Suki our latest buy.

We flew up to Sydney and bought a Suzuki Grand Vitara 2 door (which we've christened "SUKI") which we drove back here to Albury and now we are slowly designing storage drawers etc. for the back of the "SUKI" after we take the back seats out.
Ofcourse we'll be towing SUKI behind the Motorhome.
I'm also keeping busy working on Doll making Tutorials to sell and teach people how to make my dolls.
I'm astounded as to the amount of work involved to get it the way I'm happy with, taking photos, editing them, explaining them etc etc etc, hopefully the finished product is worth it.
I was also chuffed to be asked to be interviewed for a profile on me and my dolls by Australian Doll and Bear Magazine which will be published in the New Year, I was asked many questions and asked to supply photos to be submitted, This kept me busy for a while and I was sent the final draft which was written beautifully and I was really really happy with the result

Caravan & Motorhome Magazine & DVD's, CMCA's The Wonderer Magazine surfing the net and youtube watching and reading about other's travels only strengthened our resolve and we wanted it more and more, so, we wait and we hope to get out there and get on the road and explore this magnificent country very soon.

A sellection of my cloth dolls

Here we are Xmas and we're still waiting

Yes! we are still waiting for the house to sell! The owner of the motorhome we have got a deposit on has kindly waited with us and we'll be forever grateful for that.
We are both fighting the overwhelming frustration and depression. But trying to keep ourselves busy so it doesnt weigh us down.
 On the positive side we have has one more Xmas with our loved ones here in Albury and Ash has constructed a portable Cat Enclosure that we'll strap to the motorhome or Suzuki. He is so clever and has saved us over $1000 as that's what they cost to buy'

 This all folds up into a flat 4 inch thick unit, the climbing shelves all come out and stack for storage, I've yet to make a sturdy bag for these.

House is on the Market 6th June 2011

Finally we've got the house on the market and Oh what a long haul, you don't realize how much clutter and accumulation you gather over the years just when you think you have finished there is always more!
With the intention to come away with more money at the end of selling we've put the house on the market ourselves via homesales.com.au. Since this is our last gasp at our equity we hope to save as much as we can by avoiding agents etc, well thats the plan!
Even though the house would look at it's best in spring it still looks good and somebody will get a lovely home without anything to do. We've loved this house while we've been here and I hope the next people will enjoy it too, we've certainly put a huge amount of work into it to get it to a place where it's such a nice environment to live and call home.

We've chosen our new Motorhome!!

It doesn't get much more exciting than this....we've driven all over the place studied RV's all their features all the extras, the pros and cons of each RV. and have decided on an Alpine Winnebago from outside of Nowra from a lovely couple.......although all the couples have been lovely. This RV has got so many extras that we couldn't topple it from the top of our list, many of the others had some of these extras but not as many.... things like, 6 speed gearbox, larger motor, Security screen door, washing machine set in a specially made compartment, Sat Dish, Sat Nav, Rev Camera, Outdoor floor mat, solar panels, extra water tanks, long range fuel tank, Baby Q BBQ, Captain Chairs with full springs susp in cab, all struts in cupboards, 2  TV's, Fridge freezer, generator, extra rails in bathroom. all matting in cupboards, Coroma? dinner set, pots and pans, linen, Thermal Cooker, Bull Bar, Tow Bar, Diesel Heater, Kick gaurd at steps, full 12 months rego, just to name a few!
Peter has ....how do the kids call it?  Pimped it all up too, with chrome front fittings and woodgrain dash additions really made it look nice and unique.

Ash & his RV!!!

April 2011 - 196 days to go!!

Wow the time is just zooming by, we've been cleaning, sorting, selling, storing and doing essentual small maintanance jobs all around the house to ensure we have it at it's best by July to sell. We've decided too to sell it ourselves via the web, afterall who knows my house more than I do? not to mention more hard earned $$'s in our pocket in the end, we are going to need every cent. Although having said that this new adventure is definately not governed by money, this is about quality of life and lifestyle, an opportunity not to be missed.

