree up and the place looked lovely on Christmas day.  You would never have believed they had only just moved in.  They did a great job getting it ready.

Waiting patiently

Unwrapping some presents

Handing out the presents

We spent most of boxing day cleaning out the shed.  We got a bit lazy this year, and just threw things in wherever, and it was getting really hard to move around in there.  That took most of the day, but it was well worth it.  Now we know exactly what else we have to put in the bus, and what we are leaving behind.  Problem is, I think we want to take far more than what will actually fit.  I think we are going to need a bigger bus.

WHAT WE NEED VERSUS WHAT WE WANT.

As the work progresses on Number 3, I am starting to seriously think about the little things I want to take.  Not things like clothes or anything, that is going to be yet another challenge, and I am not really ready to tackle that one yet, but things like cutlery, crockery and kitchen appliances.  As you may have noticed, Number 3 doesn't have a stove.  I rarely use an oven at home, I have a convection microwave, and I'll have one of those in the bus.  I also plan on using my little camping cooker, and I have an induction hot plate.  At home I use the slow cooker and rice cooker a lot, so thought I would take them along too.  All of a sudden, the cupboards in the bus are full and I haven't even put plates, cups and glasses in there.  I have been told that melamine plates are better because they are light and don't break, and I can understand that, but, I really like using china plates.  How much extra weight can 2 plates add really.  But do I get 2 plates, or 4, what if we have a few people over for tea, they will need a plate unless I ask them to bring their own. Yes, the joys of having to cut back on things we take for granted has really hit me.  I had a Christmas get together the other night, and we sat around and had a few drinks, and I realised  I got rid of most of my glasses when we moved into this house, so I only have my everyday water glasses and 4 wine glasses, which don't even match, so I'm ok there, I have 2 white wine(un  matching) glasses and 2 red wine glasses, and I do like to use them, on the odd occasion I drink wine that is.  So I guess I'm right there, but I have struck a problem with my cutlery.  I bought a Stanley Rogers Cutlery set really cheap some years ago, and I love it.  However, there are more pieces to it than we will ever need.  It's an 8 place setting, and it has 2 knives, 2 forks 2 spoons and a teaspoon for each setting.  Really, what is that all about.  I just open the drawer and grab one. Soup spoon dessert spoon who cares really as long as it does the job it's meant to do and that is take the food from my plate to my mouth.  Mind you, I think some of them have holes in them, because they seem to manage to leak on our clothes.  But on the whole, they work fine.  Problem I am facing with this cutlery set is, I don't want to split it up, but there is far more there than 2 people really need.  See, it's the silly little things I worry about.  I managed to go through most of the things I had filling 2 bookshelves to overflowing capacity and sell or throw out nearly everything in them, but cant decide what I am going to do with extra cutlery.

I have the linen under control.  2 sets of sheets and 2 doona covers.  That was easy.  I have about half a dozen different sets of each at home, but I am not taking any of them.  Going from a king size to queen size bed solved that problem for me.  I doubt I would have been able to decide which ones to take, so I just got new ones and that was that.  Towels are causing a bit more of a problem.  How many towels will we actually need.  We always use our towels a few times before washing them.  I just don't have time to wash towels every day, and I don't like wet washing in the washing basket, so we aren't going to have a problem using the same towel for a few days, it's how many will I need.  I seem to use the same 6 here all the time.  Shower towels, and one in the bathroom and one in the kitchen.  I wash two and replace them with 2 from the cupboard, when I get the first 2 off the line, I was the other 2.  So will six towels be enough.  Are we likely to get stuck somewhere where it is raining for a week and I wont be able to get anything dry.  Will there be a dryer somewhere I can use.  If anyone can offer a suggestion, please do.  I am more than willing to listen.

