My Story. Living the bus life.

It still kind of feels surreal. I am living the bus life! In fact it’s been 36 days of bus life to be precise.

I’ll be honest.  I was a little worried that after all of the hype and build up of me doing bus life, that maybe I wouldn’t like it. Maybe I’d hit the road and within the first few days, I’d hate it and want to go home.

In fact I know some friends and family were wondering… wondering if I would actually like the whole bus life thing as well. Truth is, I’m quite a home body. I’m quite the introvert (even if I do appear outgoing and extraverted at times), and very content in my own little bubble.

But at the end of the day, I could feel such a big pull to give the gypsy life a try. I knew that if I didn’t give it a try, I would forever look back and think, ‘I wonder what my life would have been like, if I did follow my heart and give the gypsy life a try?’

The fear of regret was far greater than the discomfort of travelling solo around the country side.

I still vividly remember the day I was packing up my bus, getting ready to hit the road. I had the bus parked up out the front of my house and I did many trips, walking between my house and the bus, putting my belongings in there.

I was feeling a little rushed because I knew I had a big day of driving ahead of me, 549kms to Wilmington, SA. 

I was conscious that I didn’t want to put too much in the bus, as I didn’t want it to weigh over 4.5 tonne (it needs to weigh under that in order to drive it on a car licence). 

I also had mum and dad doing part of the trip with me, so dad could give me a little driving lesson with driving through big, windy hills.  They were ready to hit the road, and little Miss Cocobella wouldn’t leave the bus. She knew something was up and didn’t want to be left behind!

Well I eventually got the bus packed up and hit the road that morning, and you know what… I didn’t actually feel that excited. If anything, I’d say I felt a bit numb. It was like I was in disbelief that I was finally doing it and nervous about how it was going to unfold.

Isn’t it funny how you can dream of something for so long and then it happens and you think, ‘oh shit. It’s getting real now.’

Any how, my first destination was a little town in SA called Wilmington, which was a 549km drive from the farm. My sister and brother in law live there with their two little kids. I’d planned on staying at the caravan park there for a few days, before heading off and exploring other areas in the Flinders Ranges.

As soon as I pulled up at my sisters house, she suggested I park up on the vacant block that they own next door to their house. It made sense. I was close to them. I could spend time with my little nephew and niece and help out when needed.

It was just awesome to spend time with them all and they were so kind and generous. They took me on little adventures around the Flinders and fed me numerous meals! I even got to be there for my nephews second birthday; which reminds me, it was so cute to walk into their house each day and be greeted by my little nephew saying, ‘hello Stephy!’ and ‘Stephy bus!’ with such excitement.

Well a few days soon turned into 4 weeks! That time absolutely flew by! Even my sister and brother in law questioned if it was really 4 weeks that I’d been there?! It didn’t feel like that long.

During my time there I very quickly realised that I LOVE my bus. It feels like home. It has everything I need and it’s perfect for work as well. I have a little office set up in there. I do my client coaching calls and admin from the bus and it’s just awesome. 

I’m very pleased that I got the reverse cycle aircon installed, because it does get pretty hot in there on the hot days; and also gets quite cold with cool evenings.  

One thing I do need to sort out internet. I’ve been hot spotting my phone for internet and chomping through my data very quickly, so I’ll need to explore my options with that.

Any how, after 4 weeks at Wilmington, I drove to my next location… get ready for it… it was a big drive (ok, I’m being sarcastic)… a whole 22km to Melrose! Haha!

I’d visited Melrose a few times with my sister, plus I’d bought a bike from a local shop there a couple of weeks prior.  

Through purchasing that bike, it actually lead to me booking in a VIP Business Coaching Day there with a new client, which was awesome! I really loved having that opportunity to work with a local business owner there. I had lots of new business and opportunities present that week… all whilst I was enjoying and living life to the fullest.

There’s just something about that little town Melrose. I feel very drawn to it. It’s stunning with Mount Remarkable in the background, and lots of big beautiful trees. It has a gorgeous coffee shop called Over The Edge, and the people that work there as so friendly! Honestly, I felt so at home in that town.

Whilst in Melrose, I stayed at the local camp ground about 1km out of Melrose. It was amazing. Only $15 per night for a powered site; they had a new shower/toilet block and so much space.

This was my first experience of parking up at a camp ground. I was nervous driving in; hoping I’d park in the right spot and not do anything silly, but I was totally fine. The man that looks after the grounds reminded me of my grandpa. He sounded and spoke like grandpa and took me under his wing. Showed me where to park up and told me about his years of travel around Australia, just like grandpa used to tell me his stories as well.

I could have easily stayed in Melrose for weeks. I met some beautiful people in the town and at the camp grounds (gosh, I love meeting and connecting with new people!), but in the end I just stayed there for 3 nights. I saw that they were predicting up to 40mm of rain and I thought I’d be best to take off before that possible storm and rain hit.

One of my friends had been speaking to her mum, saying how I was a little nervous about staying in Melrose with all of that weather coming and wondering if I stay or go. The next day her mum called me and said that I was more than welcome to park up at their house on the river in Loxton. I’d planned on heading to the Riverland next, so that was actually perfect. 

The day before the rain was due, I had a client Coaching call in the morning and I then hit the road for a 339 km drive to Loxton, SA.

It turned out that my friends parents had to head off for a few days, so it turned out quite well that I could park up at their house. They were grateful to have somewhere there while they were away, and I was super grateful to have somewhere to park up.

In fact, I am currently sitting in their house. It’s cold and windy outside. I’ve got the fire going and I’m curled up on their couch with a blanket, typing out this blog post, thinking wow… how amazing is life when you take a leap of faith and follow your heart.

I guess the main point of this blog post is that I am LOVING bus life! Even more so than I expected. It’s actually surprised me quite a bit.

Life feels very different. I feel like I have more time in my days. I’m more present and there’s much more variety in what I do day to day. 

I feel so supported… like the universe has my back. It’s mind blowing how different events have unfolded… the different people I have met… the opportunities that have presented… all through taking this leap of faith and giving the bus life a try.

My plan for now (even though I’m learning it’s best not to have plans with bus life, and just go with the flow), is park up at a few different towns around the riverland and explore them. From there I will drive the bus back to the farm which is only about a 3 hour drive from here.

I want to be back at the farm before the borders open. I just want to see how things play out and then make my next move from there. 

One things for sure… as soon as I get home, I will be planning my next bus trip… which I think will be to Kangaroo Island!

Hope this finds you well. Take care and thanks for following along with my adventures. If you’ve been thinking about trying the bus life thing… I highly recommend it!

Steph x