Shakedown trip - On our way at last

A lot of little things that had us wondering if we were ever going to get the bus on the road. Eventually we can leave. On Saturday, we make a little stop past a friend for a bit of advice and then finally we are truly on our shakedown trip to Newcastle, just 240km or 15 miles.

We've sprung a leak

Rob, being the cautious guy he is, decided to pull over after about 80km and take a look around, check temperatures of the tyres etc when he noticed some serious oil leaks on the ground. Murphy had one more trick up his sleeve and it was the most serious one yet. He really threw the spanner in the works. We had stopped in a dead zone as far as reception goes and we were quite worried about moving the motorhome at all but we knew that only a few kilometres up the road was the town of Wilton.

 
So with great trepidation, we very slowly drove to the town and parked as soon as it was safe. We tried numerous times to contact the mechanic but being a weekend, we knew it was very possible that it could be Monday before we could get hold of the mechanic. We decided to top up the oil and move around the corner to a quieter side street and we camped there for the weekend. Though we hadn't planned on sleeping there, we are still trialling the motorhome and that was something we were able to do anywhere we happened to be.

Making the most of it

So we decided to relax and enjoy ourselves as much as the situation called for. We found a lovely shady tree nearby and sat and read after a wander around the historic church and graveyard there. Being a hot 39 degrees, we appreciated every bit of shade we could before we headed inside and tried out the air con and the various aspects of the motorhome.

Wilton Church

On Sunday, we decided to unhitch the car & go out and visit the area and call in at a cousin of Rob who lived about 15 minutes away. so he could come and fix the problem which ended up being faulty clamps on the oil hose hidden behind the turbo.

We finally made it to Toronto (Newcastle) mid afternoon yesterday in 36 degree heat (That's 96.8 F)!

Camped in Rob's sister's driveway

Various delays

The whole experience of converting a bus into a motorhome has taken a lot longer than we ever expected. Three major delays being basically caused mainly by delays from manufacturers: the chain, the slideout mechanism and the reconditioning of the engine. Two major health issues didn't help either, my cancer diagnosis and Rob's lung clots which had him in hospital for 5 days just as I am starting to recover from cancer.

Now we can really get started in living the rest of our lives and for us that includes lots of road trips. We plan to spend Summer in Tasmania.