It's all happening at the Reno House.

Blog update Wednesday 20/07/16.

By Will.

Jen & I have been struggling to get moving on these cold winter mornings. We even had ice on the Landcruiser windscreen a few days ago.

The Mandurah Reno house has been progressing along, I would guess there is another 5 months of work until it is ready to become Team wiljen's new "Travel Home Base".

This looks promising.

Jenny checks out the progress.

Sand Pads for the extensions.

Prelaying some riticulation pipe.

It's great to see it coming together, lots of work involved, glad to have the experts taking care of things. If it takes me 11 months to complete a VW Kombi interior refit, how long would it take to do a house.....5+ years ???

Concrete Slabs laid. The weather held things up.

Leave the slabs for a couple of weeks to cure.

The Sh*t Pile is getting bigger.

Uh Oh, we need to install some retaining before Peel Fencing will do the boundary fence.

Lots of obstacles in the way, like a couple of the neighbours car wrecks that don't have wheels or axels. Lots of tree roots & lime stone under the ground as well.

The Living area & Kitchen have been gutted. It took two blokes a couple of days to jack hammer up all of the floor tiles.

The walls in the old Bath Room are ready for removal.

Bath Room is now a lot bigger, laundry will be relocated on the end of the new Studio Room.

To the left is access to the Main Bedroom.

Main Bedroom has been made a bit larger by incorporating bedroom 3 & turning the rest of bedroom 3 into a Walk in Robe/Storage area.

The new Walk in Robe/Storage area has been framed up.

We have also decided we need a little break away, so are heading for the Eastern Goldfields for a week or so.

Jenny contemplating what bedding to take on our Goldfields Kombi Trip.

Looks like she has decided on lots of bedding to combat the 0degC nights. 

Dixybus is nearly all packed & ready for her first multi-day road trip in 3 years. We are both really looking forward to the change in routine & scenery. I'll post an update in a week or so.

Quick Update Wednesday 20/07/16:

Stopped by the Mandurah Reno house yesterday to pick up some camping gear & surprise, surprise. We now have bricks & a new wall.

Hello "DIXYBUS" .

Wednesday 13/06/16. BY Will.

"Never Say Never" ! Once I vowed never to spend our hard earned cash on personalised registration plates, I considered it a voluntary tax to the State Government. In a way it is, but a sign writer will charge you as well & we found ourselves in the mood for some thing different !

About a week ago, Jenny & I had one red wine too many. Which lead to us brainstorming a few ideas about our Kombi. So out came the iPad & Jenny started checking out possible names we could get from the Western Australian, Department of Transport (DoT we call them over here).

Dixie was not available, taken long ago I would guess. We tried a few other combinations and could of had D1X13, but that just looked dumb. So as we came to the end of our second bottle of Cabernet Melot we decided it was time for our VW Kombi Micro Bus to have a subtle name change.

Welcome DIXYBUS, may we have many grand adventures in you !

This morning I took DIXYBUS to Peel Tyre Service, Mandurah, where they fitted her with some new shoes..

DIXYBUS waiting for her Wheels.

I have a poke around the Peel Tyre Service workshop it's actually pretty cool.

There's a 1942 Indian Scout Motorcycle, it's 600cc I think, to keep DIXYBUS company.

The waiting room at the Tyre place. With free coffee.

Out the back is a mini museum with a Bar. Looks like the owner Matt is a bit of a collector.

Yokohama Delivery Star 818 

LT195R14C at $139ea fitted.

The ride is so much better now !

The rear view.

Spot the new scar.

Unfortunately Jenny's knee gave out & DIXYBUS copped a knock from a fully loaded shopping trolley. Slight bummer, but body work repairs are planned in the future after we have been on some nice long adventure road trips.

Mandurah Canvas did a great job fitting the Poptop head lining, there is insulation under it as well.

RnR bed all laid out. The mattress/cushions were covered by Mandurah Canvas.