Since I started writing this, I have been thinking about my clothes.  I have taken note of what I wear every day, and have come to the conclusion that, even though I have enough clothes to clothe a small country, I really only wear the same few things.  I tend to either wear jeans, shorts or track pants and t shirts and a jacket if it's cold.  Well how hard can it be to get rid of the rest of my clothes.  Well the conversation with myself went something like this.  "I might take that, what if we go anywhere where I need to dress up."  "Seriously girl, when was the last time you dressed up"  "Well there was the wedding a few weeks ago" "Ok I'll pay that, but before that"  "Well there was the wedding last year"  "and before that"  "um not sure, but I'm sure something will come to me"  Yes folks, I must be going mad, I do not only talk to myself, I answer myself too.  Looks like perhaps the only thing I will be wearing soon will be a lovely white jacket with very long sleeves.  Ok so to cut a very long conversation with myself short, I have decided to take jeans, shorts tops, a couple of track pants, and my 2 good skirt suits.  That way, I will have something to wear at home and at work and if I happen to get a job where I need to wear a skirt or a dress, well, I'm sure there are op shops or even shops nearby where I could buy one or two.  Too easy, well now anyway.  It did take about a week or arguing with myself before I narrowed it down to just that.  Terry on the other hand is easy.  He wears shorts and polo shirts every day, and has a good pair of long black pants and 2 good shirts.  He also owns a track suit and a couple of pairs of jeans and flannelette shirts for when it gets cold.  Somehow, I think that seeing how the jeans and flannelette shirts don't see the light of day that often here in Tasmania, they are not going to get a lot of use on the mainland either, so perhaps he can cut down to just 2 pairs of jeans.

 I remember someone once telling me that when we empty the bus to get it weighed, to only put back 1/8th of what we took out.  Seriously, that is going to hurt.

Road Trip

With a long week end coming up, we were faced with another 3 days of working on number 3.  As much as we have enjoyed this year, spending weekends working on the bus and trying to get it finished, we really needed a break from it all to recharge our batteries, so we decided to take a road trip.  It had been a year exactly since we had gone away, so we were long overdue for a few days away.  Where will we go, what will we do?  We had in the past, discussed going down to the Huon Valley.  In the 8 1/2  years we have live in Tasmania, we have never really gone any further south than Hobart, so I got on google and had a look.  Yes, there was plenty of accommodation options, and some of them were pet friendly too, however, we decided to leave Horatio behind.  It would restrict us too much if we brought him along, he is not the sort of dog to sit quietly in the car while we go exploring places.  As it turns out, it was a good decision because it got quiet hot, and we wouldn't have been able to leave him in the car anyway.  So we got up Saturday morning to what was promising to be a lovely day, and got ready.  With the car finally packed, we set off on the approximate 4 1/2 hour drive at about 9.30a.m., later than what we had planned, but thats normal for us.  We never stick to a schedule.

Of course, when I say 4 1/2 hour trip, I mean if you don't stop.  But whats the point of that.  We had THE TRAVELLING BEANIE AUSTRALIA  https://www.facebook.com/groups/235449026485461/with us, so that meant we had to have lots of stops to take photos.  (Well, it was a good excuse to stop anyway.)
First stop was Campbeltown http://www.campbelltowntasmania.com/attractions.html

Most people don't realise there is more than one convict built bridge in Tasmania.  Richmond Bridge seems to be the one most people know.  I guess thats because it is Australia's oldest bridge.  Personally I like the Ross one best, but they are all very similar, and they all have a lot of history.  Speaking of Ross, that was our next stop.  I love Ross,  in fact, I love all these old towns along the Midlands Highway. (Heritage Highway)  I love the old buildings and the stories you read on the plaques.

http://www.discovertasmania.com/launceston_tamar_and_north/towns_and_places/ross

 After spending a bit of time walking through the town, we decided that it was time to move on, so back in the car and on to our next destination which was Oatlands.  http://www.discovertasmania.com/hobart_and_surrounds/towns_and_places/oatlands
We stopped here, had lunch, took a walk around the town and took some more photos.

By this stage, it was getting late, so we decided to head straight for Southport.  It was still a couple of hours drive away, and we weren't too sure of the road down there.  It was a good road, and we got there in plenty of time, so we kept going.  We drove down to the beach, and had a lovely walk on the white sand, and watched kids playing in the water.  Then we headed back and checked into the Southport Hotel.

The caravan park at Southport Hotel

http://www.farsouthtasmania.com/

What a lovely place it turned out to be.  It was clean and the staff were very friendly.  We really enjoyed our night there.  

