We're aliveeee

So much has happened since the last time I blogged...not least a massive earthquake in my home town which caused major damage. In some ways it would have been nice to have been there...if only to show people hoe conveinient it is pod dwelling as we would have been able to pack up and move to safety so easily. The subsequent earthquakes since would not have been very fun though. My poor wee city that I love so much is so changed. I hardly recognise it in photos. And they've had over 3000 quakes since the first one in October. They're still calling them aftershocks!

The pod people haven't disappeared. Since I came over in July we've been very busy, with very few days off. We've spent the last few months working (I've been helping Podboy on job sites). It's been good for the savings account and the credit cards...but not so great for us as we've had very little time to play! And as you know, vandwelling usually gives a lot of time for play.

However, we have made a lot of changes to the pod and I'll pop some photos up so you can see all that we've done.

We've changed the kitchen...actually I built all the shelves and have designed it so that I can access the fridge by only moving one thing. This is an epic accomplishment as we used to have to almost totally unpack the kitchen side of the trailer to get to it. We still haven't got it sorted to run off 12v but we're workign on it. We have all the things we need to make it happen, we just haven't had time yet. So we're still plugging it in during the day and then letting it stay cool by itself at night. If we don't have access to power during the day we sometimes put a bag of ice in it which lasts about 3 days in there. But Podboy is lucky as he has unlimited power whenever he's at work! We also have a brand new stove but I don't have any photos of that (I haven't even used it yet!).

In the picture above you can see the shelves really well...however the lower part of the trailer is now much more organised and has way less clutter!

We also got a new Webber which we're storing on the tyres. I can't work out it it's hobo hobo or hobo chic: I'll let you work it out ;)

We've also put air vents into the roof of the van. They're solar powered and make a lovely wee hum when they're spinning. I'm not sure yet how much of a difference they really make to the van as the weather has been awful ever since we put them in...but they are making a difference to the condensation. We actually have no more condensation problems which is wonderful. It was starting to truly annoy me!

Another thing we've done is put solar panels on the roof of the pod. I can't remember the specs, I'll have to ask Podboy...but they are enough for us to never need to plug in our battery again. Since we've had them we've only run out of power once and that was after 4 days of almost no sunlight. We're very happy with them. Thanks ebay!

We're about to take off on a 6-8 week holiday which may mean that the blog gets some more attention! I start work on the 31st of January (yep! registration finally went through so I can now leagally nurse in Australia). My sister has come over and she's staying in the guest bure...a tent on the roof of the trailer.

Podboy and I debated at length about how we would manage to have guests because we knew she really wanted to come on our trip with us. In a very facetious conversation I suggested that we give her a mattress and she could sleep on the trailer...from there the guest bure was born. Podboy built a platform that folds up when we drive and lays flat when we're settled. It is basically three planks of timber with bracing along the bottom to even them out. They have holes at each end which we weave rope through and tie them to the trailer. We then erect the tent and tie the 4 poles to each corner of the trailer. The whole operation takes about 10 minutes to put up and about the same to take down.

Unfortunately we're still in Melbourne for work (hopefully only one more day of it!) and it's turned freezing here. Gale force winds, torrential rain, flash floods and freezing temperatures. It's meant to be summer!! This has meant that it's been very cozy in our bed as my sister has snuggled in next to us. I get very claustrophobic so having a person on either side of me isn't too fun.

Now, for our trip! We're heading west from Melbourne and doing a 12,000km journey through the centre of the desert to Darwin, then to Broome (through the Kimberley) then along the coast to Perth, then all the way back to Melbourne. We'll have Christmas somewhere along the way. So at the moment it's 3 peas, plus one. Yay!

"HI" from all of us in the pod...and especially from Pod dog :