THE NEXT STAGE OF OUR LIFE

 It's Saturday afternoon 30th October 2010 and I am sitting in the van writing this post, listening to some 60's music whilst Maree is counting zzzzz's (gramma nap) after what has been a very exciting week for us.

We decided some time ago that although we wanted to retire we would not be completely ready to do that financially until I reached retirement age in about 18 months or so.

Also in the back of our minds was the fact that we would not be totally prepared psychologically unless we made a transition into retirement and that we would need to also keep our minds and bodies active.

As I mentioned in an earlier posting a set of extenuating circumstances forced us into an early retirement for which we have not been completely prepared.

The opportunity arose here in Barraba for us to purchase a small business, a school bus run, which we thought would well and truly fit into our retirement plans and we feel that this will be a perfect way for us to move slowly into retirement and at the same time be able to pursue our travelling dreams.

So we have taken the plunge and purchased the business which was finalised yesterday 29th October 2010. Over the last week we have been training to enable us to take over the run on Monday 1st November 2010 and here is a shot of our new "pride and joy" called "Mountain Home". More on the name shortly.

We picked it up today and it is parked in front of our caravan where it will be housed when not in operation. It is very convenient as we walk out of the caravan at 7:00am each morning and at 3:00pm each afternoon and step into the bus and we are at work.

Our training has now concluded and we will pick up the school kids from Monday onwards. We have met all the kids and some of the parents and we feel that we will be successful in delivering top class service and managing their perceptions.

The main reason that we purchased this particular business is so that we can continue with a lot of the travelling we want to do into the future.

We will get all of the school holidays off and travel during those times which will enable us to perfect our caravan and towing vehicle prior to taking off on our major tripping around Australia in about 18 months or so. We will use Barraba as our base.

The bus run is called "Mountain Home - Barraba" school bus run and is a 97km round trip each morning and each afternoon. 

It winds around the mountains surrounding West Barraba and moves through some of the most beautiful country in NSW.

Currently the country side is as green as I have seen it as Maree and I have been coming up here on and off for over 25 years and it is beautiful.

The kids range from Kindergarten to Year 9 across all age groups and currently we have 15 kids that we pick up and drop off on the run.

We have a disabled 12 year old on our run who is assisted during the trip by a registered carer and she lights up our day when we pick her up each day with the biggest smile I have seen on a kid in many years. She is our first pick up each day and last drop off each afternoon.

There is 5 pick up points along the trip and our first pick up is 37km out of Barraba at the top of the mountain called "Mountain Home" which is an actual homestead. Hence we call our bus "Mountain Home".

We complete the run from point to point in 1 hour and 45 minutes and must adhere to a strict time table so that all the kids are picked up and dropped off to school before start time and get home in a reasonable time. 

Due to the road conditions, which range from dirt roads to tarred roads and flooded causeways and gullies we reach a top speed of about 80 kph and on some of the mountain roads a slow speed of about 15 to 20kph.

More about the run as we get more experienced with it. Next week I will get some photos of the country side to show what good rains can do to this country of ours.

Barraba is a lovely little town North West of Sydney and about 80km  North West of Tamworth.

Click here to check it out

The weather over the last 10 days has been as erratic as Australian weather can be and has ranged from cold, foggy mornings to 29c heat, to beautiful cool breezes to hail and heavy storms. The drought has broken up here and the country side is in a beautiful green lush state.

But the nicest thing that we experience is the sunrise over the front of our van.

This week has flown and apart from our training we have managed to get our caravan set up the way that we are comfortable with and commence sorting out the stuff that we really need in lieu of all the stuff that we brought with us.

It is amazing how we fitted everything into the caravan as it is only 17'6" long internal measurements and half that size wide but somehow we fitted in stuff that we will probably never use. Some additional culling is required I suspect.

We also managed to spend some time with my sister who owns the post office here in Barraba and do some mail stamping and sorting and on Fridays we get the privilege of sorting all the junk mail that the postie and run drivers drop into people's letter boxes - whether they want it or not!!!!

We generally get home each morning about 9:00am and the day is ours until 3:00pm so I get to spend time with  my two birds as shown below.

  This shot was taken after work and not during the day.

