First Taste of Life on the road was looking good. We do have First Taste of Life on the road {part 1} and part 2 which will make sense before reading part 3 🙂
We had achieved my goal of being north of Sydney before the morning rush and our new motorhome was running well despite it being forty years old.
Homeward Bound
I wasn’t sure about Geoff but I was starting to feel the effects of the days activities and 4am start. It was now approaching 11pm and the coffee at the last stop was not doing much to keep me awake. The decision to find somewhere to park and get a bit of sleep was an easy one though. The bus made it for us.
We had been traveling up the Sydney-Newcastle Freeway for approximately half an hour when the rain started up again. When Geoff turned on the windscreen wipers there was a flash and the fuse had blown again. Luckily I had bought extras. We went through two more before we found a rest area to pull into at the Ourimbah exit. It is a large rest area with plenty of room so it was easy to find a place to park. Definitley a place to remember when we are touring Australia. As soon as the engine was off we had the sleeping bags out on the lounges and were asleep in minutes. I was beginning to realise how good life on the road was going to be when finding somewhere to sleep was as simple as finding somewhere to park when you are driving a motorhome.
After a few hours sleep I was ready to tackle the troublesome wipers. The previous owner had replaced the wiper motor for the roadworthy as the old one had burnt out. I tried to find a higher rated fuse to try but I was out of luck. I was fairly certain that the new motor was drawing more current than the old one and a slightly higher rated fuse would fix the problem. I also decided to remove the left hand wiper blade that had dropped below the windscreen again. After a quick walk around to check that everything else was ok we were off again looking for somewhere to buy some fuses as we headed north again.
I was getting some good practice at auto electrics on our trip home. We had picked up some more fuses as we got off the freeway which had fixed the windscreen wipers and were forty five minutes up the Pacific Highway when the high beam switch literally fell apart in Geoff’s hands. We pulled over again at a servo and Geoff laid down for another nap as he said “See how you go with that one”. Half an hour later I had partly rewired the switch panel by torch light and we were off again with everything working. I don’t know who was more surprised, me or Geoff.
A Breakfast Fit For A King
We drove through the remainder of the night with no further incidents and everything running smoothly. We were passing through Kempsy when Geoff said he knew of a good place to get some breakfast five minutes up the road. I could see that he was almost salivating just thinking about it.
As we drove into Frederikton Geoff pulled up in front of Fredo Pies & Ice Creams. With Geoff being a vegetarian I thought that this was a strange choice for a breakfast stop. When we walked inside as a fan of a good pie I didn’t start salivating I was positively drooling. I had never seen so many different types of pies in one place before. Of the 160 different pies that they can bake at least half a dozen are vegetarian. Geoff and I were both as happy as a couple of pigs in the mud.
The Final Leg Home
After breakfast we continued north enjoying being in the sunshine again. We would stop every now and again for a break and change of driver. Life on the road was going well. We had to stop, check and top up the oil in Ballina. But apart from that our old motorhome was handling the long trip better than I expected.
The only delay that we had was some roadworks as we climbed the mountains just south of the Queensland border. The bus handled it well though. I was glad that we had checked the oil earlier. After passing the roadworks we progressed quickly crossing the border around lunch time. We traveled up the Pacific and Gateway Motorways easily keeping pace with the other traffic. A short trip up the Bruce Highway soon had us where I was going to store our new Motorhome until we were ready to use it. Lisa was there to meet us and drive Geoff home. I was extremely grateful to Geoff. Without his help and advice It wouldn’t have been as easy a trip as it was.
We had just traveled 1200km in a forty year old bus/Motorhome that was a complete unknown when we started. But now I was starting to get to know it like a new friend discovering its strengths and weakness as we start our life on the road together.
Want to see what happens next? The Motorhome from eBay shares what David discovers that was NOT listed from the seller 🙂
Cheers,
David Wood
Our New Life On The Road
I love the way you have such a positive attitude to those pesky problems.like wipers not working. It’s probably a necessity in a 40 year old bus. It looks good on the inside, lots of room. An enviable lifestyle. Looking forward to reading more.