The inside of DIXYBUS with the RnR bed in seating position.

RnR in bed position.

Looks nice & comfortable inside.

Last job for this part of the DIXYBUS Project is to fit a solar panel, I've made inquiries & the company I've decided to go through, Solar Camping Australia, are waiting for stock. The kit package I want is, 120w panel, with 20amp regulator & other fittings. They said their stock is sitting at Customs so shouldn't be too long.

The solar panel won't stop us going away, so a short shake down trip is imminent.

Coming to Grips with our Life !

Thursday 7/07/16. By Will.

Not to many photos from the past week & a bit... I've had other things on my mind.

My Moji telling me to "Get Motivated".

Need to fix the Steet Appeal.

We now have a new Bin Day, so I don't even know what day it is. Our new rubbish removal day is Tuesday (at the other place it was Wednesday), I woke up this morning thinking it's Friday !?!? Never realised before that our time at home revolved around our weekly rubbish collection... Bizarre...

The Kombi fits in the Shed, but the Landcruiser has to sit outside for now.

Jenny & I have spent the past week and a half getting our new place into some sort of order. We have met the lady next door & had a few visitors. 

The Shed was filthy with dirt, grease, old screws, etc. I hose it out, top to bottom and give it a tidy up.

The street has been nice and quiet, we went for a walk to the other side of the Community College, (High School) last Saturday to vote in the Federal election, then checked out the Community Garden, where we met Jeff & Wendy. 

Jenny's knee held up well during the walk, her post-op visit to the surgeon, who did the operation revealed a bit of osteoarthritis, that he had cleaned up.

We have been formulating a plan to make this house appear more presentable for sale in about 6 months. The real estate market is very depressed in the Mandurah area at the moment, so we don't want to spend too much. Current plan is to focus on "street appeal".

Our cosy Lounge Room.

Spacious Kitchen.

This Coodanup house is quite a small place, the area under the roof is 148m2. To put that into perspective the South Yunderup house was 380m2 and the Mandurah Reno house presently at 123m2.

After the renovation is completed that will increase to 230m2, of which 34m2 comprises of the new Studio Room & 73m2 of Indoor/Outdoor/Alfresco area. So still fairly compact.

The second stage of the Mandurah House fence going up.

The new fence looks terrific. The concrete slabs for the Indoor/Outdoor area & Studio will be laid on Saturday this week, weather permitting.

At the moment Jenny & I are in the doldrums, I know it's hard to believe but we are feeling pretty flat. There are some family problems in the background which I don't wish to discuss on this blog at the moment. 

These issues are currently holding us back from hitting the road ? Also I think preparing & selling our former SY house took a lot of energy. Being the middle of winter isn't helping the cause either.

Jenny has postponed her next bit of elective surgery until early August. It was supposed to happen yesterday, but she had some valid concerns about the procedure so sorted out a second opinion. The Doctor says she will be all good for our India Tour in October.

So it looks like we will just stay in this "holding pattern" for awhile. It's time to get back on our bikes (all of them) and explore the cycle trails & back roads of this new area. We also have to get our butts into gear and get back to our Gym. Which is less then a kilometre from our current home. 

The NBN installer, just about finished. We are back on line.

On a positive note we now are on the National Broadband Network & have excellent Internet .... yippee !

(We've Got Too) Move It, Move It !

Today, Wednesday, 29/06/16, South Yunderup House, Settlement Day !

Goodbye SY House thanks for the wonderful ride, team wiljen, 2005 to 2016.

Steve, Bill & Will, enjoy the last sunset.

Our last night ever, Stacey enjoys the view one last time.

Firstly, let me take you back a few days-

Monday 27th of June: "Hey Jen, are you ready for this" ?

The big move begins, in rolls the Mandurah City Removals (MCR) truck, Paul & Angelo (both look older then me) jump out & spend the next 8 hours loading and shifting our worldly "Stuff".