Sunday morning arrived and it was another beautiful day.  The sun was shining and we were keen to set of for what I like to call the end of the world Cockle Creek.  It's not really the end of the world but it is the end of the road, literally.  It is Australia's most southern road.  There is a walking track after that, but it doesn't go too much further.                                                                                                                               

The Ida Bay Railway

http://idabayrailway.com.au/

There is plenty of free camping at Cockle Creek.  There were plenty of people there when we were there.  There were even a couple of busses. Terry said he would feel comfortable taking our bus down there, and we have a 40 foot bus.  Pets are allowed in the camp grounds, but not in the National Park.

http://www.discovertasmania.com/hobart_and_surrounds/towns_and_places/cockle_creek

After spending some time at the very south of Australia, it was time to head north again.  Today we also planned on stopping in Richmond.  

The Oldest School in Australia

The oldest Church

ttp://www.richmondvillage.com.au/

The Oldest Bridge

Richmond is a historic town with plenty to offer tourists.  Its so easy to loose track of time here, and thats fine, because there are plenty of places to spend the night if you find yourself enchanted by its beauty.  Reluctantly, we left Richmond and headed further north heading east towards Swansea on the East Coast.  

http://www.discovertasmania.com/east_coast/towns_and_places/swans

We spent the night in a cabin at the Caravan park, listening to the waves and were woken by the birds singing in the huge trees in the park.  ( Not sure I liked that bit though, because it was only about 4.30 a.m.)    The view from the beach was lovely.  After breakfast it was time to head off again.  

Swansea

http://www.discovertasmania.com/east_coast/towns_and_places/bicheno

Bicheno

Bicheno

http://www.discovertasmania.com/east_coast/towns_and_places/st_helens

For the best fish, head to St Helens.  

It was soon time to turn west and head away from the coast.  Unfortunately time didn't allow us to go further north.  The road to Scottsdale from Bicheno is long and windy, but there is some lovely scenery along the way.  There are several towns along the way.  The area is dotted with farms, mostly cattle and sheep  It's a total contrast to the blue ocean and white sand we just left behind.

http://www.discovertasmania.com/launceston_tamar_and_north/towns_and_places/scottsdale

If you have time, its well worth stopping and having a look around.  We continued our journey, heading north west and stopping in Bridport for the night.  We strolled along the beach before finding a place to stay for the night.  

http://www.discovertasmania.com/launceston_tamar_and_north/towns_and_places/bridport

Bridport

Low Head

By Tuesday morning the weather had changed and it was raining.  We were also tired and were looking forward to heading home again.  We set off from Bridport, and made our way to Low Head for a look around.    It was cold and windy, so we we didn't stay long.  We headed across the Batman bridge and made our way to Beaconsfield.  

Batman Bridge

Beaconsfield Mine

http://www.australiaforeveryone.com.au/icons_batmanbr.htm

http://www.discovertasmania.com/au/product_page?a=42224

By now, it was early afternoon, so after a look around, we decided that we were ready to head home again.
We had a busy 4 days, travelling just over 1200 kilometers in mostly perfect weather.  At every turn, there was something new to see, and we could have stayed so much longer.  Now we are back home, we are more determined than ever to finish the bus, and start travelling.  It will be so much easier if we don;t have deadlines, and don't have to pay for accommodation, and we will be so much more comfortable in the same bed every night.  We have decided that Tasmania is definitely the place we want to be.  We are still looking forward to our travels around Australia, but are looking forward to coming home again and spending time touring Tasmania at leisure.

                                                 

WE HAVE A DOOR

Well finally, after 10 months of working on number 3 every spare moment we had, we finally have a room. Yes followers, we have a bathroom, WITH A DOOR.  Wow, I can't believe it.  It doesn't seem that long ago that we didn't even have walls, and now well, shall I say it again, we have a door.  Mind you, we can't use the bathroom yet, Terry had to take everything out of it so we could get the lamipanel in, and we still have one sheet to go behind the shower, and there is no plumbing yet, so it's not even really a proper bathroom is it, but it has a door, and you can go in there, and close it and have total privacy.  It's dark in there, because there are no windows, but the lights work again, after that minor disaster we had a few weeks ago.

