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Story of the Bus
Hey there – well we have talked about it for years now. We should get a motorhome, caravan maybe, campervan, and travel this great land of ours. But we don’t have an extra house to sell or a big super waiting, we only have about $25000, which has to get us the vehicle and help us travel.

Well there is probably people doing it on a lot less and if you don’t have a go I guess you never will so after many months of looking we found what seemed a value for money motorhome.

A converted bus, the Mazda 1988 6m bus, 300 odd k on the clock, but with a professional fit out. It included a shower and toilet, a must for the little lady, hot water; a couple of solar panels, new fridge, kitchen sink, bed, lots of cupboards and you would be thinking this is worth 25 to 30 grand. Well the asking price started out at about 22,000 which had quickly slipped to 20,000 and we offered 18000 which, wow he accepted.

Yeah I know what you’re thinking; there has to be something amiss – maybe the motors clapped out, the gear box is screwed. Well I guess I can get a mechanical check and see what the go is.

Well we come from the North coast of NSW, a beautiful place and you could wonder why you would want to travel anywhere from such a spot, but it’s the human in us …. Anyway the Mazda is in the outer suburbs of Brisbane. Initially we drove up and had a look, not committing at first, but after a couple of days decided that if it checked out ok mechanical we would buy it.

Ah yeah, someone contributed to the economy of QLD on the trip up – a little fine of $133 for excessive speed, always thought that Queenslanders were a bit slow, only joking.

Anyway the owner pretty much agreed but do you think I could find a mechanic near the bus’s location (Google). RACQ don’t do buses, even small ones, well that’s what the girl on the phone said, even after I said, just do what you can, but she wouldn’t be in it. Let me talk to one of your mechanics me thinks but the conversation went nowhere from there.

So I found a few numbers of mechanics, face booked my friends, one mechanic who advertised mobile vehicle checks, one given to me by the bus owner (forgive me for being sceptical there though) and a couple of other workshops. I rang, left messages, rang again, again, but not one returned my call, amazing, was this a sign.

Well what the hell – we figure a motor rebuilt would be about $5000 and everyone I mentioned it too seemed to think diesels are unbreakable – maybe someone could enlighten me on that one – so if the worst came to the worst we figured that it would be worth the extra if we had to fix something. I guess I am a little mechanically minded so after a test drive and listening to the crunching of the motor I will have to decide.

So back on the dog and bone to the owner to seal the deal and arrange for a pick up day.

In sunny Queensland it seems you have to get a roadworthy certificate to sell, and the owner also had to get a certificate for the gas installation. I’m not quite sure why he needed the gas thing but that’s what he did. Roadworthy was fine after a couple of minor glitches but he got knocked back on the gas. A quote to fix the gas issues was $1500 odd – yeah $1500 which seemed a bit much. Well me being handy, among other things I am an electrician, and knowing plumbers etc. I reckon any issues with the gas I could certainly solve much cheaper than 1500 so I made a new offer 17300, and provide I was happy after the test drive the deal was sealed.

Well, all this took a couple of weeks to arrange and we felt that he may get a better offer. The owner stuck to his word though so we travelled up on a Friday with the bank cheque for $17300. My lady and I both went, an eight hour bus ride arriving mid-morning in Brisbane, a short stroll to the trains to head out west for half an hour, then a local bus ride to the suburb. I must say the web site Translink provided by the Queensland government was excellent in working out the trip. I made one slip up in travel when I missed the get off, on the local bus and ended up at the wrong shopping centre. Caused a little bit of friction, but what are partners for, so I found a taxi and $15 later we were at the front door of the bus about mid-afternoon.
The owner was pleased to see us and had the beast parked on the side of the road ready to go.
The test drive time had come – the vehicle had a 10 speed gearbox, gears 1 to 5 on the floor stick then a leaver near the steering wheel which chooses either high of low range. That’s where the 10 gears come in, 5 in height range and 5 in low range. Well changing gears in what is essentially a truck is a little different to changing in the slick short distance movement of the modern car gear stick. Getting the stick into third, beat me most times, and the extra low range of the lower gears presented a challenge. Anyways I drove down town, partner in the passenger seat, and the owner on the little seat just behind giving me driving tips as we went. The half hour drive was difficult mainly due to the gear changing and driving on unknown roads but the bus seemed to drive quite well with no mechanical issues rearing their head. Leaving the gearbox aside for the moment the vehicle was easy to drive, steering very light, great vantage point and good visibility. Overall it was a bit noisy, motor noise and general vehicle noise, but that’s the way of it.

