THE GREAT DEPARTURE

Finally at 12.20pm on Wednesday 25 June 2008, we departed Alexandra. The last week or so had been very draining and emotional. The worst part was leaving the kids. Even though they have both left home and have their own lives, we felt like we were deserting them. So when we finally left Alexandra it was somewhat of a relief just to get on the road.

We got as far as Pirron Yallock (just past Colac) on Wednesday without any dramas seeming to occur and camped at a roadside stop.


THURSDAY 26TH JUNE 2008

Before we got started this morning, Steve thought he would do the right thing and check the oil. Unbelievable, he pulled the dip stick out and only half came out. It had come apart where the spring starts. Luckily, we could see the spring and were able to get it out. That was the omen for a day full of things to come. We were going to try and make it to Portland today but things didn't go as planned. As we were approaching Warrnambool, the stereo, UHF and rear vision camera died. Obviously, something was not right. We reached Warrnambool and starting looking for an Auto Elec. After talking to a couple of “not so co-operative” ones, we found one that was really helpful. He fixed the problem for us while we went and sorted out Telstra and our internet connection. The problem was caused because the old codger we bought the bus from had disconnected the charger for the house batteries so they wouldn't charge while we were driving. Therefore, the fridge drained everything. This was Lesson No. 1 of probably many lessons to come.

Needless to say, after it was all sorted we decided to head out of town to find a campsite for the night. Looking in the Camps4 book while Steve was driving, I found what sounded nice, a campsite 400m off the road along side the Fitzroy River near Tyrendarra. The book said Dogs, Phone and Big Rig were allowed so off we went. We finally arrived and drove down the track, in the dark, to find that the ground was too soft off the track so we went to the end of the track where there was, (no surprises), a gate. So we had to unhook the car to turn the bus around. Imagine 40ft of bus in 30ft of space. Steve told me to take the UHF and watched the back to make sure the wheels weren’t going to sink in and proceeded to do a 10 point turn. On about point 4, there was a large crack and crunching sound. NOT GOOD. We both realised at the same time but it was too late. We now had a three inch thick branch being very inimate with our bus roof. Lesson No. 2. As the front and rear sections of the bus roof are fibreglass, this action caused a snug three inch hole. After a few choice words, out came the chainsaw to remove the offending appendage and we got the bus turned around OK and got out of there. Sorry, I was too preoccupied with stressing to think about getting the camera out. We continued on the road towards Portland and spent the night at a viewing point overlooking the town. We did some make shift repairs with some cloth tape.

THE BEGINNING - SPUR OF THE MOMENT

Hi - our names are Steve and Dianne Wandmaker

"This is the story of the beginning of the rest of our lives."

It all started one day in October 2006. We were in the process of planning our future and selling our current property. We were going to purchase a 10 acre block to build on and enable our son Peter, to reside and look after it while we went travelling. Our daughter Jaylene, had already left home and was living in Melbourne. Six months later (July 2007), Peter dropped a bombshell and decided to leave home and head for the big smoke of Melbourne to continue his apprenticeship. At this time, we had just sold our current property and were about to sign for that 10 acre block. But with all the red tape and crap involved in building again, Steve came home one day with an alternative idea. He said "I have a way we can do it, lets forget the block and buy a 40ft bus and disappear". It took a moment for what he said to sink in, but after toying with the idea for about an hour, we went into action starting to research buying a bus already decked out or to buy a shell and deck it out ourselves. The decision was easy - to deck it out ourselves would take too long.

Settlement of our current property finally took place in October 2007. All this time we had been searching the web, magazines and papers, looking for the right bus. We had looked at a few in Victoria, then Steve flew up to Queensland to have a look at some more and came back with some

photos of one that he said "this is it".


We flew up to Esk in Queensland to buy our bus in November 2007. It is now June 2008 and after six months of a few modifications like extra water tanks, A Frame tow hitch and braking system, rear view camera, a modernisation of the decor and christening the bus with the new name "SPUR", we are nearly ready to head off.

"SPUR" - the name was derived from the movie "The Man from Snowy River". Spur was the brother who lived a life in search of gold and his simple dreams - that's us.