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.

Camping, Parking, Pamping

Some time ago I created a word: pamping. It's because as Overlanders we usually don't camp places. Instead we park and stay inside the vehicle. I call it pamping. We pamp. 

But, really, what's the difference between camping and parking? Is there a difference officially? Yes there is. 

A car park sign in Italy explained the difference (you could park there overnight, but not camp). 

To be parking (versus camping):

Nothing must extend from your vehicle: (no awnings extended, no windows popped out.)

Nothing other than your vehicle wheels must touch the ground. (No stabiliser legs, no steps on the ground) 

You must not discard wastewater onto the parking area (standard rule at many camping areas too) 

So, we typically park. Unless there is a sign specifically saying 'no motorhomes' parking (or pamping) doesn't seem to be a problem. 

Just avoid places with lots of broken glass. 

Overlanding Poland: Malbork Castle

This is said to be (and I'm not arguing) 'the biggest medieval castle in Europe', and it's very impressive. 

It has everything a castle should have: a moat, towers, halls big enough to dance in, and gardens pretty enough and secluded enough for the courting of princesses! 

It was once known as Marienburg, headquarters of the Teutonic Knights. 

We don't visit many castles but we really enjoyed Malbork castle. An added bonus for us was that although we arrived in Malbork late in the day (too late to visit the castle and do it justice) there was a campsite across the river (with a footbridge to the castle) and so we could camp with a castle view for about €15. (Although we prefer wild camping, in cities we'd prefer Blac was securely parked while we were sightseeing and so this campsite was good for us). 

Malbork castle from the footbridge. 

Marienburg is spectacular inside and out!

Overland cooking: Pizza, bread and cakes in a frying pan

I actually think that I cook better on the road with limited supplies than I do at home. As the Belgian and I travel down the road I get creative in my head: thinking well, I've got this, and this, and that too, and yeah, if I do this and then that, yeah I can use that too.... yeah that should work. And as such I often dream up and then create some fairly impressive meals.

Sometimes I buy ingredients that I'm not familiar with or that turn out to be not what I thought I was buying. But I have a taste and then figure out my next experiment. If possible I'll ask a local what to do, but sometimes it's not possible to ask and sometimes we just don't have the right equipment to do what the locals do.... so I have to figure out a different plan.

When I first joined H in Blac he repaired the expensive diesel cooktop so that it could be used for cooking. It was about 2 months later that he stood on the glass top plate and cracked it. I was so pleased! That cooker was slow and I preferred to use the Coleman stove.

Up until then, we'd only used the Coleman stove outside, but since then we have set things up so that we can use it inside (with windows open for ventilation) if the weather is bad outside. The coleman stove is an old one. H reckons the old ones are better for repairing, so much so that last year we bought one on ebay in Australia for when we are there. They are Coleman 2-burner dual fuel stoves, and in ours we burn the highest octane unleaded petroleum that is available at the pumps. We stress the high octane bit because we've met people complaining that their stove doesn't work so well and/or turns pots black; those people are always burning low octane unleaded and really you use so little that you should buy the better fuel.

As an option to the Coleman stove, we've also met overlanders with a single burner 'no brand' unit that works on similar 'technology' to the Coleman. They are available from the markets in Bogota (Colombia).

Using a stove for an oven

I'd love to have an oven, as I like to bake, but I do make do without one. So one day, craving a pizza and having an internet connection I googled a question about making pizza in a frying pan. I don't know where I saw that first post.... but my method has changed from what I read there, so perhaps it doesn't matter. My frying pan pizzas have been a great success: both H and my 8 year old niece say they are the best pizzas! see below for how to how to do it yourself (even in your home kitchen it will work).

To 'bake' things on a stovetop in a frying pan I simply create an oven effect by putting an overturned wok pan over the top. The wok's circumference is bigger than the frying pan and it traps heat. Of course, the difficulty is to not burn the bottom of the cake/pizza/bread, but to get it cooked through and, for the pizza, to get the cheese melted on top too. With cakes I usually turn them over when they are almost cooked (not runny anymore). Bread (really it's damper, I don't use yeast) is easy to turn. And for pizza, I have found the trick is to have a medium temperature: too hot and the base will burn, too cold and the pizza won't come nicely away from the pan for serving (then I end up with odd shaped tasty bits).