I managed to return the vehicle to whence it came and after a short discussion with the missus decided to hand over the cheque, well she handed over the cheque. With the deal finalised, receipts done and paper work exchanged we thanked the now previous owner and headed off. We had relos at Terranora, a couple of hours away, where we had planned to stay the night, a good ‘first’ trip.

GPS’s are so boring, don’t you think. Ah come on, it’s much better to just go for it, head off into the unknown, and have faith in the direction of the sun. Well I’ve never been lost, and none of you other men have ever been lost either I am sure, maybe slightly misplaced a bit, nah not even that, just taking the scenic route.

It doesn’t matter anyway for the tea making facilities are but a few steps away and if you get tired there is a bed close by … the life….

Anyway Terranora proved easy to find with the odd help from the map reader on the seat opposite cause I was concentrating on gear changes, mirrors, alert for a strange noise like the big ends failing, diff whirls, or excessive black smoke behind. Thoughts of whether to change the curtains to blinds just didn’t seem to matter at this stage, hey guys. The traffic was thickish, I mean this is peak hour time now, what better time to drive and learn about the ways of a new vehicles like this Mazda – I think not, I’m sure 5th gear is somewhere. Although a little stressful it was also fun and we arrived at the Terranora location. It was fun because that’s the only way to approach these things, have a go, get your hands dirty and enjoy it.

The vehicle got the thumbs up from the relos, no oil drips on the driveway next morning, all rested we headed off. I had checked the map out previously and thought I’d head down the old highway to the expressway, good for the driving practice. On leaving the side street she said left I said right, you get that, I’m driving though so right we go and as planned end up at the expressway. Took a bit longer than anticipated but is was a nice drive to get use to the high and low range and just what gear would do what. Interesting method the high and low range lever as you tend to drive mostly in 4th gear and change up down with the leaver as needed.

Eventually on the expressway – 110 – found 5th gear at last and cruising between 95 and 100, sweet. I have started to find 3rd now as well instead of running out of arm’s length, leaning forward, to push it in its now becoming a shortish movement. So the struggle to find the gears has faded, and I can settle a little, the feeling of travelling, going somewhere, has started. I am now feeling relaxed, king of the road, in charge, move over Beethoven. I have resisted the need to pass that car in front, to be in the right lane, but simply to pass the time and mosey easily along, amazing.

I faded there a bit with the thought if it all but back to reality.

We now have to register it in NSW. Man if ever the difference between two states is highlighted it is surely seen here with registration. Qld might well be another country as far as the RTA (Roads and traffic authority) in NSW are concerned. The QLD rego is worth nothing in NSW and the attitude in the office give you just 14 days to transfer or else you are fined. F..k, yes sir. I went in to the RTA and told them I was buying the vehicle and said it would be unlikely that I could transfer the rego in the time frame, tough was the reply; well up yours was my thoughts. And that was it no help, no advice, just tough.

Anyway I needed a blue slip, which apparently is a pretty intense going over of everything. Well there are only a few places to get this blue slip. It’s not like you can just get one today, so I had to book it in and the date fell right on the two weeks allowed by the RTA to transfer the rego. Cross your fingers it all goes fine (what about that gas problem), cause I’m going to have some big unwinnable argument with some rule driven RTA officer otherwise. Well the blue slip was a breeze, an hour or so after I dropped it in I had my blue slip, cost about $60, all good, no worries, and no problems – fantastic. I’d done a green slip online through AAMI – cheapest I could find and good value in today’s market.

This rego was not actually a transfer, for you can’t do that between the two states, it’s a new registration. I have to hand in the old QLD plates, and start a new rego in NSW. A lot of money for nothing it seems, I know, but passing over about $2000 just to drive the vehicle does seem a bit over the top. Then there is the issue of the 8 months QLD rego that was purchased with the vehicle. So now I have to try and get that back from that adjoining country and I bet those foreigners are not going to like or make it easy to give money to NSW.