Door open

Door closed

Yes, the electrician came back and fixed the wire, and now the seats are in place, all welded and bolted down as they should be (we hope).  It's just a matter of getting the seat belts now and that part of the challenge will be over.  Except for the drivers seat, that is.  I think that will be one of the last things we do.  Everything is ready to go there, though, it's just a matter of putting it in.

The vanity unit

The shower area

The bathroom is so white, we are thinking of adding a coloured piece of lamipanel in the shower area.  What do you think.  We have purple behind the kitchen sink, the walls as you will all remember are green.  Any suggestions on a colour.  The other three colours we are using are blue, purple and red.  As you may remember, we have based our colours around a mug.

Once the electrician came back and fixed the wire that Terry had drilled through, it was pretty easy to get the seats back up at the table and bolted in.  Someone was meant to come and have a look at the set up and advise us how to best bolt the seat belts in, but as usual, they never turned up.  Really, how hard is to to actually do your job.  I mean, this man does this for a living, and he can't even be bothered not only turning up, but calling to say he couldn't make it.  They get away with this, because they are the only ones who do it.  Anyway, we will sort that out as we get closer to registration.  Speaking of registration, we found out last week we have to take Number 3 to Burnie to go over the pits and get registered.  That will be fun.  Burnie is about 50 kilometres away and much busier than Devonport.  We have no trouble driving there, but it will be a different story taking a bus through there.  You see, Terry has never driven Number 3.  In fact, the only time he has driven anything as big as it was the day he got his medium rigid licence.  That day, he met the instructor somewhere, I can't even remember where actually, and the instructor got him to get behind the wheel of the truck, and Terry drove to Stanley then turned around and drove back.  Highway most of the way, and very little traffic.  I know, he is going to have to get used to driving in traffic, but it would be so much easier if we could have the bus registered here in Devonport, at least we know the roads and where we would have to go here.  Might have to borrow a bus driver friend for that first trip I think.

The lounge, dining and kitchen area
bedroom in the background

The photo frames are finished and they look really good.  I can't wait to see them up on the walls, but what I am looking froward to more, is to see them filled with photos of our trip.  I think I may need to get a few more frames, and put some on Terry's computer desk.  I think the colours will also  look great up against the white. 

Some of the frames I have painted.

We still haven't slept in Number 3, but Grezette (our cat) is still using it as her own private bedroom.  She still loves to curl up on our bed and enjoy the warmth from the sun.  Horatio still follows us in there, but he follows us out again when we leave, but then again, he follows us everywhere, so thats nothing new. 

A minor disaster

The last few weekends have been busy, but productive.  We have cut out walls, painted them and put them up.  I don't think I have painted so much in my whole entire life, but number 3 is really starting to look good.  So this weekend was no different.  Out came the paint brushes, the jigsaw, drills, sander and everything else we needed for the work ahead.

Marking out the wall
A few weeks ago we found out we needed to weld some steel plates under the floor of the bus, so we could anchor the seats and seat belts.  So far, Terry has been doing all the welding himself but, because this has to be inspected and passed, we decided it was better to get a professional in to do it.  Luckily we have a friend who's partner is a welder, and he called in today to have a look, and is going to do it for us. Thank you so much Cherie and Andy, we appreciate it.  After they left, Terry decided to drill some holes in and bolt the seat to the rail, so if we want to sit down, at least we can without the seat falling to the floor.  So, here he was, drill in hand, when the power went off.  He came down to where I was painting (as usual) and said "I think I just blew up the drill".  After checking, we realised the drill was fine, so he checked the fuses, and one had tripped.  So he flicked it on and went back in the bus and went to start drilling again and a spark jumped to the drill bit from the metal, and the circuit breaker kicked in and switched off.  Turns out the electrician threaded the electrical cable through the channel we need to bolt the seat into. and Terry not realising drilled straight through it.  At least now we know the circuit breaker works.  We didn't really need this minor disaster, but it could have been a lot worse I suppose.  Tomorrow, we were going to go to the hardware store to buy the laminex to finish off the bathroom, but now we need to get the electrician in to repair the damage, and that will take the money we had saved up for the laminex, but the electrical work has to take priority, after all, we can't risk getting electrocuted now can we.  Oh well, never mind.