Chocolate cake 'baked' stovetop in a frying pan

When H turned 40 we had no one to celebrate with, but I wanted it to be a little bit special for him: So, I made him a double layered* chocolate cake, stuck together with cream and jam made local to where we were. It was special, and he loved it. My first few cakes were really good, but since then I've struggled to get the temperature right in my makeshift oven. Getting the temperature right will always be difficult as many factors will affect this on a coleman stove being used outside with a changing fuel supply. (*a double layered cake allows you to cut a surface off if burnt, and hide the cut surface. In this case I didn't need to, but that was my plan had it happened.) Here's a picture of the cake:

Overland cooking: Double Layer Chocolate Cake

Frying pan pizza made on camping stove while overlanding.

How to make a stovetop pizza while camping

To make a frying pan pizza, here are my very rough instructions (I don't really bother with strict measurements). Use a non-stick frying pan (see mine in the photo for a size indication). Add about a teaspoon of olive oil (as my pan is a bit scratched I spread this around the bottom before I start). Add about 1.5 cups of Self Raising Flour (or Plain flour with an appropriate amount of baking powder), and a pinch of salt. Stir in enough water to make a spreadable paste which you want to cover the bottom of the pan, roughly 1cm deep. 

That's your base, done (you don't cook it yet). 

Now cover it completely to the edges with a tomato sauce or paste or pesto sauce (spread it out with a spatula), then top with whatever-you-like-on-pizza, then grated cheese (or, if you must, thin slices of cheese.... if you're camping or overlanding, you don't have everything).

Now, turn on your stove to a medium flame (it's guesswork here), put your frying pan on the heat with a oversized lid or upturned wok over it. It should take about 10 minutes to cook through. You can check if the base is cooked by inserting a flat bladed knife or skewer, if it's cooked enough it should come out clean.

As mentioned above if the flame is too hot you'll burn the base of the pizza, if it's too cold the pizza won't come nicely from the pan. The pizza, when perfect, should slide out onto a plate.

I find that doing a second pizza while the pan is still warm doesn't ever work.... which is a shame because H always wants a 2nd pizza.

Inside of Blac, part 2

The remainder of the photos of the inside of our motorhome, Blac.

5. Looking towards the front of the vehicle.  The fridge is on the left,  we covered it with a poster print collage of our wedding day and a drawing from my niece at the bottom. Clothes cupboard is beyond the fridge.

6. The toilet (I won't use American terminology as you clearly can't take a bath in there). It's a flushing Thetford toilet.  Waste goes into a sealed cassette,  it can be pulled out from a little door on the outside wall, and Hendrik empties it daily. On the right is our folding outdoor table.

7. The shower.  The toilet and shower are on opposite sides of the back door.

Blac can carry 150 litres of water.  We usually fill up the water at gas stations, but we can fill from rivers or lakes if need be.  The water is for everything: kitchen, drinking (run through the filter), toilet flush, and shower. 150 litres typically lasts us (2people) 3 days.  We rarely use public toilets.

How the Belgian and the Aussie met

I had always wanted to travel long term,  it was my dream from a young age. But, unfortunately, I'd had trouble finding anybody else to share the same dream. 

So, I travelled alone. Interestingly, it seems people thought I wanted to travel alone, but that wasn't the case. I just wanted to travel more than I wanted companionship. 

Being that I wanted to travel long term, that I was alone, and that I didn't have endless money to spend, I travelled as a backpacker. By 'backpacker' I mean that I travelled by local transport and stayed in cheap accommodation. I also carried my luggage in a backpack. 

Backpacking frustrated me, but it seemed like the only option I had. What I didn't like about backpacking was that it was very difficult to get out into the countryside and see the lifestyles there. 

I don't have much interest in visiting cities: more churches, plazas, parks, museums. Instead, when I took a bus or train from point A to B, I wished I could visit the little places in between, and buy food items from the road side stalls. 

