Move That Bus

Blog entry is long overdue but it’s been hectic. So much for the easy life I’m supposed to be leading. How come I feel like a blue arse fly - something doesn’t gel.

Loads of things have been happening. I’ve finished working. That was weird – walking away from a good secure job after 13 years and the pot plant I’ve stared at for almost just as long felt both exhilarating and liberating.

We’ve been getting the bus ready and have even gone up the West Coast for a weekend away to see what’s what. We nearly lost our roof air vent as we drove under the neighbourhood trees. All the way Theo sweating with each turn of the steering wheel and me bouncing with excitement. The headlights were really bad so we had to travel even slower and every now and then Theo had to wack the accelerator pedal back into place. The engine sits between our seats and we had to shout at each other to be heard above everything rattling away. We loved the trip. I expect gravel roads will be even noisier and everything inside will get coated in dust for good measure.

Theo only got the bus through roadworthy 2 days before we planned to leave. Cutting it fine - we had to postpone our departure date by a week.

He took the fridge door off to fix up the rubber but couldn’t get it back on as the plastic was so buggered we had to buy another fridge. He built two cupboards, one for clothing and one for food so packing space is sorted and I’m impressed.

He wanted to tighten the handbrake which turned into a huge mission and a big delay. The back brakes needed work and he had the back wheels off 5 times. He lost his sense of humor and smelt like the inside of a diesel engine for a week. Gallons of grease later and the drums sent off to be reconditioned (that’s when the wheels went on and off and off and on) and finally he had to attach the back platform for our bikes to be tied on. Theo had designed a platform of square tubing frame with mesh floor and bolted the whole job onto more square tubing which was attached to the chassis. After galvanizing the lot we now have an extra 400 kg hanging off the back (that’s including the 2 bikes and a huge ramp to get the bikes up there). He connected a 2nd set of lights to the back and we were ready to go.

I spent my first few unemployed days doing fiddly things like dashing down to the hardware store all bleary eyed before my morning coffee for lugs and threaded bar and nylocks and sand paper and glue and wall paper. I packed our clothes, toiletries, kitchen utensils, camping goodies and food (one whole shelf bulging with spices to satisfy Theo’s culinary needs) and we were ready to leave. It was Easter weekend so instead of rushing off to the farm near Clan William where we were going to work in exchange for food and accommodation, we planned to rather take a slow drive up, enjoy the bus and arrive after Easter since the farm was fully booked and they didn’t really have space for us.

We left home Friday the 10th April to start our new adventure. We were buzzing. My mom waved goodbye (expecting us back as we usually forgot something whenever we went anywhere). We’d enjoyed our stay with her and would miss her organized lifestyle as much as she would miss our chaos. We’d have to do without the Tequila chilling in her freezer and the blender which never materialize out of any of the boxes.

And so our trip began.