The Last Month ...

My blogging regularity is very poor!  I tell myself I'll attempt a weekly blog and then I don't even get a monthly blog in ... so I won't promise anything - you will just have to take them as they come.

Our house is SOLD, settled, cleaned and vacated.  A VERY big step in the beginning of our journey.   Although, when does a journey really begin?  I believe life is one total journey and there aren't any real beginnings - just lots of turns, tracks and paths.  Our family, our businesses, de-cluttering our home, selling is all integrated in being a part of the next phase in our lives.  As is where we are living now ... my parents in Hornsby Heights.

We have been in Hornsby for a month, in a medium sized, three bedroom home.  Eight people co-habitating together and surprisingly or not - quite peacefully!  I have to say I think generational living is how it was meant to be.  Raising a family in the traditional way with hubby at work all day and mum at home with the children can be quite draining, stressful and tiring, but with the help of the grandparents full time it has been so much easier as we share jobs and responsibilities.  It is not only more helpful for me (the mother) but also a great experience for the children, to bond further with their grandparents and enjoy each others company.

Vivid Sydney

What have we been doing this last month?  I've been acquainting myself with Hornsby Westfield (quite a maze of a shopping centre), our eldest with Hornsby Library and the younger three with the park at the top of our street.  We took a trip to Sydney for Vivid Sydney and battled the crowds, we're finishing off reading the Narnia series books so we can take a visit to the Power House Museum for the Narnia Exhibition - trying to make the most of being in Sydney.  

We've also caught up with a few friends up the coast and I should mention here I also managed to totally cook our engine on one of those journeys.  Therefore Stephen as spent his time building our trailer AND fitting a reconditioned engine to the patrol this time adding an "engine watch dog"(keeps an accurate watch on the engine temperature and has an alarm when too hot).  And yes, as everyone has mentioned - better now than later - having it happen while we are out in the sticks somewhere.  I think Stephen would have preferred it didn't happen at all - but we carry on, build on and hopefully SOON we start our new path on our journey and head north to Cape York before the wet season begins.

   

You don't need it all ....

Trailer returning home ...

Well it's been a while ... maybe they've already gone bush some of you maybe thinking.  No - been busy busy busy!

The trailer had the sheet metal work done just before Christmas and is in our back yard with all the intricate work happening to it.  Water tanks fitted, floor mounted, storage boxes over the wheel arches fitted, wiring run through, hoses and fittings being installed.  With Christmas in the middle it probably slowed down a few things - but the ball is definitely rolling at full speed again!

The house will be going on the market in the next week or so.  The MAJOR clearing out has continued - utilising our local freecycle, council clean ups, neighbours bins (hush they don't know), gumtree and passing things onto friends.  I think some of my daughters friends may not be allowed to visit anymore as their children leave with many "new" things to stock up their bedrooms with!

It's been a tiring but rewarding experience.  Finding lost items and most of all actually knowing what is in the house and exactly where it is is such a time saver!!!  The garage is still a work in progress and it didn't help that the real estate agent did suggest that the state of the garage didn't really matter at this point - oh well it will be empty one day!

Something that most of us know but never really try out fully - you really don't need all the "stuff".  I have not missed for anything.  Just two days ago I gave away my rolling pin and boar, which I seldom use.  The next day I decide to make cinnamon scrolls and needed to roll out the dough.  Hmmm no rolling pin - on the bench was a kilo of honey that had just been dropped in by a friend - perfect rolling pin!  You can always make do and really it's not that you "just make do" you actually do completely fine ... it isn't all necessary at all.  As I've started working with Destiny Rescue I notice more and more how precious life, family, health and safety are and not my house or address and what I fill it!  It doesn't really add any lasting value to my life at all.

You can check out the wonderful work of Destiny Rescue on their website here:
http://www.destinyrescue.org/aus/
My roll with them is a jewellery consultant - selling jewellery that is hand made by the girls they rescue to raise money for the running of the safe homes and pay (double the award) to the girls.

small selection of Destiny Rescue jewellery

Chassis is Coming Together

Welding has begun, the chassis is coming together!  Every little step taking time and patience.  These first steps have helped us understand the real time and effort this build is going to take - but it is exciting, even though there is so much to do!

The design has taken countless hours in coming together.  Every detail being VERY important to the millimetre.  Some of the finer details are still being sorted - which may not be wise since we have began building, but it's the way it is now.

We chose a Gaffa independent coil suspension from WA.  Since we took delivery of the suspension we have read a few blogs about similar suspension builds failing.  Thankfully we chose the Australian design and not the Chinese copy.  Taking a closer look at these copies, they don't have the same welds and extra reinforcement that the Gaffa brand do.  So we feel pretty confident ours will hold up.

Along with our suspension we ordered a Unitank water tank, also from WA - who kindly dropped off the tank to Martins Trailer Parts and it was all delivered on the same crate.  For those health conscience organic freaks such as myself (Christine) we did check to see if the tanks had BPA in the plastic - they assured us they were BPA free - which was quite important to me as it will be a large proportion of our entire water source for quite a while.

It didn't take much time at all for Stephen to decide his welding expertise should be kept to the tacking and we hired an experienced welder to weld the structure of our new home together.  Peter has been fantastic and has joined Stephen working close to midnight some evenings and on weekends.

A little frustrated this week as we've had a few hitches with the hitch plate and will organise take 3 early next week.  Just a few millimetres out with cutting the holes just doesn't work!  So, all being well next weekend the hitch will be attached, the hubs and brakes put together, wheels put on and the chassis should be rolling!! YAY!

Here a few photos of the progress so far ....

The very first weld/tack made by Stephen with Bill our friend and engineer looking on!