Fridays are our end of week relax time where they have raffles at the local bowling club where we go and try our luck after the run. We won two meat trays last week but nothing last night.

By the way the bowling club is our local watering hole which of course is just across the highway from the caravan park.

The local watering hole.

Each day we walk up to town after the first school run and spend some time with my sister and niece at the post office and then return just before lunch at which time we do all of our paperwork and relax before the second run.

I will explain the run over the next few weeks as we get used to it and identify land marks and points of interest which I will post on the blog.

It's amazing some of the people and their rigs that you meet when you are on the road. The photo below shows a home away from home as the owner describes it.

It really is a mobile home. It is fully equipped with all the modern cons dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, shower, toilet, full size lounges, modern kitchen and queen bed plus bunks for kids. 
The people who own it are middle age with a toddler about two or three years old and are just wandering.

A great way to see the country before they get too old and the kids have to go to school.
Thats all for this week and I will update further next week as we commence the next phase of our plans.

See ya soon - Bill and Maree 

WE MADE IT FINALLY

 We are finally here at our first destination Barraba it's Thursday 21st October 2010.  

The trip up was uneventful and we stopped at Singleton Caravan Park on Wednesday night and went to the local RSL club and had Thai food for dinner. After dinner we went back to the caravan and picked up a Clint Eastwood movie on TV.

The caravan has been set up as a mini theatre which includes a 32" flat panel TV, a surround sound speaker system, a home theatre system including a DVD player  and of course the mandatory hard disc set top box and dvd recording system. It also includes a fully automated satellite system on the top which we manage through a remote control so we get free to air digital TV and paid TV through select TV anywhere in Australia.

Home in the park at Barraba

Our aim currently is to stay here until Christmas at least at which time we will head south again for a about 5 weeks, meeting up with our kids and grandkids, in Sydney and Canberra, friends from BSTT and family at Narrabeen caravan park, friends from a past life in the Yarra Valley in Victoria and family and friends at Balranald caravan park.
We will then return to barraba in late January 2011 and plan the next stage of our life.
Although the trip was uneventful the week before turned out to be full of events which we enjoyed very much as we spent it with our family.
On Saturday 16th October we headed into Campbelltown as Maree had another dental appointment and then we spent what we thought was to be a relaxing day of doing nothing and preparing last minute stuff for our trip.
However my son had other ideas for us. He came home after lunch and decided that he wanted to replace the balcony railing as it had been chewed out by cockatoos that used to sit on it and wait for a feed.
So we spent the afternoon stripping it and started to rebuild it. A nice relaxing afternoon.
Anyhow it was a great way to do things together which we had not done for a long time. 
During the day as the discussion turned to the trip my two granddaughters and grandson were getting clingy and very close to us as the realisation started to set in that it would be some time before they would see us again after we left.
It was difficult to watch and the rest of the afternoon and evening became fairly emotional and although it was very nice to have the attention we also came to the same realisation as our grandkids had and our emotions also started to take over.
We had a lovely family dinner in the evening and we all had a lot of fun that ended with a comedy video night which turned out hilarious easing some of the tension that we were all feeling.
Sunday Maree and I headed to our local shopping centre to do  some final shopping hopefully a nice relaxing Sunday afternoon.
My son had other ideas.He decided that not only the balcony railing needed replacing that we should continue to do the stairs also as it was fairly worn, so we spent the rest of the day working on the stairs and balcony.
After dinner we all sat together and watched TV prior to going to bed.
Anyway we left on Wednesday as mentioned above and left behind some emotional scenes from the kids and grandkids went back to our home and hooked up the van and started the journey.
On Friday we started to unpack a lot of the stuff that we bought with us and met my sister and her family for dinner and a good old chin wag, catching up with a lot of happenings since we had last seen each other. Stayed at the bowling club for dinner and won a couple of meat trays from the raffle.
Its now Saturday and had our first big sleep in, which was excellent. We went for a walk into town to check out the scene and pick up some groceries, went to the local catholic school fete and then wandered home for a leisurely day.
Nothing planned for tomorrow so we will see what happens then.
I hope you are enjoying the updates as much as I enjoy writing them and to all my kids, grandkids and family, including my friends at BSTT extra big hugs and kisses.

