Let's go bush

"Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free..."

Those words are so true when you live like we do. Especially in the best country on Earth. So all you anthem loving, dinky di, fair dinkum, fundamental Australians, stop dreaming and start living. Check it out, you'd be surprised how amazing your home country can be. Like the famous Australian Ernie Dingo says: "Go on. Get out there!" And I must say, it is so much more pleasurable doing it in your own home, be it a Ford econovan or luxury motorhome  you can still enjoy it all the same. As for my wife and I, before we grew up, we started in a mozzie dome in the back of a Nissan Navara ute for more than three months around the Kimberleys. And at the time that was luxury (maybe just being together). Funny enough, after five kids it's still luxury being together.

Now that we have the phantom, life is much more simple. Don't get me wrong, because it still doesn't stop the sink from blocking up, the black water from being dumped, and all the other little hiccups that took the place of mowing the lawn and cleaning the gutters, etc. But the one thing I haven't got away from is picking the dog  poo up. Thank goodness he doesn't do it inside the home, or that would be his last poo. 😀

Now that the power source is functioning at full capacity, the man cave is reasonably sorted and the family is all geared up for an inland change as we have been on the beautiful NSW coast for a couple of months. The itinerary for departure is set! Justthethought of heading out bush brings on the craving for a roo tail over the fire, even a bit of roo kidney or liver or some wild goats... We're heading up New England Highway, so property owners up that way who will swap a good day's work for a hunt on your land, drop us a line.

- D -

Check...

...check...

...check. All set to go!

We LOVE the beach too, and will be back after some bush bashing

No power, no ice cream, and my beers are getting warm

Patience is a virtue, so they say. At the moment that line is very thin. For the past week I've been monitoring the amps on the battery bank, and for some reason it has halved. We have a bank of 16 batteries, and we're running at 24 volts. It would have been ideal to get 200+ amp batteries each, but in our case, because of our low-cost budget recycling lifestyle, and the depth of our pocket, we had to go through the good old ABC Wreckers and use lead acid batteries at 100 amps each, which has worked absolutely fine for the past three months, giving us 2-3 days power through rainy days.

The battery bank is in the man cave, and it is so clustered in there that we have been forced to move from a beautiful spot and look for a truck stop so we could make path to inspect and rectify this patience thinning problem. While I'm writing, the ice cream is melting, the kids' 2015 schoolbooks (tablets) - modern day slates - won't work. The dog keeps barking, because his fan is not working. The wife seems to be cool headed about it all, and as for me, I know that at some stage this afternoon/evening, I will be quietly swearing. No cold beers. So on that note, I better get to work. Because of the thought of Kimberley cools (warm beers) and not getting to watch the 6 o'clock bad news, I've got to get my priorities right and fix it!

P.S. Luckily when the going gets tough, you can always depend on the petrol guzzling 2.5 kva generator. Cheers, it's time for a beer (problem not fixed). There's always tomorrow... Oh, the serenity!

- D -

This is the entrance to the man cave.

Battery bank with reorganised storage. At least I can get to it now.

Great stay for a day (or three)

Due to the front wheel problem we've had lately, we stopped to check the oil level in the front hub on the side of the road at Brighton-le-sands. Plenty of clearance even for a big rig to park safely, and out of the way from residences - or so we thought. An anxious resident from the other side of the road (which is six lanes wide, mind you) expressed his disapproval of us stopping there, and in his words, "blocking the view from my waterfront unit". Although we knew we hadn't done anything wrong, it still left us with an uneasy feeling. This was soon to change when we got a visit from a police officer responding to a complaint, when she confirmed we were legally parked there, and as far as the police or council are concerned, there's no problem with us stopping there. "And what a beautiful spot it is", she said before wishing us a great day.  

We know how hard it is to park near beaches in a bus sometimes, but it was so easy to pull over here and let the kids go for a swim. There's showers and public toilets close by too, so we ended up staying for the day (or three). As long as you are self contained and discreet, even with five kids and a dog who says hello to everyone, I don't think big rigs would have a problem stopping at the Grand Parade to enjoy the beautiful Brighton-le-sands. Traffic noise can be a problem, and it goes on all day until about midnight. Our bus has double glazed windows thus giving us the comfort while parking on busy roads. After all, we're in the phantom.

- D -

Easy access to the beach

                                      

View from upstairs window

Friendly visit from officer confirmed we were parked just right.

It is time to move on!

Well, we got a knock on the door by the first visitor that we didn't know, since being on the road. And I'm happy to say it was Mr Ranger from Canterbury council. Apparently the good hard working rate payers from the housing commission blocks in Riverwood complained about seeing the phantom parked up on the side of the road without obstructing or endangering anyone, 2-3 days of the week. It's so good to see that someone is always looking out for you, for the good or the bad. And in this case, it's not good for me, and on the other hand, it must be good for the houso for whatever reason it may be.

