Remaking our motorhome, if we did it again

It's been a year since we bought an old school bus and finished converting it into a motorhome. And it's been a whole year that we've been living, and travelling, in this bus RV that we call Blu. 

So, if we were to do the conversion again, but with hindsight, what would we change? It's a good question. 

We wouldn't change much. We love our layout, it's a spacious design, and something that other motorhome and caravan owners always comment on: "wow, this is roomy!"  

We seem to have adequate storage space too. Some people think it's not much but if you've come from a smaller motorhome (like we have with Blac) or the backpacking lifestyle (which I was doing before meeting H) then Blu has lots of storage space. 

We love our choice of windows with a couple of exceptions: 

1) the sliding window beside the drivers seat is too high. 

H possibly should have installed it as low as possible in that space. Lower would have made it easier to check for cyclists and easier to buy tickets at toll booths/ferry ticket booths/ entrance gates. 

2) on the passenger side we don't have an openable window up the front where the passenger normally sits. I wish we'd installed a sliding window there. Sometimes to talk to people we may have pulled up along side of, or sometimes to simply open it while we're travelling and smell the fresh mountain air or take in a sea breeze. 

This photo, showing our camp on the Robinson River a while back, shows the drivers front sliding window is rather high. 

Our electrical system is great and we've been able to live off-grid for an entire year! We have 1300 watts of solar feeding into a big 600amp hour lithium battery. So it's great, but, in hindsight, a 400amp hour battery would have been enough. Also, if I did it again I think I'd buy the battery from an Australian company. This Chinese one has been fine but in the end I think it cost almost the same as buying Aussie and if we'd bought Aussie we'd have been dealing with people who could hopefully answer our questions better. 

Being that we have so much power I do believe that we could have installed an induction stove instead of the gas cooker that we have. This would simplify the set up a little more: we wouldn't have to obtain and store gas, wouldn't have needed gas certification, and induction stoves are quite inexpensive now. 

I'd like to have an insect screen on the door but all my suggestions for this get knocked back by H. 

And next time, I don't think we'd install a single draw in the whole motorhome. We actually only have one, for the cutlery (knives, forks, etc), but it's been a nuisance. 

I think that's all we'd change. All in all Blu has been very much a success. 

Cleaning up the outback & making money.

We recently did a little bit to help cleanup Australia's outback which also put some cash in our pockets and gave us exercise too. So, a triple Win!

I regularly go for a morning walk and as I do I pick up some rubbish and dispose of it responsibly. Fortunately, in most parts of Australia I just get to pick up a couple of items    Unfortunately in Cape York Peninsula I started walking with a bag to carry more, and this continued into Queensland Gulf Savannah region. And then, we got to the Northern Territory (NT). Read on!

We hadn't long been in the Northern Territory (near Borroloola infact) when I realised how much 'gold' was lying around. By this I mean empty cans from a popular beer: XXXX Gold (pronounced: 'Four X gold'). 

The NT has a 'container deposit scheme' where if you return (most) drink containers you get 10c each for them. Glass bottles, plastic bottles, aluminium cans, juice and flavoured milk cartons have this refund scheme. If you look at the side of the containers it should tell you if the refund applies. 

So, I went picking up rubbish, and Hendrik soon joined me (and ended up doing far more than me). We didn't just pick up the refundable items but picked up other rubbish too in a bid to clean up the countryside. Most the discarded litter was refundable, so it seemed only fair to pick up the little bit of other stuff too. 

After the first collection I learnt to start carrying more bags. 

A website https://ntepa.nt.gov.au/container-deposits/collection-depots tells you where the collection points are and a few of the rules. And I want to say that although each depot has final say on what they'll accept we found the depots we went to to be very lenient. But do have your recyclables sorted: plastic bottles separate to glass (for which a milk crate is best) and aluminium separate too. The depots prefer cans uncrushed (it helps their machines) but we picked up squashed cans too (and shook the dirt off and out of them) and had them accepted. It's at the depots discretion. 

