Last month

Friday. Just thinking back, we did see some very lovely sweeping landscapes along the way, but were too focused on driving to stop & take pictures. Yesterday, I took the whole rig into work & parked it on the hill at the back of the building, on an almost flat spot, & we had a "viewing" at morning tea time. Yes, everyone was impressed. This morning, all of my aches & pains came home to roost, pretty much in all same locations on my body. Work was not really an option. I was lucky to get an instant appointment, provided I got dressed & down to Weston in 5 minutes flat. I made it within 7. And yes, when the adjustments take effect tonight while I sleep, I will feel a whole lot better. meanwhile, I did make contact with the local car repair places, who eventually referred me to Everlast, who apparently have been involved in creating the ACT ambulances recently, which means they are familiar with converted vehicles. On the aircon not working, the likely scenario is that it just needs a re-gas, because there is not enough pressure there to activate the "on" switch. On the heater in the front cabin, I located it! And it works! I have suggested that they pull the dunny pump out & then allow me to pull it apart. I don't really want someone dealing with my shit, literally. It's going in on Monday for them to have a good look at it. I have also spent some time filling the fresh water tank & emptying what tanks needed to be emptied. At first impression, there appears to be 3 large tanks & 1 small one under there, the small one being the black water tank. Of the 3 large ones, 2 appear to be grey water & the other one fresh water. I need to get underneath the bus comfortable to trace the lines & figure out properly what there.  Oh, and we found the levellers! Not sure exactly what which of the 2 switches does what, but something definitely happens there when they get activated. They are comprised of a high pressure airbag on each wheel.

Saturday. Took the bus to the Organ Donation Thanksgiving Service & this year I spoke. Just my luck, I was first up. So I had to chat for a minute or so while I got my breathing under control. Here's a draft of what I said. Of course, it never goes exactly according to the script. And I finished with the news that April has advanced kidney disease & is a candidate for a transplant, so we get to see the equation from the other side. I must have got something right, because I got a heap of very positive feedback. When I left, I drove around past the back of the venue where many of the "stayers" were leaving. I got lots of waves & leaned on the horn. It's not a horn, it's a cross between a siren & a foghorn!

Sunday, poked around in the bus again. Found where the heater is & how it works. Very basic, but quite effective, blows hot air up onto the windscreen or down onto the driver's feet. Doesn't help the passenger's feet, but at least it does something. And the levellers are more of a ride leveller, allowing a bit of reverse tilt on the front wheels on a heavily cambered road, or possibly taking some of the bounce out of the front suspension. I have now pumped both sides up a bit to see how it performs. And lots of little wins, like putting a new battery in the controller (inside) for the fridge (outside). And the 3 large tanks underneath are 2 of fresh water & 1 of grey water. Took Tim with me while he had some time before work to fuel it up with both diesel for the bus & unleaded for the generator. And I have also emptied the 20 litre container of unleaded into the XR6, then filled both the XR6 & the container with fresh fuel. So I now have fresh fuel in both reserve containers.

Monday. Took Bertha over to Everlast to get some of the niggly bugs worked on. Then had to ask them for a jump start on Bob's battery - the poor little bugger is not used to being cold. Actually, as winter hits in Canberra, batteries are usually the first to go. Hopefully, by the time she comes back, they will have re-gassed the large aircon unit, pulled the toilet off its mountings so that I can get to the back of it, & verified whether the hot water unit has an electrical heating element or not. And just in case no-one has noticed, I've called them Big Bertha & Little Bob. Merv apparently came up with Little Bob, because it bobs around on the road so much.

Thursday. Everlast looked at everything I wanted them to. The water heater appears to be the model that does not have an electric heating element. And we now have a good supply of 24V globes, which can't just be bought at the local servo. The bus is now at Lloyds Caravans, getting the "shitter" worked on. They have had to remove the toilet from its mounting on the floor, so that they could get to the back of it. In the process, we found out that it is a marine toilet with a macerator built into the pump.

Sunday. It's been an interesting week. The motorhome is still at Lloyds, waiting for parts to arrive. I had my usual 6-weekly one-day dash to Sydney & back to get my back worked on. Pete surprised me by telling me that I had lost weight. Yay! And today being Mother's Day, I did manage to surprise Julie with a potted Chrysanthemum that I had brought back for Sydney. Late in the day, she decided to give it to Caroline, who is a Justice of the Peace & has helped us with certifying copies of documents & witnessing our signatures when necessary. She & Hugh lost one of their young twins early this year, & with April's news, Julie suddenly felt much more of a connection. And then I went out to the airport to catch up with Angus, who was flying into Canberra on his "Hand Luggage Only" tour. Gave him a quick view from Mt Ainslie & dropped him off at his hotel.

The motorhome came back one evening with the dunny fixed, only to go straight back to Fyshwick the next day to the refrigeration specialists to have the air conditioner checked out. OK, it wasn't working because the switch had been moved to the "off" position, but the technician did find some loose connections & checked it over thoroughly, so now we know it works properly.

While all this motorhome stuff has been happening, we have also been buying property #8, which is a unit in a stunning brand new development in Townsville. I have to insert a plug here for George & Bev Karindjias of PFA Private, who managed to get a loan application from first contact to settlement in just 10 days, & that's calendar days, not working days.

And on top of all that, April informed us a couple of weeks ago, that she has Stage 4 Kidney Disease & is heading for needing a kidney transplant sometime soon. This news has certainly put a huge sting in the tail of everything else. Julie has taken the news surprisingly well, with only a handful of depressed days followed by awakening into a determination to get herself together. Hard to say a whole lot more than that, except that all up, it's been a rough time for both of us. April has suddenly gone from dialysis every 2 weeks to twice a week, which shocked us a bit too. Maybe the doctors want to get more frequent blood test results or something. 

And some good news to end the week. Julie has a job for the next 4 weeks, as a temporary fill-in at Life Without Barriers in Mitchell. She said that after the interview, she hadn't even got back to the car, about half a block away, when her phone was ringing to offer her the job. Now THAT's encouraging! She was also brutally honest about what's happening at home (& overseas), so that at least they know the other side of her story. Now all I have to do this weekend is get Ruth's laptop fixed (because I broke it), check whether the washing machine in the bus will work from the generator, help Julie with the shopping, & survive the sudden onset of cold weather. We are quite sure it was sleeting outside a little while ago, which is not really surprising having seen huge snow clouds over the ranges all afternoon.