In all truth, I would have thought that this had been the last place in Sydney to have anyone complain about the phantom because when one walks around the streets, on the side of Riverwood where we were parked, on any given day there's a pile of rubbish, abandoned furniture, unread mail and other things alike. Well, I don't know who's the local member for the area, but I can see the election is coming up, and if Jihad Dib, the local labor member wins the seat, I can only hope that he makes a difference. God bless Australia and everyone in it. On the bright side, they've just forced all fishing rods on deck!

- D -

Rubbish day every day

Common sight in Riverwood

Mechanic's workshop out of housing unit?

Here's the hopeful saviour.

Waste not want not

When living in a bus you have to be aware of water consumption and waste, as water supply is limited to tank size, and you have to be able to carry your waste (grey and black water as well as general rubbish) until you reach the next dump point. I've cut my water usage right down when washing up, and we don't unnecessarily wash clothes either. When living in a house I'd routinely do a load or two of washing every day, whereas now we usually have a laundry day once a week.

Power supply is another limited resource. We have a 1000 watts worth of solar panels on the roof, which maintains our fridge/freezer, lights, TVs, security surveillance system, phone chargers and fans, but for vacuuming or air conditioning we need to run the generator. Therefore we daily sweep the floors and vacuum once a week, and only use the air conditioning if it gets extremely hot in the bus. Where I used to spend a couple of hours for cleaning a four bedroom house, it only takes me a half an hour to do the same in the bus. I like!

As we mainly cook on gas, we favour quick and simple meals, so no more oven dishes that I used to cook especially in the cold climate of my home country. We do have an oven though, so if we ever feel like cinnamon buns or fresh bread, we can still enjoy these favourites too.

Storage space in the bus is also limited, so we don't buy anything unless we really need it . The children have a set amount of toys and lots of books, but they often play outdoors, and we use local libraries regularly for some variety in story books. We have a decent amount of storage for winter and summer clothes, but yet again only carry what we need. 

And the man cave (also known as "dad's garage" or storage at the back of the bus)? It is full of tools and materials that might come handy when maintenance on the bus is required, and as I've learnt already, we DO need to carry a long ladder to reach the solar panels and surveillance cameras at the height of 4.3 meters when repairs are required. 

We don't spend time on yard work either, since we don't have one. I sometimes think this is one of my husband's favourite things about living in a bus: no more lawn mowing! A little portable herb garden would perhaps be nice, but as none of us is a real green thumb, we can manage just fine as it is.

- M -

One of our power eaters, still manageable from the solar supply.

We try to limit the amount of toys - and have noticed less is indeed more.

We are happy to sacrifice some of our precious storage space to carry some of our most loved books on board.

And it comes in threes, even when it's break downs and repairs...

Sometimes travelling is like dancing on roses - a beautiful flow of movement until something pricks you on your heel and the movement stops. This time it was a tyre that blew, and obviously brought our driving to an immediate halt between Goulburn and Sydney. Driver dad nursed the bus to a safe place to stop, and got to work. When it comes to tyres this size, it pays off to be big and strong, as they are heavy! Mum was of no help except in keeping the children entertained on the side of the highway until we were ready to hit the road again. It comes in threes, they say, and I sure hope this saying is true as the old girl  does not deserve another incident in a row.

- M -

Good old Goulburn

So, we got up this morning with clear view of parliament house and bureaucracy all around, had a coffee and joined the kids to the fresh banana cake (thanks to IGA), started the old girl, and she didn't want to leave! I have a feeling she liked the bureaurats. So we had to get NRMA to persuade her to get going under the watchful eye of 'federales'. Thank you NRMA, Goulburn here we come!
Good to get away from the cold weather and bureaurats of Canberra only to find about 20km out a loud noise coming off the front wheel, which was immediately diagnosed by the onboard engineer that front left hand disc brake pads needed attention asap. With this drama at hand Goulburn was a welcome sight, and the backup support we received from the specialist heavy vehicle mechanics at Mechanica motors was second to none in workmanship and price, not to mention the prompt response. If you have to break down, do it in Goulburn!
When it rains it pours, because after booking the bus in for repairs, we went to the centre of Goulburn city to give the kids a break at Bellmore Park just to find out more drama: the bus wouldn't start. And again, prompt response, this time from Lee & Thomas Auto Electrical Services. Thanks to Dave, it was dignosed, fixed and ready to roll within an hour. Thanks again Goulburn!
Now let's see what Sydney has to offer on our way to Cairns.

- D -

We might be broken down...

...but some of us are still smelling roses in town...

...just to calm us all down.