We actually returned collections to a depot 4 times and made $180 ($AU180 = $US135 = €120, all approximate). With our combined hours considered I recon we made about $15 per hour. A 'real' job might pay us more, but we still reckon this is good money. 

Sometimes we'd park Blu and I'd go one direction along the road and H in the other. After an agreed time (like 15 minutes) we'd cross the road and turn back. Some areas are particularly good. Start doing this and you too will start to see the 'Gold' everywhere!

Catching Redclaw

We recently made 2 overnight stops beside water where one might fish or throw in a pot to catch some yabbies or redclaw. The first was at Bedford Weir and the other at Bundoora Dam.  

We bought our yabby traps in Emerald at the tourist information centre. These are opera traps and although they aren't allowed in all states of Australia they are allowed in Queensland so long as they meet certain specifications and you have 4 or less per person. 

Yabbies and Redclaw are types of freshwater crayfish. Redclaw shouldn't be in this area but they've been introduced and become quite common. Because of this if you catch a Redclaw, of any size, in these locations (not up North where they are native) then you are forbidden from throwing it back. 

With the opera traps you throw them into the water with your chosen bait held inside, and check them every couple of hours. Nights should be better for this, but the Redclaw at Bundoora Dam didn't seem to mind day or night. Theories on which bait to use vary: dog biscuits, lettuce leaves, cooked sweet potato, any leftover dinner scraps. Redclaw are vegetarians but you can catch them with meat flavours as they try to remove it from the water. Yabbies like meat. 

Redclaw is the preferred catch. They are much larger and the flavour is probably better too. 

We didn't have much luck with our pots but we got plenty of Redclaw. At Bedford Weir we happened to catch a fish. At Bundoora we caught 2 Redclaw but got a nice feed when the man camped beside us gave us maybe a dozen more. He also showed us how to snap their heads off and de-vein them before freezing them. 

 

Look carefully, in the left side you can see a Redclaw. Not a massive one, but okay. 

Fraser Island and Lady Elliot Island too!

Fraser Island is the largest sand island in the world and a treat to visit with long drivable beaches, pristine lakes, crystal clear creeks, rainforest, sandblows and even a shipwreck. Thus, it's one of Australia's top tourist destinations. 

When a European friend wrote to me and said that she planned to visit Queensland I asked what she wanted to see, and she said Fraser Island. First I recommended tours to her... 2-3 days. But then I decided it might be a good chance for H and I to visit Fraser Island too. I had been there a couple of times in my life but H was also wanting to explore it. 

So it was decided we'd go to Fraser Island with her, and invite a Brisbane based friend along too. 

Fraser Island, being of sand, is for high clearance 4wd vehicles only. So taking Blu wasn't an option. Fortunately my brother was able to lend us his '6 wheeler 4wd Mazda BT50'. I didn't want to drive but H did, so it was settled that on the island he'd do all the driving. However, I was a little nervous, H doesn't have a lot of experience driving a Six wheeler or driving in Fraser-like conditions (the beach is easy, getting on and off the beach is usually most troublesome, and inland tracks can be harsh), but we never got stuck!

 

The 6 wheeler 4wd Mazda BT50 we took to Fraser Island. For more info: www.sixwheeler.com.au

We spent 4 nights on the island: 2 on the beach with the first and last nights at Central Station. It rained our first nights there which made it quite miserable and although beach camping is a great Fraser Island experience we all preferred the camp at Central Station. 

We drove North as far as Orchard Beach, visiting Eli creek, Maheno shipwreck, Indian head and the Champagne pools. And while we camped on the beach some Dingoes (Australias wild dog) stopped by to see if anything was on offer (it wasn't). 

 

The view from Indian Head, Fraser Island. 

 

Maheno shipwreck, Fraser Island 

Fraser Island is a wonderful destination to visit but I think you're better off doing a tour and letting someone else clean up. Camping on sand in rain isn't much fun. 

Prior to Fraser Island we did a few other things with our friends. 

