Since we got home after six years in America, we've been promising ourselves that we would see a little more of Australia. After working in Sydney for the last five years, we've finally done something about it. We have set off on a trip around Australia. All previous contact information is now invalid.
We have rented our townhouse, and are now officially living at "no fixed address". We've sold, loaned, or given away most of our stuff, and stored a few bits in a cage in the garage of our place at Burwood. What little we have left, mostly camping and computer stuff, has been packed into the new truck, and we have hit the road.
The truck is a new 100 Series Toyota Landcruiser GXL, with a stack of after market bolt on crap. The highlights of the accessory list are the fridge, shower, inverter, and solar panel, but of course we have a bull bar and all the usual stuff.
Since we need food and fuel on our journey, and we are not rich, we'll have to work along the way. (There's always a catch, isn't there.) Since I'm too old and decrepit to do manual work, I thought I'd try and sell my computer skills. Therefore, Black Cat Software has been put into mothballs for a while, and Bush PC has been born. (Helen is our training department.)
We have not made it too far yet. In fact, the first place we've pitched our tent is in our friend Eileen's paddock, which is adjacent to the Goulburn River National Park. We've invoiced our first truly rural customers, and managed to drum up some more work at a local sports fair. We are officially trading in our new business. (We've been eating home-baked chocolate chip cookies from Eileen's wood fired oven. Yum!)
We are also still very much sorting out how things will work. It takes 3 days of clouds and not running the engine before the fridge drains the battery to the point where the satellite phone displays a message about low voltage. Being able to have a hot shower in the bush is fabulous. The new laptop (Dell Inspiron 4000) is disappointingly unreliable, particularly when running on its internal battery.
Overall, we're doing ok. No snakes in the bed or redbacks on the toilet seat. Yet......