Well apart from that minor inconvenience, everything else is going well.  We ordered some purple laminex last week for the splash back and that arrived on Thursday.  It's going to look great against the green.  All of the walls are now cut and painted, and most have been put up.  I have bought about a dozen photo frames, and have painted them blue or purple, and they will look good up against the green walls too.

The green walls

I am looking forward to seeing it once it is finished.  At this stage, I can only imagine what it will look like.  People I have spoken to about it all agree it is going to look good, but I wonder if they are just saying this to be nice.  It's funny how we worry about what other people think, because at the end of the day, we are the ones who have to live with it, and we love it, so it really shouldn't matter what anyone else thinks.  So tonight I go to bed thankful I still have my husband, and reassured that if something goes wrong with the electrical side of the bus again, we will be safe.

Introducing Red

I've been busy painting recently and decided that I really didn't like the red paint that I had, it was more an orange colour and didn't really fit in with my plans, so I had to come up with another way of introducing red into the colour scheme.  After thinking about it for a while, I decided the best way to do this was to buy red accessories.  This I thought was a great idea, because it allowed me to do something I really love.  SHOP.  I was going to take my time with this, because I have no where to put things once I buy them.  I had started loading things into the bus, but then thought, well, I am going to have to take everything out again once it's all finished, because the bus needs to be weighed as close to empty as possible, so why make extra work for myself.  But I really can't help myself, and if I see something I like, I just have to have it, so I have justified myself by saying, well, it's only little and it wont take much to move it again.  Problem is, I now have about 50 "only little" things on the bus already, and I still have things throughout the house that need to go on there.  See, I told you, I just cant help myself.

I think its going to look good though.  I have bought red silicone oven mitts, egg poachers, tongs, spatulas, and other bits and pieces.  I have even seen red and white bowls and plates at K Mart which Terry and I both like, so I think I will get those too.  I think this will work better, because really we only have limited wall we can hang things on.  Speaking of wall, Terry is plodding along nicely with cutting the walls.  He has been following a book, which he bought online, but I came across a blog by someone else who was converting a bus, and showed him.  He was impressed and decided he would try it their way, and it has turned out to be easier.  He even contacted this couple and thanked them for the information.  

Terry working on the wall

I can't wait till the walls are up, it will make it look more like home.  Once the first walls are up, we can bring in the vanity and toilet, then the rest of the bathroom walls can go up.  I have started making the curtains, and I will be able to put them up soon, and measure them properly, before I cut the length and then a friend is going to sew them for me.  I just cut and tack, I have no idea how to use a sewing machine.  Then we should be able to start sleeping in there.  To start of, we will just spend week ends in there.  Just to get used to it.  Then, once the plumbing is finished, we will start to drive it away for the week end.  I really can't wait to do that.  It will mean we are one step closer to leaving.  Hopefully, by Christmas we will be living in Number 3 full time.

A close up of Terry measuring up the wall

I bought a new (second hand) kids sofa bed the other week end for Horatio, and at first he hated it, but yesterday he used it for the first time.  I'm really pleased because the one he has is really old and I really didn't want to take it with us.  I'm still not sure where it will go on the bus, but thats ok, he needs his bed and we will find somewhere for it.  I also bought him one of those pet toilets for times when we have to leave him all day.  He hasn't used it yet, however I do put it out for him when ever we go away and I leave him locked in the house.  He is pretty good and never really leaves a mess for us to clean up, but as he gets older, he might not be able to hold on as long.  He is quite happy to sit in it, so hopefully he will not have a problem using it if he has to.

Horatio on his toilet

Horatio is adapting well to being on the bus with us.  He joins us most of the time when we go in there to work.  At first he was struggling with the floating floor, it was so funny watching him trying to jump on the bed then he figured out how to get up there using the side bit at the head of the bed, where the back seat used to be.  Now he just runs up the bus and jumps.  Once the walls are up, it could be a different story though.  We will see what happens.

 Our cat Grezette spends most of the day curled up sleeping on the bed.  It's nice and warm in there and she hangs around near the door in the morning waiting for one of us to unlock it.  As soon as its unlocked, she runs in there and we don't usually see her again for hours.  We are going to miss Grezette when we leave.  We have entrusted her care to my sister, and I think she will be much happier here than travelling in a bus with us.