Due to cyclone Debbie hitting the North coast of Queensland it was a rather rainy at the start of my friends stay in Queensland. So we first went inland to try and avoid the wet coastal weather. 

We visited the Bunya Mountains, it's not far from where I grew up and is a great place for seeing wild wallabies and parrots. I've taken many international visitors there over the years and the young joeys in their mothers (wallabies) pouches is a typical treat that visitors delight in. 

We also visited the Dalby Cattle Sales (which is the largest same-day prime and store cattle sale in the country), and an elderly friend kindly explained the goings on to us all. 

On the way to the coast we also visited an interesting museum at Cherbourg: The Ration Shed. Cherbourg was one of the places in Australia that Aboriginal people were taken to/ accommodated at when they were removed from their tribal lands and this museum is about the facility there. It's interesting, it's a sad part of Australia's history and worth a visit, but I think some of it needs to be put into comparible context of of times that it happened in. 

In Hervey Bay we went out for dinner and I had the best meal I'd had in a long time. Thank you to The Vinyard, that Chowder was superb and H's Moreton Bay bugs looked great too. Two days latter, before crossing to Fraser Island, we bought a feed of (cooked) prawns and bugs and ate them in the park. People rate eating like this expensive but it's actually less expensive than getting take-away,  delicious and healthier, and the girlfriends enjoyed it. 

We also went to Lady Elliot Island on a day trip. To get to Lady Elliot Island they fly you out and back and so it's not the cheapest Great Barrier Reef island experience. But, for a long time I had thought that if you were willing to spend the money it might be the best GBR experience available. So, we did it!

We were not disappointed, in fact we loved it! On the flight out we saw Fraser Island from the air, and, of course, Lady Elliot Island too. We did the glass bottom boat trip and ate the wonderful lunch, but best of all was the snorkelling. I just kick along the surface in wonderment of all the things I can see. H is an amazing free diver (well I think so) and so he keeps going down for a closer look. Not that closer looks we're needed - the visibility was amazing. 

We saw many turtles (loggerhead and green sea), sting rays, and so many fish of different types and colours and corals too. H saw an octopus too. 

 

Green Sea turtle, Lady Elliot Island. (Note H snapped this photo with an iPhone 5S with a cheap underwater case from eBay. Pretty good, heh?)

Lady Elliot is a splurge, but we want to go back one day. Maybe even to stay overnight, and next time in Manta Ray season. 

We hope that the girls loved this trip. We visited islands, mountains, some rural culture and aboriginal history. 

Hiking with snakes, is our RV large?

At the end of February and into March I'd decided that we should do more hiking. Queensland national parks mostly have camping (currently just $6.15 per person per night, regardless of facility or popularity) and well defined hiking tracks.

In Main Range National Park's Goomburra section there was only one other camper, a lone man in a bus biggest than ours. He told H that he stays 3 weeks in a location and then heads to town for supplies before moving to the next NP camping. $6.15 x 7 nights = $43.05, no bills for power or water, he drives occasionally, we all have to eat .... that's cheap living!

Hiking here we saw 2 snakes and many wallaby. The first of the two snakes quickly slithered off, as they usually do, and I didn't see enough to say what it was. The second though, a 2 metre carpet python, was lying along the path and wasn't interested in moving. Carpet pythons aren't considered dangerous, but still I wouldn't want to get struck by one. I tossed my sunglasses at it and it aggressively went at them. Seeing that it wouldn't move we used a long stick to retrieve my glasses and we went through the stinging nettles to go around the snake.

The snake that wouldn't move off the path.

Next we stopped at Cunninghams Gap (another section of Main Range NP). On the hike we discovered that leeches like H more than me. I felt one on my leg before any attached themselves, but at that time H discovered he already had many attached. 

Next we went to Spicer's Gap. Apparently the road up isn't suited to large motorhome, but what's the definition of a large motorhome? Is ours large? There's bigger ones. We went without trouble, and we stopped at the picnic area and hiked from there. Honestly, the road beyond the picnic area isn't suitable for large RV's.

