Category Archives: Bus Conversion

Blog, Bus Conversion, YouTube videos

Episode 3 – Tales From The Wild

Posted on by Keiran Lusk
29
Nov

We’re making little videos of our bus conversion project Tales From The Wild. Here’s Episode 3. The seats are out. The bag racks have been removed. The floor heaters are gone. We’ve started planning the layout. And removed one of the fixed windows, ready to install the first custom sliding window (we’re planning to add 4 or 5 of these).

Note: After initially planning to leave the ceiling alone (you’ll see that we actually started painted it in this video), we have since decided to rip the ceiling out and put some insulation in. It is just too hot in the bus for our liking (despite top hopper windows that open). To my dismay, I have discovered that the metal ceiling panels are not only riveted but glued to the framework above the window line (making the ceiling extra fun to remove). The rivets are no worries. But the glue has formed any incredibly strong bond between ceiling and frame (particularly one long bead above the windows). Has anyone got any tips for gaining the upper hand? I’m currently using hammer and chisel, stanley knife, multi-tool and reciprocating saw to try and prise the ceiling panels from the frame.

Bus Conversion

Choosing #buslife

Posted on by Sam Proudley
18
Oct

A big hello to our new followers! Thank you for getting behind our bus adventure… it is really lovely to know so many people are cheering us on! 😊 I thought I’d share a little about us and our motivation for choosing #buslife. We are Keiran, Sam (that’s me!), Ellery (six) and Aubrey (three). We used to live on a remote Cape on a national park island. Nature immersion and a good work-life balance were our normal. We did that for five years. 18 months ago we found ourselves transplanted to the city, struggling to keep our heads above the waterline with our first mortgage, a single income and two small people. They say it often takes extreme discomfort in your world to create change… well this is us! Life became quite hard, with little of the joy we once had in plenty. This is a big part of our why. We aim to create more time for us, less work (and a better split between K and I of the paid work and parenting), and more horizon in our days! ☀ We’re kind of making it up as we go along <though one half of us has built a home in a bus before 😁>. There are lots of unknowns (possibilities!) but it feels so good to be carving out change of our own making. Thanks for following along. 💜

Bus Conversion

Meet Bronte the bus!

Posted on by Keiran Lusk
12
Oct

Meet Bronte. Our 1998 Hino bus. We’re about to embark upon a project to convert Bronte into our travelling home! Bronte was a school bus in country Victoria for her entire working life. She has a 230HP turbo 7.9 litre diesel engine with a 6 speed manual. The body is a PMC/Austral Pacific Starliner and is 12 metres in length. Over the coming months, we will be sharing the progress of our bus conversion project via social media and this blog. Stay tuned for updates!

Bus Conversion

We bought a bus!

Posted on by Keiran Lusk
06
Oct

We bought a bus! After months and months of searching for the right bus, we found just what we were looking for in a small country town called Alexandra in Victoria. It’s a 1998 Hino RG230 (230HP turbo, 6 speed manual) with PMC/Austral Pacific Starliner body. It’s 12 metres in length, has hopper windows that open and luggage bins underneath on the nearside. The headroom is approximately 197.5cm (which leaves me with about 2.5cm clearance above my head).

I flew down to Melbourne (from Brisbane) yesterday to pick up our new bus and future house on wheels! It was a long day of travelling with two trains, a plane, a bus, another train and another bus journey required to reach the Fallons bus depot in Alexandra. After a good look over the vehicle, I was very excited to be driving out the front gates in our new bus!