Horatio on his bed

But for now, number 3 will be a warm safe haven for Grezette, and when we move into it later this year, she will no doubt, share the bed with us like she does in the house.  It will seem strange not having her with us when we leave, but we have decided its for the best if she stays behind.  

As work continues

It's funny I think that as the work continues on number 3, I start to think back to the beginning.  In a way, number 3 looks exactly how I pictured it in my minds eye before we even bought it, but at the same time it looks nothing like it either.  Let me explain.  Before we bought number 3, we made cardboard cutouts, as close to scale as we could, of everything, the floor plan, bed, vanity, shower, toilet, lounge, kitchen dining and everything else we wanted to put in it.   We would sit there like children doing a jig saw puzzle, placing things where we thought we wanted them, moving them around because they didn't fit, or this would be better here or whatever.  To this day, the floor plan had pretty much stayed the way it was, apart from some final adjustments once the furniture was put in there.  So in that sense, it's exactly how I pictured it, but what makes it so different is the colour scheme.  For some reason, I never pictured the finished bus in colour, or if I did, I can't remember.  I really believe that when we first started, we had no idea of what colours we were going to use, and in all honesty, I believe the colour scheme has only just fallen into place in the last couple of weeks.  We started out painting it with paint we had left over from when we painted our unit last year.  We thought we would save money and use what we already had.  Well that really didn't save us anything, because we didn't have anywhere near enough paint, and ended up buying more, heaps more.  We could have just bought a new colour and it wouldn't have made any difference.  Then we decided the green we were using on the walls, needed brightening up, so we bought the brighter green. We needed something that "popped"  adding the brighter green really worked, I loved the lift that the second colour gave it.
Then I got thinking about the bed head.  I decided I wanted to make my own, and had some nice sheer material I wanted to use, so I got some black material to put underneath it, and the sheer one over it.  It's going to look great.

This is what the bed head will look like

Working from there, I thought I wanted to keep going with the black and have the bedding black and silver.  So I spent hours on the internet looking for some doona covers I liked, and couldn't really find anything.  All of a sudden, one day I discovered the colour wheel again, and bang, out of the blue, all these ideas started coming to me.  So now I have a colour scheme in mind.  And I think I like it.  I found a cushion in K mart I really liked, it had all the colours in it that I wanted to use, except it didn't have the green that we already had.  Never mind, I bought the cushion and got my needle and thread out, and started sewing some green around the leaves and put green beads up the stems of the flowers.  

Now I have all the colours in one item.  Green, purple and red.  Perfect.  Terry was still trying to get used to these colours I think, and bang, all of a sudden I add another colour into the design.  A few weeks ago I fell in love with some coffee mugs in Woolworths, (yes I know, sounds silly doesn' it) so while I was shopping the other day, I gave in and I bought two.  They are white mugs, with green, red purple and blue spots on them.

The mug

 So really, I'm only adding blue to the whole thing.  This morning I went shopping for paint.  I took my trusty mug with me, and colour matched the blue and purple.  Terry asked me what I had in mind and I said, I have no idea yet, but something will happen.  The girl at the paint shop got a bit of a surprise when I gave her the mug and ask her for a cup of coffee.  Good thing she had a sense of humour.  I told her what we were doing and she said, sounds great, a bus with personality.  I never really thought of it like that.
A few years ago I bought a small mirror for a couple of dollars because the frame was falling apart.  It really only needed gluing together, so I took it home and fixed it.  It's a sun on a square back ground,   The sun was yellow and the background was a dull purple colour.  I never really liked the colour much, but I liked the mirror, so I just hung it in the hall way. Now the background is green, that nice bright green, and the sun is going to be purple, and it will hang in the lounge room in number 3.  Well, when I say lounge room, I mean on the side wall of the pantry, which the couch is up against.  I had 3 frames which I was going to sell, one was green, one was blue and the other was orange, so I have undercoated the orange one, and that will be painted purple too.  Terry decided he wanted his computer desk painted blue.  I was going to start on that today, but then decided it was too big.  I only bought sample pots, because I didn't want that much colour.  I thought it would be overkill.  So I asked him how he would feel if I painted the desk in gloss white, to match the kitchen cupboards, and added some interest by adding the blue somewhere, somehow.  He liked the idea, so now I have to decide what I am going to do.  I guess inspiration will come to me.  All of a sudden, number 3 is starting to take shape, and the more I think about it, the more I do agree with the girl at the paint shop.  Number 3 IS going to have  personality.
Now I'm thinking doona cover again.  I'm so glad I didn't go with black and silver.  I'm now thinking purple, or even red, but I think I'll wait a while.  Terry is still working on the walls, so theres no point putting the bedroom together yet, everything will be covered in saw dust.  I know, because I have made the bed and it has a black Faux fur blanket on it, which is covered in saw dust and tools, good thing it wasn't a new one, and it's easy to wash.  My mind is in overdrive with ideas, and I can't wait to see what the finished product will really look like.  All of a sudden my vision has gone from black and white, to full colour, and yes I think I like it.