So, in 2013, after a few months in India, I decided that if I hiked one of the Camino's in Spain, I could at least be in the countryside. So, I went to Spain. 

People who've heard of the Camino's de Compuestela often think only of the famous Camino Frances which starts in France a travels across Northern Spain. But, there are lots of different camino routes. 

I chose to hike the Via de la Plata, which starts in Seville in Southern Spain. It's reasonably popular, and has lots of roman ruins along the way. 

Before going I asked if it was safe to do alone and everyone said 'yes', 'most definitely'. 

Unfortunately, on my first day, I was robbed by 2 men wearing balaclavas and wielding big kitchen knives on a quiet stretch of road. They stole €60 and, worst of all, my confidence. 

I kept hiking, but with a team of older men who adopted me (there was a group of 3 men together and 2 other solo hikers). The pace wasn't good for me though, and I hurt my knees after another week of hiking. Eventually, I quit the hike. 

I ended up returning to Australia and wondering what to do with my life. I still wanted to be travelling, but I realised that I really needed to try to find a travel companion. 

I started searching a couple of online travel forums. On the Travel Companions section of the Lonely Planet Thorn Tree I found a guy who had responded to a few other people's posts. His name was Hendrik, from Belgium, and from his forum username, which included the number 74, I guessed his age to be just a year older than I. He was overlanding in South America, and I loved this idea: by overlanding you can visit the countryside!

I couldn't find his original post, but he'd left his email address on his response to someone else so I emailed him directly. As I was only interested in a travel companion, I only asked about the bare minimum that was important to me: his itinerary, and that he wasn't a smoker (I realised that if this worked out we'd be together a lot, and didn't want my only companion to be a smoker). 

In 2009-2010 I spent almost an entire year in South America. As a backpacker, it was a destination I was confident in, and I was fluent in Spanish. I decided to fly to South America and meet him. If he turned out to be someone I couldn't get along with, I reasoned, then I could go back to being a backpacker. 

Most people who knew me were amazed, supportive and told me to be careful. My dentist's assistant told me 'oh! He's going to be the one! I can tell!'  I thought she was crazy, I was, after all, just going to meet a travel companion. 

So, that's it really. I flew to meet him in Mendoza, Argentina. Life was instantly everything I'd ever wanted, I was traveling perpetually, and we were stopping wherever we wanted: which was mostly in the countryside. 

That was last September. When H proposed marriage in February I was shocked! But I said yes (after 2 weeks of thinking), and we got married last month. It seems that the Dentist's assistant was right!

A little terminology

Before I begin blogging about this fantastic life that Hendrik and I live, I better explain a few words that I commonly use, and that people often question me about. 

Overlanding

According to Wikipedia, overlanding is an Australian term, but, honestly I've heard the term used internationally more than in Australia. In Australia, I think it's fair to say, the terms 'Grey Nomad' and 'Doing the Wallaby' are more popular, but they don't apply internationally or to this blonde. 

Overlanding is, basically, travelling large distances over land in a self reliant way. It may be by recreational vehicle that you sleep in, or a motorbike (with tent), or even, by bicycle (again, with tent). 

This brings me to the terms for the

recreational vehicles:

H (that's my abbreviation for Hendrik) and I (Ali) travel in a small Mercedes G wagon with a 'house' built onto the back of it. The word for this type of vehicle varies a lot. We hear: Mobile-Home; motorhome; camper; campervan; or Recreational Vehicle (which gets abbreviated to RV). 

I tend to say camper, just because it's shorter than most other options (to me RV sounds like a bigger vehicle and American). 

Finally, Perpetual Traveller

There are at least 2 things that Hendrik and I are: Overlanders, and Perpetual Travellers. Some overlanders are doing it for a limited period of time, whereas Hendrik and I are doing this indefinitely, or perpetually. We have no intention of doing anything else in the foreseeable future, so this makes us perpetual travellers. 

Perpetual Travellers don't have to be overlanders. They could be backpackers or yachties or travelling by any other means available. Perpetual Travellers travel indefinitely for travels sake, visiting new places and seeing new things. 

I think that sums up the confusing words I use, but please let me know if something else pops up in my blogs that needs explaining.