Excerpts from The Book of GeorgeY -

On the second Jubilee year of the third millenium of our Lord, during the reign of Johan Conwayus over the region of Greensbarria Collegia, my spirit and mind pressed me, Georgyus Youssefy, and spake unto me to take a long service leave.

And it happeneth to pass that my spirit spake unto me like unto a very rational voice indeed and sayeth, "Thou shalt take a long service leave and go forth and travel the Land, for such is a nice Holy day.

"An aeroplane thou shalt not taketh, but a diesel powered motorhome, a Sunliner Odyssey, is your transport, for it is adequate and affordable, and Ford Transit shalt be its platform, for it is a reliable beast."

I fell onto the ground on my face for the thought had overwhelmed me, and I spake and sayeth, "But the Land is BIG and longer time it shalt taketh,” and I wept for I knew the Land is vast.

The answer came unto me like a voice inside my head, and the voice sayeth, "Thou shalt taketh such leave at half pay. Twice as long it shalt be, at half the pay it shalt be."

It then cometh to pass that a good friend of mine hath spotted a camper, fully equipped with ensuite and solar panels.

And as I seeketh a genset for power to be set upon the Coleman aircon, it was given by a complete stranger, for it was meant to be. A little repair it needed and I tinkerethed for a little, and healing was upon it, for all the horse power sang in unison and proclaimed power for fresh air, microwave, and even espresso it hath powered.

More items came together, each at its own time and each with its unique story, for such a trip hath a lot of details to cometh together. In good time it cometh, all in the good time hath been sent.

And all the rest of the GeorgeY travels and the GeorgeY book is to be followed, with pics and anecdotes, all shalt beareth witness for what has been, and is to cometh.

Prelude

Well, the date is fast approaching when we embark on our great journey, so I have undertaken to document this momentous endeavour. However, as I think about it, the story of this journey started a long time ago.

The seed

It probably first began when we fell in love with the freedom of the nomadic lifestyle back in 2006, when we dipped our toes in with a month long trip to Perth and back, across the Nullarbor.

Of course it was not the most pleasant trip, with a rented Toyota Hi-ace, which theoretically slept four – two adults and two children. But I think the children they were expecting would have been five or six. Ours were twelve and thirteen and well grown.

The bed, suspended above the living quarters, did not have much headroom. And my son refused point blank to sleep next to his sister. So my husband had to sleep next to him, with the height of the roof less than the width of his shoulders. This meant if he wanted to turn over, he would have to maneuver himself half hanging off the shelf, turn, then wiggle his way back into his sleeping bag.

Despite all this, and the time constraints, (as we only had one month) we had a great time, and the seed for this coming trip was planted.

The van

Our first big hurdle was to acquire a motorhome. George spent months combing through eBay and similar websites, checking out what was on offer, and deciding what we did and didn't want. I was not keen on a bed over cab, where I would have to climb up and down stairs to get to the toilet at night. And we had to have a full bathroom, and facilities for free camping – large water tanks, solar power, three way fridge etc. An air conditioner was also a must, in the places we planned to go.

The way we acquired our motorhome was reminiscent of arranged marriages in the past. Our good friends John and Faye were planning a similar trip, perhaps a bit later than us. John had also been scanning the ads, and had his eye on one in Albury he liked the sound of. When he was sent to Albury on business, he took the opportunity to drop in and see it, and he was in love. As they were not planning to purchase a van for a while yet, he let George know, and described all the features. It sounded perfect.

So we called the lady and bought it sight unseen, and sent her a cheque for the deposit immediately. It was several weeks later that we could get to Albury, and, like an arranged marriage, we first set eyes on her the day we took her away. But she was gorgeous, and everything John said she would be. Our Sugarplum, our beautiful Sunliner Odyssey in silver and plum.

The bike

We had decided from the start we would not get a 4 wheel drive van. This left us with some places that would go undiscovered. To overcome this issue, and also the issue of small trips once we had settled in a place, we decided on a motor bike on the back. This had to be suitable for off road, as well as being road legal.

And this also presented us with another problem – I had to learn to ride. I had never even learnt to ride a bike, let alone a motor bike. Of course I would only be riding behind George, so I just had to learn to be a passenger. But that is not as easy as it sounds, especially on a high off road bike. So we bought the bike, and did lots of practice trips around town, learning about weight distribution, where to lean etc.

The Genny

Another must for free camping was to have a generator. Although we had the engine and the solar panels to provide electricity, there would be times we would need to run the air conditioning through the night, and these would not be sufficient.

George started researching again – size, and power generated. The physical size was important as it had to fit in the storage area under the van. He finally settled on exactly what he wanted, and started searching.

Soon after, we were driving home from my parent's place when we saw a generator lying on the nature strip by the side of the road, its plug hanging down forlornly, attached by two wires. It was the strength we needed, and the physical size was perfect. George knocked on the door and enquired.

"The builder left it here, mate. I’ve asked him to come and pick it up a few times, but he hasn’t shown."

“Can I take it, if you don’t want it?”

“Mate, be my guest. I wanna get rid of the thing.”

And so we acquired the perfect generator for next to nothing (or actually nothing, actually.) It needed a bit of servicing and TLC, but George always loves a project, and it was soon running as well as new.