For now see ya soon


Bill and Maree

PS This is the scene from our first night in Barraba

JUST THE BEST TIME WAS HAD

 What a week has just past since my last post!!

Started on Sunday 9th when we spent most of the day emptying out the house so that we could hand it over to the cleaners prior to renting.

We continued the process on Monday morning for a couple hours before heading into town to use the lunch cruise voucher that my friends in BSTT had given me as a going away present which is what most of this post will be about.

We left home at about 10:00am in the morning and drove into the city to King Street Wharf IBIS hotel where we had booked to stay.

After check in we walked down to Circular Quay to board Sydney 2000 boat that we were to lunch on.

It is a magnificent boat and we were booked to go to the top deck for lunch which included a healthy two sets of stairs to navigate.
No problems as it worked up a magnificent thirst for both Maree and I.

Drinks on the way!!!!

Anyway this is what the top deck restaurant looks like.

We were very fortunate as the boat was not crowded and we had a window table for two which made it a very cosy and intimate afternoon for us.



As we moved along the harbour and the magnificent views passed us by we ordered our lunch from a selected three course menu.  Maree ordered the prawns and I ordered the won ton soup both of which were absolutely beautiful.  

As you can see all going down really well.

As there was not a lot of people onboard we had a leisurely time and there was a reasonable gap between courses which gave plenty of time just to chat and enjoy the afternoon and discuss whats ahead for us.

A bit more sightseeing and taking care of business and our main course turned up. We both ordered the Prime rib beef which was really excellent and beautifully cooked to perfection. Carnivores eat your heart out.

More wine and or ale and the meal was finished. Wait until you see the desert served up. (HD)

 

Some more sightseeing and taking photos a couple more drinks and everything was rosy - especially the cheeks.

  

Desert was the next on the menu and did we get a nice surprise when it was served up. The choices were a small cheese platter and smashed strawberries in Cointreau sauce with whipped fresh cream and an almond biscotti. We ordered one of each and shared.

HD and KW I was thinking of both of you as we ate it.

Absolutely beautiful and a great day out, but now it was time to head back to the dock and end our lunch cruise. We got back to the dock around 2:30 and decided that rather than do the trip around the same circuit that we would now do something different.

Past Doyles restaurant and into the dock and we are back from our wonderful lunch cruise.

A final farewell from our "happy sailor" (BC) and we were heading back across town to the casino to party on and kill the rest of the day and evening.

We arrived at the casino about 15 minutes later and had a lovely time just relaxing and doing the things that people do in a casino.

We made a reservation at the Chinese restaurant in the casino and had dinner about 7:30 and then caught a taxi back to the motel and flopped into bed after a magnificent day out.

On Tuesday after we arrived home we spent the rest of the day emptying out our house in readiness for the cleaners.

We spent Wednesday and Thursday doing nothing at all as the cleaners took over and then a visit back to the dreaded dentist on Friday and tidying up the garage and the house is ready for rental - finally.

We will be heading off on Wednesday on the start of the big journey.

Finally I want to thank all of my BSTT friends for the magnificent going away present as it was the most thoughtful present that I have ever received and was the highlight of our week.

My thanks to you all for the lunch cruise, it was a great way to wind down for the next chapter of our life together. Maree xxx

Well more next week but until then I will see you all soon

Best regards

Bill and Maree

PS. WS We have a dentist appointment on the 6th November and we will be back in Sydney then so hold off until then and hopefully we can get together for your send off.

PPS. For those non believers who said that I would not put the team photo in my caravan

Take it all back as here it is with the rest of my family in the caravan.

SEE YA

BARRABA

 G'Day and hasn't the time moved quickly I can't believe that it has been nearly two weeks since I left work. A lot of things have happened since then.

I left work just prior to starting my blog and the team that I was part of and managed for the last 2 years got together and gave me an excellent send off and a couple of lovely presents as well as an emotional "see ya for now".

One of the presents was a lunch habour cruise on Monday next and I will be taking lots of photos that I will post for all to see.

Maree and I decided some time ago that when we retired we would move from Sydney and head north west to a place called Barraba which is about 80 km west of Tamworth.

My sister and her daughter run the Post office in Barraba and they have a very nice caravan park which is located about 1 km to the centre of town and it is a lovely stroll to the centre of town.

