The A-Z of What We Love About This Lifestyle

Ever wonder why we live with 9 people in an old school bus? I was inspired by this blog to write our own A-Z.

A.  Amazing sunsets!  There are so many beautiful sunsets that we have seen and we never tire of it!

 

B.  Our Bus!  Without our bus we would not be living this lifestyle!  It’s not perfect, but what accommodation is? Our bus is a work in progress … we bought it off a school bus run 3 years ago.  Within 3 days we’d taken most of the seats out, put up curtains and moved in with mattresses on the floor.  Whenever we talk about selling it the girls protest!

C.  Camping!  Couldn’t resist this one!  Sometimes, on hot summer nights we set up the tent and go camping outside our bus!  Some of us sleep in the tent and some sleep outside under the stars!

D.  Driving!  It is exciting, after we have been parked up for a few day to hit the road again.

E.  Eating!  We get to eat inside or outside.  With 7 children we get to eat a lot!!

F.   Free camping!  Love that we can pull up almost anywhere, stop for the night without paying a thing!  Some free camps are set up so well with power, running water and flush toilets (some even have hot showers), and others have no facilities at all.

G.  The great outdoors!  We spend many hours outside.  Enjoying the sunshine, the bush, the stars. 

H.  Not much housework!  I’m thrilled with the lack of housework!  We can sweep in 5 minutes! We never have to clean a shower (we don’t have one!).

I.  Interesting.  Everyday is a new adventure.  When we are traveling no two days are the same.

J.  Junk! Or lack thereof.  Living in a small space you cannot collect junk.  If it doesn’t have a use, then out it goes!

K.   Keeping together.  A family who plays (and or prays) together, stays together.  We spend all day everyday together.  I love the company of Mike and the children.  The older they get the more fun we are having together.

L.  Love!  Living in close proximity to each other promotes love!  We are a close knit family and when one hurts we all hurt.  Love seeing the older ones care for the younger ones.

M.  Money.  Living on the road can be as frugal or extravagant as you make it.  You can free camp (as we do most of the time) or you can stay at a 5 stay caravan park (as we did once!).

N.  New people!  We love to meet new people.  People who are travelling this vast continent, locals, or families visiting the playground make our life interesting.  Some enhance our life and we treasure the memory of that meeting.  Others, well, lets just say we hope we don’t meet them again!

O.  Wide open spaces!  When you live on the coast (or in New Zealand) you don’t get to experience the vastness of the outback!  Places where you can almost see the curve of the earth!  Places were there is not a building in sight!

P.  Playgrounds!  We get to visit a different playground almost everyday we travel!

Q.  Quick set up times!  We used to have a Jayco Eagle camper.  It would take us over an hour to set it up just for one night!  Now we can be all set up in about 15 minutes, or more if we want the awning.

R.  Risk!  Living this life is a risk!  We have left behind the comforts of a house, a secure job in favour of the road!  We have no house, no permanent job but we are all learning to live with what we have and to be content.

S.  Stars!  There are never as many stars in the sky as on a clear night in the outback!  We have seen shooting stars, satellites and various other interesting night sky activities.

T.  Time!  We have time to stop and smell the roses!  We don’t usually have any specific time to be somewhere, so if we see something interesting on the way we can stop and check it out!

U.  Unity!  Because we spend 24/7 together in a small space there is a greater unity.  Sure the kids have there sibling squabbles, but they don’t last long.

V.  Variety!  We get to see new things, go to new places, meet new people.  Some weeks we drive somewhere new every day.  Some weeks we stay put and rest or explore the local area or just do some renovations on the bus!

W.  Wildlife!  Australia has so much wildlife to explore.  It’s not hard to find a Blue Tongue Lizard, a Lace Monitor or a Wild Goat!  Many hours are spent searching for lizards, frogs or rabbits.

X.  Excitement!  The look on the faces of the children when they discover some new reptile or bird or a shell is so rewarding! 

Y.   Yawn!!  What we all do when we hop into bed after a busy day exploring this great country!

Z.  Zzzzzz!  Yes, we get to sleep in till we want to get up most days!