Checking out the QLD roads web site they indicate that I need to send the plate receipt document, along with a form within 14 days. So I did but I get it all back in the mail a week later saying they will only deal with the registered owner, Hmmm, somehow I thought that was me now having paid out a couple of grand for the privilege. So I rang up the previous owner, and told him the story (lucky to have his details) and when I rang he was down town and was kind enough to drop into the registration office (aren’t mobiles great). They knew nothing of the plate hand in, receipt etc. so I was asked to fax it to them, which I did immediately. 14 days for us, three months for them ….
Waiting to see what happens.

Well apart from having to deal with bureaucracy everything so far is good. We have been on one short 2 hour run and all great. Anyway guys hope to see you on the road in the years to come – It will take us a little while to get organised for any extended trip but a few short ones are on the cards, maybe Tamworth in 2013. Keep on Choglin …

 
I wrote this song in anticipation of our travels;

Travelling
A
Sky is grey and cloudy
E
The rain is falling down
Haven’t seen the sun in days
A
I think I’ll leave this town

Might head north to Queensland
Where the sun shines every day
Where folks wear shorts and thongs
As they go along their way

Chorus
Well, keep those wheels a rollin
Along those beaten tracks
Taken our home with us
We sure not looking back

A short stop in Sydney
A detour into Port
A week or two in Byron
As we travel the road up north

Well there other states I’ve heard of
There’s WA and NT
One called Victoria
And Tassie way out to sea

Well we crossed the line to all of them
And we are going to cross again
There things we didn’t see before
So now we‘re off again

Chorus
Well, keep those wheels a rollin
Along those beaten tracks
Taken our home with us
We sure not looking back

A short stop in Sydney
A detour into Port
A week or two in Byron
As we travel the road up north

Words and Music by Bruce Jones 2010

Adelaide Zoo

8th Sept 2014
Moved on to Dartmoor, yeah another free camp beside the river called Fort O’Hare. This was named by the explorer Major Mitchell who set a camp here on the junction of the two rivers, Glenelg & Crawford. This was Major Mitchells third expedition in which he named the Glenelg river after exploring the Murray, The Grampians ,and then following the Glenelg down to the sea.

Major winds here at the moment gusting up to 80k so glad not to be on the road at the moment.

Dartmore has carvings in wood adorning their main street commemorating world war one servicemen and women. The carvings are life size, carved from the old trees by a chainsaw sculptor, Kevin Gilders. The Atlantic Cedar trees that lined the road had become old and dangerous. Other carvings have been done on bollards, animals and such from the area, and a work of art has been carved into the remains of a massive cypress. Hope the locals were cooking fish on that day …. Don’t get it, fish and chips, chips of the cypress … funny Ha Ha …
It’s still windy – no TV at this location. I noticed the houses close by had fringe type aerials on long poles, meters high. Interesting that internet and mobile phones work fine. Maybe places like this should be provided with free to air TV signals via an internet relay.. Sounds possible..

We will be rocked to sleep by the wind tonight ..

3rd September

The Gibsons Steps has its own sign as a tourist attraction, so off we went and descended down to the sand and sea. Quite soft sand that made walking a bit difficult, as we went and got as close as being dry allowed to one of the 12 Apostles. Many cuttle fish remains here on the beach next to the cliff and Bonnie collected a few. After ascending we drove further on to take a look at the ‘fallen’ London Bridge. It was a double arch joined to the mainland but the section joined had collapsed some years back and is now only one arch, but still impressive. When the arch collapsed there were people on the far section and they were rescued using a helicopter. Took in some more of the sites along the ocean then return to the camp for a late lunch.

Time to cook that damper so I lit the fire pit which was half a 44 gallon drum left full of all sorts of stuff as well as some wood and kindling. Previous b’s had left bags or rubbish, bottles, cans, in the drum, so cleared all that out, stuffed in some fresh newspaper and twigs, and some of the wood I had been carrying in the Ute for the last couple of weeks. A dash of kero and the flames began to roar. As the flames died down a bit I dropped in the camp oven to warm a bit while Bonnie prepared the damper mix.

There are lots of kangaroos at this camp site, and a bit of a stinky smell. It took me a while but the two go together for when I say lots, we counted over 100 roos, living and feeding, and defecating, all in this wonderfully grassed area. The smell however was tolerable and realising it was not my damper although after the first attempt I could have been mistaken.

