Martins BUSTA Move: January 2013

So with 3 weeks on the road I thought it about time I filled you in on our travels so far.

Once we finally pulled out onto the big road at 6pm Sunday before Christmas we were tired, exhausted and really hoping all the hard work and effort was going to be rewarded soon to lift our spirits. Sime sat behind the wheel like a pro, nervous i’m sure but he always appears so calm. We wanted to get through Sydney at night so on we pushed arriving at our stop for the night about midnight, but in one piece. I think the kids were excited and slightly less sleep deprived because the first thing we heard in the morning as they peered out the window was, “Oh look at the sunrise over the water, it's so beautiful”. I tried hard to beautify the image. After all we were parked at a truck stop beside the Hume highway, mozzies buzzing around with the early sun rising over a sort of roadside catchment of water. Things had to get better.

As the bus cruised along down the road I started to feel a little tinge of excitement, maybe a little sleep was all I needed. Suddenly there was a beep from a truck roaring past letting us know that we had completely lost a tyre off the trailer. Excitement gone. A few hours wasted in the heat changing tyres, buying bolts and stressing over the fact that apparently we had gone a route not best suited to a 12 meter bus.

Simon pressed on with trailer and 4 kiddies while I stopped to get supplies. As I drove the road up and over the range into the Kangaroo valley I started to feel sick. There were so many twists and turns with an especially sharp hair pin at the top. I wanted to phone Sime to see if they were okay, but figured the kids would be distraction enough. Once I caught sight of the bus, the trailer, Sime and the kids at the bottom of the range I dissolved into tears. Relief.

Once settled in our camp on Christmas Eve we were able to relax.The kids played and swam the ‘lows’ of the past few days seemed to fade. Onto the ‘highs’.

After an uneventful trip out of the valley we headed for Milton, a cute historic town on the outskirts of Ulladulla. We spent the last night of 2012 with a picnic tea over looking the harbour watching fireworks. After 3 days exploring Jervis Bay National Park, Hyams Beach and the surrounds we moved onto Moruya. We asked at the information center in Batemans Bay where they could suggest we camp that night considering the peak season and the size of our bus. Off to the South Moruya Heads we went. After the first plane landed and the airport right next to us we wondered if we had made the right decision. Our next night beside the river quite a bit more peaceful.

On we moved to Mystery Bay, a not so well kept secret local camping spot which was our base to explore Central Tilba. On the road we went again to meet up with some very eager grandparents at Bermagui, who were camped near by. Again we found a beautiful spot over looking the ocean on the headland for the next 3 nights. It was here we had a extremely hot day which bought with it fires to the surrounding forests. The billowing smoke over the beach at Camel Rock made for a very eerie sky. Sime finally felt as though he was on holiday’s after he got in a surf.

After a teary goodbye to Nanny Rose and Papa we moved onto the beachside towns of Tathra and Merimbula. Each with their own grand and impressive wharfs. It is lucky the kids love the beach and the water because here we spent a wonderful morning at Nelson’s Beach and Moon Bay virtually alone in crystal clear water.

We seem to have adjusted to our nomadic lifestyle. I am planning less and Sime is getting to spend so much more time with the kids. For now anyway we are all on a definite ‘High’.

Tyre?

Hampden Bridge Kangaroo Valley

Christmas Brekky

Sonny's traveling buddy Pete

The first damper

Kids doing brekky dishes

Muscos in Central Tilba

Flat rock Kangaroo Valley

Tilba Beach

Ryder's 5th Birthday, his request of breakfast in bed

Birthday trip to Jamberoo, Kiama

NYE at Ulladulla

Hyams Beach, apparently the whitest sand around?

Cutie

Blue Pools Bermigui

Copoeira dance

Bush fires over camel rock beach

Camel rock

Kids at Nelson Beach north of Tathra

Now we had a bus we could drive off into the sunset. It became quite clear very quickly that there was so much more to it than that.

Firstly the house had to be cleared. Stuff was sold off on Ebay, friends bought lounges and dining tables, the op shop acquired a tonne of toys and the garbage tip received a few more trailer loads of ‘junk’. Boxes were packed and all our possessions crammed to either fit in the bus or in a very small storage unit. I enjoyed this process a lot more than I thought, there is something rather cleansing about de-cluttering on a large scale. We moved out of our house at the end of November back into the caravan in an effort to save a little money and avoid a last minute move at Christmas time.

Whilst we did all this the kids carried on with their normal routines unaware the added pressures of end of year concerts, Christmas parties, school reunions, fun days, canteen duty, and birthdays brought. Simon kept on working full time wishing he was working on the bus as the Christmas deadline crept closer. I made list after list of what needed to be done. I do like lists. The mail had to be re-directed and bills paid up to date. The kids enrollment forms for distance education alone seemed to take me days to fill out.

Every spare minute was spent trying to do work on the bus. So many people helped out in different ways, there were volunteer babysitters, builders, welders, people sewing, electricians, and handymen. There were gas fitters and diesel mechanics, bus driving instructors and friends who gave our bus somewhere to live for a few months. We painted, glued, cut, nailed, screwed, cleaned, drilled and sweated. It felt like the sunset we were heading for was not going to be reached. Sime’s dad Steve was over from Armidale almost every Sunday helping in every way possible to help get us on the road.

A whole week of midnight efforts still wasn’t enough to get us going on the day we planned. 3 more days of full on working allowed us to drive away tired and exhausted, but away. BUSTA isn’t quite finished yet but I guess by the time our adventure is over it might be just the way we like it.