Thanks Jenny,
A can do attitude is definitely a must with a project of this size. I have found that if you approach a problem with a positive attitude a solution is quickly found (usualy)
Love it. You guys have jumped in and are embrasing life to the full. Good on you both.
Look forward to seeing more photos and hearing of your growth with Ballina.
Benji recently posted..What are the options for Margaret River weddings
What a great adventure! You seem to be doing really well with the 40 year old motorhome – they dont make things like they used to! Im looking forward to the next instalment!
jayne recently posted..Tips For Finding High Paying Home Based Work
A forty year old motor home gives me hope to find one that can be reliable as yours so far!
Something to consider in the future, travel around the country, having a life on the road like this would be great!
How do you think I would go with having 3 kids to look after and schooling them?
Christopher recently posted..All the Different Faces of Botox Treatment
Hi Christopher,
I am sure that you would not have to many problems looking after and schooling 3 kids.
One of the reasons that we have chosen a life on the road is the real life education that our children will recieve. The older ones will be doing distance education also. Imagine just the social and historical education that they will get as they experience different economic regions and historic sites. They will be so busy seeing and doing new things that they will be easy to look after, I hope
This really takes me back to my childhood where I spent most of it on the road. We were always breaking down or getting flat tyres but we always had other people travelling in convoy with us so things were usually fixed pretty quickly. I wasn’t home schooled though, we were pulled in and out of schools as we travelled which was a tough thing for a kid to go through. All in all it was a great upbringing though.
Hi Jackie,
It looks like you had some interesting times on the road as a child.
One of the reasons we have chosen to go with distance education for our older children is we want to give them the opportunity to reach their full potential without all the school yard pressures. I can imagine how hard it would have been moving in and out of schools all the time. Our 16 year old is having a hard time coming to grips with leaving the one he is at.
G’day David and Lisa,
Mates – I’m captivated by your wonderful adventure ! My forum motto of ACCENTUATE THE POSITIVE really applies to your attitude about the project and the hiccups enroute.
Delighted you made it up Mt Ousley without overheating. That is a real test of the old girl’s abilities, and shows the reserves built into the cooling system. Does it only have an engine driven fan, or does it have an electric one which only comes on when needed as well ? As a closet revhead with a turbo car, I’m a great fan of an extra fan !!!! It helps the aircon work better too.
Happy motoring !
Cheers
Harry
Harry Lynn recently posted..Teach Yourself Piano in Five Easy Steps
Hi Harry,
I am glad that you are enjoying the read.
The old girl is as basic as they come. It has only got the engine driven fan, but the radiator is fairly large and right in front where it get a good air flow when moving. Although it is old technology it is easy to work on. Which is a good thing considering I will be doing most of the work myself.
I am really enjoying hearing about your life on the road! I think it is so freeing to just drive along and be able to discover new and amazing places along the way. Your story about the pie shop just make me hungry – and thinking I might have to check this cool pie shop out one day!
Its well worth a visit if you are passing through. Even if pies are not your thing there is always the icecream and an attached cafe that looked good. Mmmm icecream and a latte now I am hungry
What an adventure, I am so jealous, a trip of a life time. Cade and I hope to do something very similar in the future, by the way the bus dosn’t look a day over 21 : )
BelindaO recently posted..My Perfect Wedding Day Hair Style
Hi Belinda,
We will be posting all of our adventures with plenty of photos as we travel Australia, so that you Cade and anyone else that is interested in a life on the road can get a taste of the lifestyle before hitting the road. When you do we look forward to sharing a campfire with you someware out there.
The old girl does have a pretty good body for her age. With a bit of a facelift and some silicone injections she will be steeping out in style again:)
I’m pleased to hear that the first part of your adventure had enough challenge and finished on a high point.
I look forward to hearing how you progress with other improvements to the motorhome.
Terry Paris recently posted..Disposable Underwater Camera
Thanks Terry – great to have your comment, it sure is getting fun trying to get the motorhome finished and start our new life on the road 🙂
Cheers
Lisa