The view from Governors Chair, Spicers Gap, Main Range National Park.

The Governors chair is well worth the hike up.  The camping ground is really just for tents. But as it was late and had just started raining, actually 'bucketing' rain, we got online and booked a campsite. It wasn't busy up there and  we think it was safer that we stayed put. 

Next we stayed in Lamington National Park, in the Binna Burra private campground. More hiking, and we joined the lodge on a evening wildlife spotlighting hike,  it was too windy to see much (other than lots of wallaby... guide not needed!) but the guide did coax a spider from a hole which impressed me. The views in parts of Lamington National Park are quite impressive. 

Next we would have liked to visit Springbrook NP, but apparently you should book its camping in advance. It's a great park but I think it's popularity can be attributed to its proximity to the Gold Coast. 

Then, after an overnight visiting friends on the Gold Coast, we headed down the coast. Because, as I said to H, you should visit the towns of the Northen New South Wales coast. Why? I think for the alternative vibe. 

So we did, and we drove up to Nimbin too. And, despite Nimbins reputation for marijuana, nobody offered us any! (It's not that we're  buying..., I just don't to look so straight!)

A view from the way up to Cape Byron Bay Lighthouse. We cycled up!

Turtles hatching and a town called 1770

I've been slack when it comes to writing, especially when it comes to writing about our travels. So here's what we did in February. 

This year it has been our intention to start traveling around Australia, but so far we've had commitments in Southeast Queensland to keep returning to, and so we've gone on excursions of less than a month, each time returning for whatever commitment we needed to go back for. 

Our February trip saw us travel North to 1770 (yes that's a town) with our main goal to see the baby turtles hatch from their nests and head out to sea. This seasonal event happens for a few months every year and can be easily witnessed (bookings essential) at Bargara. It was a marvellous experience, the region is best known for loggerhead hatchlings, but we witnessed the hatching of Flatbacked turtles which are endemic to Australia. 

 

A little flatback turtle

In this trip we also made a day trip to see the Great Barrier Reef at Lady Musgrave island, taking a boat from Bundaberg. That was a good trip, but although the Reef snorkelling was wonderful I most enjoyed the walking tour in the island where we learned about trees that kill birds for food. I'm not going to explain this, you should do the tour. 

At 1770 we did a LARC tour. That's a pink amphibious vehicle, traveling on land and water. We enjoyed it so much that when we're next in 1770 we hope to do their full day tour. 

 

We had fun on the LARC tour

 

There's also a nice Paperbark forest walk, at Agnes Waters (near 1770). 

That pretty much summarises our February trip. 

Victoria's Grand Ridge Road & Walhalla by RV

Australia has wonderful Visitor Information Centres. You can stop in and pick up lots of brochures, maps and booklets or visit their websites and download e-versions of the information and it's all absolutely free (although, they always have things for sale too). You can also ask all manner of questions. 

Amongst the information I'd collected at various centres there was mention of a scenic drive called the Grand Ridge Road. It said it where it started and ended and that it was partly dirt road, but that was it. And, even with questioning at a visitors centre and various web searches I couldn't get much information about it. But, I found the road on our OSMAnd maps and away we went. 

The road is, for the most part, forestry road used by the logging trucks. At various points along the way there are signs saying UHF28. So, we switched our UHF to channel 28. But, was that enough? No. 

Fortunately for us, when we radioed a log truck driver to ask if he wished to overtake us (he did, of course, and told us where was suitable), he also volunteered the information that we should radio each numbered point on the road as we passed it so other trucks would know we were there. Good to know!

The state of Victoria has dished up some horrible cold wet weather for us this week. It shouldn't be like this in late November. Doing the Grand Ridge Road in the wet meant that our views weren't so good, but the forest did look and smell glorious. 

 

The worst road wasn't actually the Grand Ridge Road, as it was wide enough for logging trucks, but a road going down past Tarra Bulga national park. It was signposted as not for articulated vehicles yet, going down we met a 4wd with caravan coming up! It was a tight fit. 