Come on Paul, lets get this show on the road.

Loading up.

Let's load up the big hallway at South Yunderup, one last time.

Our big hallway comes in handy once again, we were often told it was to big...what would the doomsayers know about bike expeditions & furniture removal !

Due to a miscommunication problem we were under (& still are) the impression that the quote for $1050 was for packing & moving our "Stuff". So not overly impressed with the MCR Management. Next time we deal with a Furniture Removalist we'll request a clearer quote and ask more questions.

Apart from having to spend the weekend packing all our own "Stuff" the rest of the shift went reasonably smoothly, only one broken pot plant.

First drop off was the Shed at the Mandurah Reno House, where we dumped "Super Duper Important Stuff" that maybe used or sold in 6 months time. Then over to our new home for the next 6 months, 2kms away in Coodanup (outskirts of Mandurah, WA).

First furniture drop off at Reno House.

Then it was a case of spending our first night sleeping in our new place, that had been hurriedly cleaned. It smells faintly of pet dogs & cigarettes.... Oh Dear, Jen & I have quite high expectations ! Help get us ready for India I guess !

Dixybus has a new home. Typical rental home back yard, nice looking lemon tree.

Jenny relaxing at our former Mandurah rental property. Now our Home, it feels small compared to the last place, good preparation for our future housing expectations.

Tuesday: what can I say, I spend 10 hours cleaning & packing the SY house. Jenny had a Doctors appointment up in Subiaco, Perth, so could only help for 6 hours with her sore right knee. Come the end of the day we jammed everything leftover into our Landcruiser, piled the Trailer sky high, even had to chuck Jen's bike "Black Betty" (BB) onto the Landcruiser's roof rack.

It rained heaps on house cleaning day... bummer.

"The Grand Room" empty now.

Paul from Mandurah ABC Carpet & Window Cleaning was invaluable, we use to use him at the Roadhouse as well. Top Bloke.

Our bedroom carpet after the clean, came up a treat. Oh nice mood lighting:-)

How many times have I mopped this humongous floor in the past ??? Last time !

Job Done......! Goodbye to our old trusty family canal home !

We smashed out this job, time to put on my bike riding gear & blow this place.

Just after 5pm I jumped onto my Yamaha Super Tenere 1200, while Jenny piloted the Landcruiser/Trailer combo and we both raced a big thunderstorm the 20kms to the "ex Investment Rental house".

I just beat the storm home on my big motorbike, but as Jen pulled up in the Toyota Cruiser, the heavens opened up. Jenny quickly found a tarp to chuck over our "valuable stuff" in the trailer. While I quickly got BB bicycle off the roof rack.

"No photos, absolutely shattered, went to the Silver Sands Tavern for dinner "

Today: What can I say, feeling minimal emotions, we head out to South Yunderup on a road we have driven many thousands of times. Wow this is the final trip out there. Anna & Stewart, rock up half an hour late, we spend 45 minutes doing the settlement/handover, me the paparazzi King can't even feel the motivation to do a final photo, here's the keys guys, see you later !

Ariel Photo of where we use to live. Gave the pic to the new owners.

Ok, Will & Jenny will miss this view. But we only have one life so onwards !

So that's how you do it folks, to sell a house, fix it up, advertise it on the Internet, sell it, get your cash & do it again....sounds simple hey ! I'll tell you all right now it's NOT !!!

Stopped by the Reno House today (Wednesday 29th June) north fence has been removed....great !

This next part wasn't in the initial plan for 2016 but since our tenants deserted us we have decided to now tidy up our investment rental & sell that as well. Obviously Jenny & I will try to time it with our future "Home Base" being completed first, so we aren't left homeless......yeah righto, that's not how Straya Animals, team wiljen operate.....catch ya all soon :-)

That's right, Dixybus the VeeDub Kombi is finished & copped a new "Road Warrior" scar.