We plan to leave the car and walk everywhere to get ourselves back into shape and healthier. 

Both Maree and I are over owning a house and all the hassles that come with ownership and will live in our caravan for the forseeable future and rent out our house until the housing prices increase and then sell off all of our assets.

The owner of the Barraba caravan park , whom we have known for many years, plans to build a verandah and ensuite for our caravan as soon as we move up there so we will still enjoy all the comforts of being at home in the park.

This plan has been in the making over many years and would have come to fruition on my 65th birthday but extenuating circumstances has bought our decision forward by about 18 months, so here we are now.

Part of our planning was to semi retire and do part time work so that we did not have to rely on pensions or superannuation and downgrade our life style.

My sister has offered us some work in the post office and a mail delivery run for two days per week and we are currently looking at purchasing a school bus service in Barraba.

This would allow us to do the travelling that we have been longing for over the last 10 years as we would have all of the school off and December and January off each year. 

Thats our current thinking and we will know over the coming weeks how that pans out.

So over the last two weeks we have been selling up our furniture and anything that is not nailed down so that we can get underway as soon as possible

We have had the real estate agents through and listed our property for rent on the net and the cleaners will be through the place on Monday ready for occupancy.

We move out of our home of 28 years today and will temporarily move in with my son not far from here in Leumeah for a week or so, which will be nice spending some time with our grand kids for the period.

It is amazing the amount of junk that accumulates over time and I can say that we filled 4 small skips with junk and rubbish during this time.

For now that is my update and over the coming weeks I will post additional blogs as we start our incredible journey which has been in our dreams for so long and even though it is now here there is a certain amount of the "unknown" which excites us a lot.

Best regards to all of my friends and especially the BSTT.


Bill

LEAVING A SECURE JOB

 For many years Maree and I have been dreaming of travelling Australia in semi-retirement and utilising the skills that we have built up over the last 60 years or so on a working holiday.

Our original aim was to start the build up about 6 - 12 months prior to me getting to the retiring age of 65.

Due to an unfortunate set of circumstances with my current employer the opportunity has come about 18 months earlier than expected.

So rather than ponder on what has happened we have decided that now is the time to bring our dream to reality and start to live it.

The position that I have just left involved managing and leading a training and development team with a major bank which I have been doing for the last two years.

The most difficult part of the circumstances, mentioned above, is that I have to leave behind the people who mean so much to me and  who have been the best people I have ever managed, led and been associated with and to that end there is a hollowness in my heart.

However there is an up side to this also as over the period that I have managed this team I have had to be a manager and a leader to them and although friendships develop there is still that air of employer/employee that surrounds everything that you do and rightly so.

So the upside is that now these people can and will become our real friends without that professionalism built in and now we can fully concentrate on developing life long relationships as they are the best people I have known.

During a wonderful send off by the team we made a pact that we would keep in contact with each other so that we can now concentrate on friendship and long term relationship albeit mostly from a distance.

I will, with their permission, over the coming years talk with them and about them in this blog as we keep in touch and post new blogs and photos as we will be only as far away as the keyboard or the telephone.

So for now this is my first blog in hopefully a long series of blogs as we all come to terms with what has happened and look forward to meeting again at social functions.

Whenever I refer to my friends in this blog I will use their initials until I get used to communicating this way and develop our dialogue as this blog develops.

TIME TO TRAVEL

 G'Day - Well the time is getting closer and early in the New Year we plan to take the plunge and head off into the unknown. Unknown to us that is.

Our new van will be completed in February and we have just taken delivery of our new Colorado 4WD Crew Cab.

So we will be looking for places to do relief management at caravan parks or holiday resorts so that their owners can take a well deserved rest.

If you know of any caravan park owners looking for a break and can't get reliable relief managers then please ask them to visit our site.

http://www.have-van-will-travel.com.au

Check out our website and see what we do as we may be able to assist you in relief management if you plan to take a holiday and you have a small business.

Caravan park management is not the only thing we do as we have a multitude of experience across many industries and I have managed many types of teams.

If you would like to contact me please email me at 

bill@have-van-will-travel.com.au

Have a happy and safe Christmas and I will talk to you next year.

Regards

Bill