The frame begins ... is that a boat you're building?

Measure twice ... cut once.

Peter our welder working hard ... Thanks Peter!!

Suspension now on the chassis.
Our eight year old daughter was looking at it strangely for a while and then with relief in her voice said "oh it's upside down"  She was picturing that strange device on the inside floor of the trailer.

Grinding for a smooth finish

Following the design

Testing the Camp Shower

The camp shower has been tested!  No one wanted to brave the back yard, so it was set up in the bathroom for a few days ... hot water system, jerry can, gas bottle, pump, battery and battery charger!!

We went around in circles for a while trying to choose a hot water system.  One major factor was to choose how much money we wanted to invest into it and whether we thought some of the conveniences were worth the big bucks!

We decided upon an instant, portable hot water system.  That way we can use it with our trailer for washing up and also move it to the shower tent for a nice hot shower.  It heats up 30 degrees C above ambient.

Our trials in the bathroom have been a success.  It didn't get packed away until every person enjoyed the pleasure of the system.  Water sat in a jerry can, was pumped into the unit, which is attached to a gas bottle and instantly hot water comes out of the nozzle ... amazing - and you don't even have to ignite the gas and it even turns itself off when you release the nozzle!!

The brand as you can see in the photo we chose was Red Rock.  There were other similar, cheaper brands from the USA, but the three year warranty and dealing with people from our own country won us over.  You can find them on Ebay.  They have a set price or "make an offer".  I recommend making an offer - they do accept.

Becoming a Reality ....

Friday saw the big delivery arrive ... the suspension plus related parts for the build of our new home!  The awaited truck arrives out the front, I quickly text Stephen with the news, open the door and the delivery man says "where's your fork lift?".  I give a "you've got to be joking" look, he gives the same look back as we stare at the pallet on his truck holding 120kg of metal.

We discuss having to pick up our delivery from Toronto, if we have any neighbours who are strong and able, what the builders would say up the street if we went and asked for their assistance.  The driver was kind and thankfully strong and we undid the straps (which I will admit that I first fetched him a kitchen knife to cut them before realising they were metal straps which required pliers - big female moment!!)  Again, the driver was kind enough to make me feel better by saying his Misses would have done the same.

So after some unloading and sliding a 100kg frame off his truck onto the grass we now have the beginnings of the new camper trailer to compliment the only part we already had - the hitch.  So now the suspension, brakes, hubs, bearings, hitch, water tank are in our drive.  Metal that has been purchased has now been bent and we are almost ready to begin assembly.

I will do a blog at a later date when I can sit Stephen down and actually write about specifications etc for those that are interested in the finer details ...

Talking of finer details ... I went to the 30% off everything sale at Spotlight last week and picked up a beautiful doona cover for our camp doona and some for the kids doonas which we will use on our trip too ... I'll put up photos later.

The Garage Sale ... Clearing Out

The other weekend we had our second garage sale ever.  I think with our trip in mind and the fact we plan to empty our house in about 6 months time this garage sale was far more successful than our first.  I spent about three weeks prior emptying book shelves, display cabinet, office drawers, kitchen cupboards - therefore we had plenty to sell!  The kids got involved including our eldest with her good friend who made an entire table of their toys and donated items with 100% of their profits going to Samaritan's Purse.  They raised over $100 and will donate for a water filter and make a few boxes for the Christmas gift donations.

Our place is looking a little emptier which gives me delight, some books have already gone to Mum and Dad's to be stored and the battle is on to not refill the space!  Focus is required to keep going with the clear out, not accumulate stuff and prioritise on what we actually need to keep.

It is not that surprising that so much of the things in our homes are not needed, many don't even hold sentimental value - it just somehow gets in, takes space and maybe one day we'll use it.  Sometimes we don't even realise it is there, until we start going through the drawers and cupboards.  One example to the horror of  my neighbour helping me sort one day was my college bag - stored under my bed still full of what ever it was I took to college on my last day!!  That has sat there untouched for 10 years!!!

The garage is another story - those that know us well know what I'm talking about.  Let's just say it is full of "useful" items to the point of "enter at your own risk" and even after our clear out ... well - it is still a danger zone.  Maybe if we have another garage sale before we go there will be some very interesting tools, car parts and gadgets.

Step Two for the "Big Trip"

It is the eve of step two towards our "big trip".  Our "big trip" is the long talked over, mulled over, yearned for trip around Australia.  We plan to build a trailer, sell up and travel and work around Australia for 12 months, most likely beginning early to mid next year.

Our first major step towards this becoming a reality was to finish hiring camper trailers and sell them all.  A couple of weeks ago some changes occurred at the mechanical workshop where Stephen works at in Hornsby prompting the decision to finish hiring our camper trailers now.  This will enable Stephen to go full time at the workshop with his mechanics and gives him nights and weekends building our new trailer rather than cleaning and maintaining our hire fleet.  We have sold one trailer with four more to go - but they aren't for sale immediately.  One is still out on hire and the others will be getting a little bit of work done to them.

Tomorrow we purchase a few thousand dollars worth of material which is our second big step ... the purchase of the suspension and water tanks for our trailer.  Stephen and an engineer friend, who we are very grateful for have spent almost six months drawing designs, bouncing them back and forth almost every night.  This design came about almost 12 months ago while we were away on our outback trip.  Our friend Stuart and Stephen began thinking about all the good parts on their trailers and then all the things they would like to change - the drawings began!!  Who said only girls get together to draw.

It is very exciting for us to watch our plans unfold and see our dreams become reality.  There are many many more steps to be taken and we'll try to blog a few along the way to keep you all updated.