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Hi everyone this is our home of the last 7 years. Aussie Pride is an ex school bus which we converted ourselves. Its a 1980 Bedford Domino with an Isuzu 6cyl Turbo Diesel with a Bedford Smot Box.. Fully equipped for free camping the tropical roof is covered in solar panels and we have 5x100amp/hr Deep Cycle Gel Batteries. This is enough to run a small 12v fridge and an 12v 80ltr tuckerbox type freezer. 2 TVs numerous chargers throughout the bus and all our led lighting. We have a small inverter 600w that runs my twin tub washer and electrical appliances and a larger inverter 2500w which I think we have used once in the last 7 years.Carry approx. 250lt water and a grey water tank for those times when the water cant go on the ground. The ole girls has clocked up quite a few miles over the years and we try and do improvements yearly to keep her well maintained. While stopped in Adelaide we had all the leaf springs retentioned and another 2 springs added which lifted the rear up about 150 mm .. Put a new Turbo in while in the outback and worked in a new clutch to improve the gear changes. She has a 2 kw Planar Diesel Heater that keeps us warm when the temps get down and a little window air con for when we need it. Though were rarely anywhere near a powerpoint so our 12v Sirocco fans do the trick. We have gas hot water which lives outside under the bus and Gas cooking. I designed and built the solar system after a great deal of reading and research. And these are our furbabies Nomad the big boofhead male and his lady Gypsy.

Max 3 pictures so this is Gypsy

Love the old Bedfords! Good conversion too Allen.
Is Gipsy a mum or has been? She looks a bit 'maternal'?

Hi Gypsy and boofhead, nice to meet you.

Hi Allen, very neat looking conversion, is it a front mount or centre mount engine? The Domino Hedges came with either set up and the aluminium strips up the middle look like the centre is possibly removable pointing towards a centre mount. Much quieter driving but a right mongrel to work on the engine and get the gear shift sorted. All the centre mounts we had at the bus companies I've worked at ended up converted to 4 sp Alison Auto and made life a lot easier with the gearshift and clutch issues and no more centre mount bushed being torn out when the wrong gear was selected and the clutch doing the usual savage release after binding up some where in the linkages.

Gooday everyone from Nomad and Gypsy. Hi Bruce yes Gypsy would be a great little mum only poor old frustrated Nomad has been trying for 4 yrs and still cant work out what he needs to do, apparently this is quite common with Staffs, so its off to the vet with Gypsy in the next few weeks, as we cant watch Nomad suffer in silence any longer..lol. As for the Beddy Terry YES she is a MID MOUNT and agree a total mongrel to work on at times. 4 sp Alison Auto hey will keep that in mind.. The floor has been raised about 4 inches in the centre to make it easier to walk around and it worked really well. The inspection hatches are still there but would be a right pain if we need to access through there, so far so good. the aluminium strips are solely to keep the lino down and in place. Have kept it open plan as we have seen many closed in with lots of walls and doors and we found them quite claustrophobic. In the back is an emergency exit window behind the bed just unclip and push out and 2 large wind out windows in case of emergency. Have seen a few with front kitchens and no rear exit no even a window to climb out.... bit scary.

Allen,

I have a Comair SB3 with a 6BG1 TC and an Isuzu six speed overdrive.

Does about 90ks at 2200 ish.

Nice jon_d do you have a pic.. My ole girl will sit on 100k but I let her pick her speed and she likes to cruise on 95 , we spend a lot of time in the north and outback so I fitted a thermo fan in front of the radiator to keep her cool, work like a dream, especially when the temps get up there.. 6 speed overdrive that would be nice. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have that extra gear.

Allen now here is the answer to poor Boofs problem. Many "virgin" dogs (male and female) you have to position him when the time is right then he will get the idea. Never leave dogs to "just get on with it" because many accidents can happen ie broken shafts But on the other hand the world doesn't need any more puppies so good thinking to get the Gypsy fixed up save her from any nasties later on which a lot of non desexed female dogs get. Boof may even be better off getting the chop as well

Dot..we tried to help Nomad but as soon as we did he would stop...didnt like onlookers...yes better she get fixed. Will get Nomad done to at a later stage