I was born and grew up in Ballarat until I moved to the family farm
at Clunes in 1979. I continued to attend Mount Clear Tech High in Ballarat while living in Clunes which ment alot of
travel on buses before & after school. The school bus was a 1965 Bedford coach (The year of my birth), & I always
thought I would love to own that bus one day cause it would be great for going on holidays with my friends. Of course
I got my licence like most other people, got a car & hung laps every Friday & Saturday night till I grew out of it.
About 1985 I moved to Maryborough after a couple of years attending
the Army reserve there and meeting my wife who lived there & was also a Reservist.
About this time my father was forced out of farming due to illness and
decided to store all their belongings and see Australia for about 2 years. They purchased an F100 & 22ft caravan
and started travelling, 5 years later they purchased a 1968 Bedford bus that had been converted to a Motor home by river houseboat
builders & sold their F100. About this time my father told me that he should have done it, (Began travelling), years ago
& they are still out there.
Dads motorhome these days operates devices on 12v, gas operated, Solar
power,inverter, wind generator powered, and generator powered but it is rare that the generator is ever started. LPG
for the holden 308 motor & gas for the odd gas bottle is their only major expense. Without plugging into power on
a nightly basis runs Tv's, video recorders, a full size stove, 3/4 fridge, walk in shower with hot water, scanner, & much
much more. (Photo's on the site soon)
I have now had 2 buses, the first I purchased for $1800.00 which had
been semi-converted to a motorhome but was unregistered, old (1964) and had windscreens that curved around the side of the
bus which were rare to find. I later sold this bus for $2500.00 with less in it than was in it when I purchased
it.
My current bus I purchased in 2000 at Mt Gambier from a Bus company
for $1500.00, The company owner was restoring an original Ansett Bus, (With a sloping rear, very rare & as seen in
an Australian Coca-Cola add about 1999/2000), I bought it for the value of the tyres that were on the vehicle so I figured
I could not lose in the deal & drove it back to Warrnambool where I was living at the time. $600.00 later
it was registered & in my name.
Soon after purchasing the bus I built the basics for a weekend camper,
A hinged double bed, single bed wth drawers underneath, a temporary kitchen area etc & attempted to drive it to visit
some people in Maryborough 3 hours away but after an hour & a half into the trip the bus ground to a halt with lots of
popping coming from the motor, so here on the side of the road we camped the night.
Next day I found that the bus would not run with No.1 cylinder connected
& so we crawled back about 30kms per hour running on 5 cylinders all the way home putting lots of water in the radiator.
The problem turned out to be a cracked head and so I located another
which was tested & reconditioned with all steel inserts ready for a future installation of LPG (Cost almost $1000.00).
At Easter 2001 I transfered work to Mildura & with both my fathers
& my buses, & a loaded Trailer we made the move over 2 days up the Henty Highway & I have to say, with the new
head & the tuning I had done at the Warrnambool Truck Centre, it drove without even the hint of a problem and for that
I was very pleased.
I have made a policy that I have the basics for a weekind camper, I
know what I would like to do to the Motorhome but I wait for things to come to me at my price from here on in & not go
out & buy things new. One such aquisition is a Shower/Toilet from a caravan which was in the recycle shop at the
Mildura Tip for $20.00, a great place to find many things.
Our next major trips were to Black Point Sth Australia, (Below Ardrossen), at
Easter 2002, & my return to the South Australian Riverland where I had not been since Easter 1999 in a Ford XE Wagon.
I am getting ichy feet again as things change at work and Cheryl & I are on our own.
With the LPG conversion and a revamp inside to make it a more comfortable dwelling, I think a change of pace may be in order
in the next 12 months.
(to be continued).