A stranger we'd met recommended we drive up to Walhalla and what a lovely place it is. Walhalla was once a booming town of gold mine glory, then almost deserted, and now it's a restored tourist village, with lovely free and paid campsites. We did the Long Tunnel tour which was really interesting and wandered the streets looking at the restored old buildings, each with information about its history. 

 

We are hoping that this next week gives us some better weather. The Belgian, clearly thinking his days of bad weather were behind him, has been sulking about the rain. I (the Aussie) grew up with too much drought and I find something nice about rain, it actually lifts my spirits most the time. 

A really comfy RV for travel and living

We've built this motorhome for comfort and living. The roads in Australia are generally quite spacious and free camps are readily available so having a bigger RV set up to be self sufficient seems like a good way to go.

It can be said that in Australia having a lifestyle that involves an RV (Caravan, Camper trailer, motorhome) is very common. Mostly recreational vehicle owners do seem to have caravans (usually behind a comfortable newish 4 wheel drive), and although they might do a bit in their earlier years, long term travel in an RV is mostly done by retirees, who we affectionately call "grey nomads" (amongst many other names). It's said* that there are over half a million registered RV's in Australia, not insignificant in a country with a population of about 24 million.

Australia is the 6th largest country in the world (behind Russia, Canada, USA, China, Brazil) and so there is plenty of reasons to take your time seeing the great southern land.

To make this motorhome as comfortable as possible, H first selected a bus that had 2 metres of headroom and a fibreglass outer to work with. He then stripped it down and replaced the non opening bus windows with walls and RV windows. We've put as many solar panels as we could fit onto the roof: that's 13 of 100 amp flexible panels. We've fully insulated it (really insulated it, I'm still surprised how cool it is inside while parked in the sun), put rotating chairs in and a bench seat, built and installed an eutectic fridge/freezer, installed a big 600amp lithium battery to suit those solar panels, and installed a washing machine. Even our mattress is a comfy 203cm tall by 145cm wide!

This mobile home is built to live in. It's our home and so we aren't paying expenses on another home base at the same time. Considered this way, it's worth putting the extra touches into making it a nice place to live in.


*http://www.unsealed4x4.com.au/just-big-rv-industry-australia/ 

Our motorhome interior: Kitchen, dining, and the large chest in the left corner is the fridge. Note, we also have a door to the bedroom-bathroom.

Shower, toilet and laundry in our RV/ Motorhome.

The front of the Motorhome bus: rotating chairs.

Our old Mercedes school bus is now converted to a motorhome!

I did say that we expected to be finished in July. But we weren't.

In early October we finished building the motorhome which we have decided to call 'Blu'. The name fits as the last RV (which travelled North and South America and quite a bit of Europe) I called 'Blac', and this one, as well as being half blue, is our Australian motorhome: Australian things are often described as 'true blue'.

The bus we chose for this conversion was previously a school bus. H very much chose the vehicle and to convert it (I've always said I'm happy if the wheels are going around, it doesn't much matter to me what wheels they are). The bus is a Mercedes Vario with the original bus build done by Denning in Brisbane. H chose it because the shell is fibreglass, it's Mercedes, it's older and diesel, and most of all, it has 2 metres of head height inside.

See my photo's for some before and after pictures. I know: I need to put up a photo of the finished interior, but it seems I don't yet have one. I'll put it up next post.

This is the Mercedes Vario Denning bus that we purchased to convert to a motorhome / RV.

Our home! It looks quite different to what we started with.

Here's the school bus interior before converting it to an RV

We are already on the road. First we didn't go far away, we invited some friends to a nearby camping spot so that they could see our new home and we could have a 'test run'. The test run produced our first problem and we had to replace a belt on the air-conditioner, but aside from that all was good, and so now we're travelling again (and the air-con is working).

I'll post again soon with some more pictures. Please post any questions you might have.