It’s been a little while! My last blog post was the 16th April 2021. At that time my bus was booked in to get an air conditioner installed. I was super excited because once that was done, I was going to hit the road. 

I’d planned to drive up through the centre of Australia to Darwin, across to Broome, down the West Coast and then across the Nullarbor back to the farm in SA. I was a mix of nerves and excitement with the thought of this trip. It was so far out of my comfort zone, yet I felt such a strong desire to do it.

Well. It’s now late September 2021 and I still haven’t left. What I can tell you though, is that my bus is back at the farm. The interior has come up a treat. Even better than I imagined! It has everything I need. It really is perfect.

One thing I do still want to get is a push bike. I guess that’s not essential at this stage, but will be handy. That way if I park my bus up somewhere for a few days, I don’t need to pack everything up if I want to explore the place where I’m staying. I can leave my bus and ride my bike to where ever I want to explore.

No joke, I was absolutely pumped about hitting the road back in April.  The excitement had built. I could see it all happening… but then there was delay after delay.

First it was the installation of the aircon. I’d be told that it would be installed that week, yet it kept getting put off. Another week would pass, then another and another.

Then I had a friend recommend someone to do the ceiling of the bus for me, which I was so happy about! I had a vision of a timber type ceiling with shelving. I really wanted to get that done, yet struggled to find anyone that could do it for me.  When my friend recommended a business and they could do it for me, I was ecstatic! 

This business was upfront with me and said it could be a month or two before they could do it. I said that I was willing to wait. So once the air-conditioner had been installed, I then went to Adelaide and took my bus to the next place for the ceiling to get done. This job also took longer than expected, BUT it was so worth the wait. It looks beautiful!

With all of the delays, I’d learnt to not set any dates for heading off, because every time I did, I’d end up having to change it. It was quite fascinating actually. I went through a wave of emotions. First it was excitement. Then there was frustration as things kept getting delayed, and then there was a bit of anger; but on the other side of that anger (I think that stemmed from the part of me that likes to be in control!), I then felt a complete sense of surrender. It was like I made peace with the fact that my big trip wasn’t going to happen this year.

Currently, I feel pretty neutral about the whole bus life thing. It all feels quite surreal; I’m not sure that it’s sunk in that I can actually hit the road now. I dare say once I finally go on my first little adventure, the excitement will kick in again. 

I must say though, it’s funny how things work out. It’s been a blessing in disguise that I didn’t hit the road in May. There’s been a lot going on over the past few months. 

Of course there’s been the border closures, lock downs and things like that, but there was also a week or so of bad news and more bad news. It was a lot. I attended three funerals in a matter of weeks. I’m really grateful that I was here in SA or it would have been quite stressful trying to get back here.

Moving forward, I will only be travelling around South Australia for the time being. My dream is still to head north for Winter, but with the current state of the world, I’ve learnt to not get too far ahead of myself because you never know what’s around the corner.

I have my first little weekend bus adventure scheduled in for the October long weekend. I hope to film my very first YouTube video to share my first bus life trip experience (this could be entertaining, haha!). The world of YouTube is brand new to me, but I feel like it will be a really fun way for me to share my adventures.

I’ve been thinking… we’re really lucky here in South Australia.  There is so many beautiful places to visit. I’d love to know if you have any recommendations for where I should visit in SA? Please feel free to share them in the comments below.

And also… on Monday, 27th September I am kicking off Prep Week for my 30 Day Spring Kickstarter Program. I run this wellbeing program once a year. In fact this is my 4th year running it!  Early bird price is currently open until Monday. See this link for more details.  

I would love to have you onboard for the 30 Day Spring Kickstarter Program if you’re wanting to create a realistic and sustainable healthy lifestyle. It really is such a fun and rewarding program. You really can’t beat feeling healthy and vibrant!

I’ll try not to leave it so long between blog posts next time! Thank you for following along.

Steph x