A lot of time we've spent researching what Alpines and Longreaches (Winnebago's) are available  and much to our relief & benefit there are always 3 - 6 RV'S in our price range advertised just on 2 web sites, that's not even taking dealers into account! Which makes it easier for us to pick and choose the features and price that suits us best.  We are heading down to Melbourne  this week to have a look at 2 Alpines with our own eyes and see what there really is to offer. One at the high range of our price and the other more of what we want from our Motorhome.
Features like Solar Panels, Generators, Annex, Washing Machine, Uhf Radio, Reverse Camera, Bull and tow bars Satelite Dish, extra water tanks, Motor Size, BBQ, extra freezer, Cabinets over the cab or a bed, new batteries, new tyres, weather rego is offered, or full service as well as the standard features that come with all Alpines, so there's a lot to concider. Not to mention what we want and what we do not want!!! One example is the area above the driving cab, some come with  built in cabinets with TV  and storage cupboards and others with a double bed, the later is what we'd prefer as the more storage we can get the better, to accommodate storage boxes with all my "doll" crafty things, material etc. etc. so a $5000 cabinetry is a waste for us.

 How interesting getting such different opinions from the various owners as to why their RV is better with or without this or that.  2 examples being Solar Panels or Generator, some say you don't need them, only to tell you that they mainly stayed in Van Parks, whereas  we plan on Freecamping the majority of the time. I've come to understand the different needs for different folk, there is no such thing as one "size" fits all.......even though some will try to convince you of their specific preferences!!! I find I always remind myself of what we want and stick steadfastly to that, thank goodness we have many to choose from.  Because we'll be perminently living in this vehicle, so we need to get it as right as we possibly can...not to mention the $$'s it will cost.

#3 This is our life

After spending 20 years in the bush 45 minutes from Albury, building, gardening, bringing up kids, building businesses, working for P&C, the kids being schooled in a one room school in Mullengandra.
Our gardens were and still are a big part of our interests.  This is one thing that I am sure I'll miss, but I know that the myriad of exciting and wonderful things we'll be experiencing day to day when we get going.

We have been researching Motorhomes for the past 12 months although we found that many arnt easy to access, the popular brands like Jayco, Sunliner, Winnebago being the only ones you get to see at shows. We'd like to view some others like Wirraway, Swagman, and some I cant think of at the moment.

#2 I'll miss my garden.

Over the years, we've had our garden as our interest, while we brought up the kids.
I'm sure we'll miss it but we are certainly replacing it with a lot to keep our minds off it!
We spent a wonderful 20 years in the bush at Wymah, which is 45 minutes north east of Albury on the beautiful Murray River. We had 1 1/2 acres of garden and enjoyed every minute of it. We moved into ntown (Albury) a few years back and have established a garden here to, but it's complete and small compared to Wymah.
Below is a panaramic shot of one side of the house.

220 Days to go

Oh how fast the time is going!!
I've been up to my elbows, packing, throwing out, sorting into, keeps, sell or store for the road!!!!
As well as going to the daughters up the road to prepare her shed, which we 're concreting and a shed for us to store our stuff and it has to be concreted too.
Ash has yet to get stuck into his shed here.....oh the what to keep, what to store, what to sell, what to take with us??????
He wants to do different stuff while we're on the road too and we are buying one of those nifty little welders to take with us so he can make a bit of $$'s on the side and fix anything that might need fixing.

I've written to 3 people who have advertised Winnebago Alpines in our price range all under 195grand, just in case they havent sold by Sep/ Oct when we want to buy, cause we've found that if they havent sold they are usually contacted by dealers to sell for them on commission....which whacks the price up considerably, so they can contact us in Sep/Oct if they havent sold.
We have heard from one very nice man, regarding that so it's looking really promising. I wont go into that too much cause it's  not up to me to talk about someone elses business here!

We have another Auction coming up to sell the remainder of our stuff so have to get stuck into it in the next week or so to clean it all out of here ready to get the house spiffy for putting on the market in July.

We are looking into selling privately via the internet too, just getting a conveyancer, so that'll save more $$'s.

Things are really moving quickly and I've been invited to speak at the NSW Doll Collectors Club Meeting in Sydney in May as well as doing their 30th Anniverary Show in July, which I was chosen to supply 10 Limited Edition Dolls Especially for their Anniversary... all of which I have to prepare for as well......Exciting Hay??

Ash is really looking forward to retiring from work although he will still take to work in our travels, cause he doesnt get the pension for another 5 years, but between my dolls, wings, and Ash's talents we arnt worried in the least, it'll all work out.