Following our dream

Hi, my name is Olga, and together with my husband Terry, have been working hard to convert a 40 foot bus to a motorhome.  We bought the bus in December 2009, and it sat in the driveway, pretty much untouched for most of 2010.  2011, was a very different story.  We decided that we would get stuck into it and have spent most of our spare time working on one thing or another trying to get it ready so we can set off and travel around Australia soon.   I'll start my story at the beginning and work my way through to the present day.

My story

I was born in Italy in October 1963.  My family moved around a lot because of my fathers work, so maybe that's why I have the travel bug.  My parents had 5 children, we were born in 3 different countries and no 2 were born in the same state.  We migrated to Australia in 1969, and instead of getting off the plane in Melbourne, like we were supposed to, my parents decided they would get off in Brisbane, because they heard it was a better place to bring up a family.  Well, that put a spin on things, because when they left Italy, all the paperwork was prepared and there were people meeting us in Melbourne.  A job had been arranged for my dad, there was a house for us, mum was booked into a hospital (she was 8 months pregnant, but told the authorities she was only 6 months because she wouldn't have been able to fly otherwise, although they weren't stupid and knew she was lying)  The 2 older kids were booked into school, and we didn't show up.  So, we arrived in Brisbane, not one of us spoke a word of english, and my parents had no money and no idea what to do or where to go.  I don't really know what happened but we ended up in a hostel somewhere and we stayed there for about 3 months until the housing department built us a house.  I loved it there, all our neighbours were migrants and all us kids used to get on really well, going to school together and playing together in our back yards.  It was a different world. I'm not sure how long we stayed there for, but of course my parents had to uproot us and we moved closer to the city.  We had 2 more moves over the next few years, but I guess compared to some people it wasn't too bad.  I went to 4 primary schools in 7 years so that was ok.  We had a few more moves and I ended up going to 2 high schools but I went to the first one, then we moved to Adelaide, then back to Brisbane, so I went back to my original high school.  In 1981, just before my 18th birthday, my parents moved us to Tasmania.  I hated being so far away from my friends, but I loved living in Tasmania.  It was a totally different lifestyle.  By 1992, I had outgrown Devonport, and craved the excitement of a bigger city.  I didn't want to go back to Brisbane, however.  Living near the coast in Devonport, I had grown to love the ocean. However, the Gold Coast didn't appeal to me so I chose the Sunshine Coast.  So I packed up and together with my dad and younger sister, we moved up to Queensland where I met many wonderful people.  I had a good life there, working in child care, going out with friends and just enjoying myself.  My brother moved up about six months after us, and then my sister moved away, so together the 3 of us pooled our money and bought a house together.  It worked well.  3 adults living 3 different lives in 1 house.  My brother met a lady and moved out, so it was just dad and me in the house. Then I met Terry in 2001 and by the end of that year, we had sold our house, Terry had sold his and we bought a house together.  I introduced Terry to Tasmania at Christmas 2002 and we bought a house in Devonport, near my mother and the rest of my family.  We went back to the Sunshine Coast, put our house on the market, and in May that year, we packed the car and made the drive back to Tasmania.  It has been good here.  We both got work and with the profit from selling the house in Queensland we were able to pay off the house in Devonport.  A couple of years later, we bought an investment property and then in 2009 we sold the first house we bought in Devonport and moved into what was the investment property, bought the bus, and parked it up the side of the house.