The fire was a little hot and the damper came out rather black and burntish and doeey. Ah well, lesson learnt, patience is a virtue they say, and the second attempt worked a treat. With all the flames gone and just the dying coals remaining the oven was sat on coals, and topped with coals for 20 minutes to produce a browed, crusty, loaf ready for the application of some Bega Butter, Hmmm

31st – 1st
We headed off to Geelong, specifically the Geelong showground, for the camping at $22 a night, (thanks Stuart). This location is the closest cheap camping before the Great Ocean Road so it is ideal being about 2 hours’ drive from the previous camp spot. Again no electrical work to be had here, the issue is that these places have their own contractors and the places need to issue work orders via the management or a committee for anything to be done. This showground is not quite as nice as at Akoonah, but it has nice grassy areas, power, toilets and hot and cold showers. We are pretty much self-sufficient in the caravan so the amenities are not that important, but what is needed is simply a location to park for a time. We were planning to head off the next day but the weather has turned bad, raining overnight and up till now (10am) so we might stay on for another night. There is no problem travelling in the rain but we would like some clear skies as we go down the Great Ocean Road. While there is a chance of rain tomorrow it is supposed to be clearing so we will go then.

Change my mind; the weather seemed to be improving so we headed off about 11am for the camp site at Johanna Beach Campground taking in the sites along the great ocean road on the way. Called into Bells Beach near Torquay where 4 surfers waited patiently in the rolling sea for a wave.

This iconic surfing spot had a great feel as you looked down on the water from the road which is surrounded by natural, low vegetation, and grassed areas. Much of the areas around the beaches have been protected from the advance of buildings making the area very peaceful. Unfortunately the rain still persists, and the wind is quite chilly, so wandering around was a little uncomfortable.

We continued on cruising along the Great Ocean Road. The road winds its way along the coast, the terrain being mainly undulating hills with typical coastland low shrubbery moving in to bigger trees up the hills and further inland. Lots of farming country, dairy, inland. Driving along the Great Ocean Road so far, well my comment would be nice, pleasant, good to see. Words I wouldn’t use are Wow, spectacular, look at that, amazing but don’t let me put you of it for it certainly is one of the great drives of Australia.

We arrived at Johanna Beach campgrounds to be greeted by a sign saying this site was managed by the National Parks of Victoria and that bookings are essential. Our previous intel on this site was that it was a free place, and about the only free site, along the ocean road, and I was going to use it has a bit of a base to explore the area. We drove in and noticed sites set up with numbers, separated off, and with well-maintained dirt tracks for access. Well intending to stay we pulled up in a nice sheltered spot, being the only ones here at this time. Then recalling the issue with price rise’s back at Buchan Caves I checked wiki camps and sure enough, since July this site was now worth $34 in the off season. Well I don’t mind paying a fair price for a fair product, but what am I paying for here. All I need, want, is a bit of dirt to park on for a few days near the sea so what right does anyone have to prevent that. All along this Great Ocean Road there are no overnight rest areas, no easy place to pull over, and now a place that should be so is now not available. My farther, my brother, and untold others, fought for such freedoms now the very people that have inherited the management are denying such basic freedoms. The National Parks are making money out of our birth right, to pay for their infrastructure, excessive salaries, and advancement. No doubt they have great arguments as to why such fees are needed, but they would all be based on some economic reason.

So I called up the caravan Park 10 minutes away, yeah 10minutes, Lavers Hill, $20 so we went. It was a pretty ordinary Caravan Park if you like the finer things in life, but we could plug into power, and had a bit of dirt to park on, which is all we wanted.
Called further ahead, Princetown Camping reserve, also $20, $15 non powered. Looks pretty good on the wiki camps pictures. Cause these two are non-government, they are privately or council run, what a difference. You would think it would be the other way around.

Answer me this – there is a natural wonder (Uluru for instance) and as such should be a treasure for all. Why then should people be priced out of the ability to see it.

Toll roads, used one to escape Melbourne, and thought it best with the caravan on. I must have travelled on it all of 10, maybe 20 minutes. So called up to fix up the cost, $15.10 for pity’s sake, and I think there computer that talks to you when you try to pay doesn’t understand English. You can trick it to get through to a person, by making enough mistakes cause it doesn’t seem to understand swear words, but the person doesn’t understand English either …… yeah it was a good day ..