Terry's story

Terry was born in Nambour Queensland in September 1960.  He was the youngest of 8 children.  His parents had a pineapple farm in nearby Woombye.  When Terry was about 6, his dad passed away.  Two years later, Terry's muim sold the pineapple farm and bought a house in Nambour, where Terry still lived when we met in 2001.

THE BUS

As yet unnamed.  Terry and I can't really decide on a name yet. We have come up with lots of ideas, but nothing that jumps out at both of us.  I would prefer a one word name, something easy that just floats off the tongue, Terry is more adventurous and is coming up with words spelt backwards so when you look at them in the rearview mirror, they make sense.  Until we come up with a name, I have been calling it our midlife crises Terry calls it The Project.
The chassis was built by General Motors Holden in February 1979, and the bus itself was built by Custom Coaches in Guildford N.S.W.  It's serial number was issued on 22nd July, 1980.  It had it'w early working life in Parramatta and was brought to Tasmania by Phoenix Coaches in 2002, where it became bus number 3, and was used mostly as a school bus until mid 2009 when it was taken out of service and replaced with a new bus.  We are keeping the number 3 for sentimental reasons.  Maybe from now on I'll call it number 3.  (well until we come up with something better anyway.
I had quit my job in November 2008 and for a while we were managing on one wage, then the global financial crisis hit, and Terry was told he wasn't allowed to work overtime anymore. We sold our house and decided to move into the investment property.  Then Terry lost his job, so we decided to rent our house back and I would work out of the investment property.  By December, Terry was going stir crazy, and he seemed no closer to getting a new job, so we decided to bite the bullet and go and see what busses were available for us to buy.  We had a choice of a couple and because Terry always had his heart set on a 40 foot bus, we bought number 3.  I am still unsure if we made the right decision.  The other bus was 38 foot, but had a boot and bins.  Number 3 had a tow ball and bull bar, but no boot or bins.   I guess we can always put those in later somehow, but they would have been so handy to have now.  Anyway, we decided we would buy number 3.  We were told they would take the seats out for us and give us as many coach seats as we wanted if they could have the ones that were in it.  We said no problem and $8000 was the agreed price.  We then agreed on a date to go back with the check, and they would deliver the bus.  So Terry went up with the check on December 11, money changed hands.  number 3 was delivered the following week.  Wouldn't you know it, Terry got a job not long after that.  So he went from sitting at home bored, looking forward to starting work on converting the bus to working full time (casual) and not having any time for the bus. In April, we decided that it was silly to pay rent so we made the move into the house I had been working from.  This made it easier to work on the bus, because it was just outside, and we didn't have to make a special trip here.   By May work had slowed down a bit, and Terry had time to remove some of the windows and the middle door and close them off with steel.  Not much more was done then, winter set in, and the rain started, Terry had night shift and so slept during the day, and it was dark early, and way to cold to be out there with no power.  Number 3 became storage for stuff we didn't have room for in the house.  As the weather improved, went through all the stuff we had stored, and sold things off.  Finally we were able to move around in there again.  Next job was to pull up the smelly old lino.  That wasn't always easy, but we managed it.  Terry made up a king size bed frame and we put it in the bus, then we decided that king size was going to be way too big, se reluctantly, we down sized to a queen size.  In January 2011, I think we made an unconscious decision to get a move on and start doing something before we woke up one morning to a pile of rust beside the house.  We started off with the floating floor.  Choosing it was the easy bit. It's not as easy to lay as they say it is, but we managed it.  Then it was time for the wiring.  We chose an electrician, and he came in and made a start.  He worked for about 3 hours, then left telling Terry to get the walls back up and call him and he would come and finish the job.  A few days later we got his bill in the mail, so I paid it.  Then I called him about a week later to tell him we were ready for him to come back and finish.  Then we waited, and waited and waited.He had promised us he would get it all finished by Easter.  Easter came and went and we were still waiting, so I called him, got a story, so I decided to call around and see if I could get someone to come in and finish the job.  That turned out to be harder that I thought because a lot of people didn't want to finish what someone else had started.  I finally found someone who was willing to do it, and they had the job finished in 2 days.  What a relief.