The Odyssey

A journey of mystery, adventure, discovery and renewal. by Leone & John Fabre (V18030)

The Big Decision
Our Goals
Packing & Planning


PART 1 - THE BIG DECISION

Will we or won't we?

Now or later?

Should we wait?

What about the house?

Yes, it is a big decision............and yes I am talking about “hitting the road” - doing the big trip around this great big beautiful country of ours - for up to twelve months.

It is now the first week of September (2001) and we (as in John and Leone) are sitting around the table discussing the possibility of a trip such as this “in about 5 years”.

But then we started to consider the idea of taking off about this time next year.

Could it be possible?

There are many things to take into consideration - in particular our jobs - which are very important to both of us. Neither of us being of retirement age - well not yet anyway! Yet financially we need to have some form of employment, especially as the mortgage still needs attending to on a monthly basis!

Then we started to think that perhaps we were being a bit too ambitious, maybe we should wait until we retire “in about 5 years”.

Much to think about!

By the third week of September we had had many discussions on the idea of travelling around Australia and the practicalities of doing so - we both love to travel and to be able to have 12 months to do so seems as though it is just a dream.

Most of the time we talked about our families - in particular our mothers, as they are both in nursing homes and neither being of good health. We would miss visiting them on a regular basis, we would also miss the close relationship that we have with our families and friends, a very big consideration.

We also did a lot of talking about finances - John is far more practical than I am, as he is the one that is concerned more about the financial arrangements of such a venture. We have spent a lifetime believing in building a debt free, secure future where we can have assets to look after our older years. To break away from this ingrained value system is difficult to do and certainly not overnight.

We also started to consider our health. Would we still be fit and healthy enough for such a trip “in about 5 years”.

No-one can answer that, no-one knows what will happen next week or even tomorrow.

So the discussion continues over the following week and we start to realize that to do such a trip earlier rather than later, certainly has its merits. So another decision is made: we now plan to leave by mid-March. March 17 is not only St Patrick's day, but also John's birthday. A good goal to work towards!

I have failed to mention another reason as to why we should leave in March. I was diagnosed with cancer in the breast and lymph glands last June, I am now in the middle of chemotherapy. By early January I will be starting 6 weeks of radiotherapy. That then takes me into March, what better reason - or goal - could we have eh?

But of course we continually come up with the question of how are we going to manage financially.

We cannot decide what to do with our home at Bonbeach. Should we sell? We love our home by the beach here in Melbourne and have lived there for over 4 years. We even thought of renting it out - but just as quickly decided against it. More thinking needed here.

We are now towards the end of September.

After much discussion we realize that we will have to sell our home as we need to have enough money to purchase a motorhome suitable for both of us, “our two little boys” (Oscar and Poky) and to live in for a period of 12 months.

We had considered a pre-loved vehicle, but decided against it as we didn't want to purchase anyone else's problems. A new vehicle seemed to be the answer and would have a better re-sale value on our return.

We already have a campervan - but too small and unsuitable for such a trip. That is also to go on the market! Can't believe we are disposing of our home and campervan - our most precious items!! What has come over us???

Like most of us, we also have seen many motorhomes and campervans, at camping shows, rallies, sale yards and in caravan parks. But to us, the “Sunliners” have always stood out amongst the best. We are impressed with the quality of the fittings, the workmanship and the practical use of space and storage. It was in April of this year that we first saw the Sunliner Eurosports - and yes we were impressed!

Now of course another decision had to be made. Would this be the vehicle that would be suitable for us for 12 months?

Looks like another trip out to Sunliner!

Didn't take us long to sign on the dotted line - next we have to decide on fabrics and colors - but more about that later.

That weekend we talked about our jobs and what we would do on our return. We thought that to resign would really be our only option. We discussed this with our employers - which resulted in both of us being granted 12 months leave without pay. How lucky can we be?

So here we are - the last weekend in September and all those decisions behind us - can hardly wait to see what the future will now bring!!!

In summary, the decisions made were:

* Circumstances dictated that we go against our belief of wealth accumulation and live for the moment.

* NOW means in the coming weeks, not years or decades.

* This goal can only be made possible by selling our much loved home.

* The vehicle we choose has to excel in features, comfort and reliability.

We have called this trip -

John and Leone's Odyssey

A journey of mystery, adventure, discovery and renewal.

PART 2 - OUR GOALS

A journey of mystery, adventure, discovery and renewal.

In our previous article titled "The Big Decision", we made the decision to sell our home, purchase a new motorhome and travel around Australia for 12 months.

To recap somewhat, we were going about our lives like 'normal' coastal suburban dwellers, content with our career goals, about 10 years away from retirement and doing our best to build a nest egg. The plans were, on retirement we would be able to afford seeing our beautiful country and better still spend some time meeting folks far and wide.

We had experienced quite a bit of family trauma with both our Mothers taken ill and now in nursing homes. This is a very painful time to anyone who has experienced this. This is when you discover that as you get older you assume different responsibilities. Just when we thought we had become accustomed to the new routine "which Mum are we seeing tonight, my Mum or yours?" some added bad news.

Our daughter in Brisbane has taken ill and requires surgery. Being somewhat resilient we rally to help and somehow everything turns out OK.…phew….back to the routine.…that's right, "which Mum are we seeing tonight, my Mum or yours?". Then quite unexpectedly Leone is diagnosed with breast cancer. Within a week she undergoes surgery and will require eight months of treatment.

Within a week, our strategy of wealth accumulation, retirement plans, and even musings of investments seemed tragically amiss.

Our plans for the future suddenly seemed incoherent and delusional to the extreme. Now wasn't the time to think of our egos, wallets, and capital wealth. No. As part of Leone's recovery from surgery, she would walk around the hospital and we would both walk in the garden across the road, we then began to question whether we were getting the best value out of life.

How suddenly the brakes were applied and we came to a stop. You see we started to talk about the flowers, the fresh air and remembering the vivid scenery and characters we had encountered on our recent holiday along the east coast, in April 2001. May be its time to re-calibrate the ambitions? What do we really value? We were in need of healing (by now we were drawing on emotional reserves, big time). We were both exhausted physically and emotionally. Not to mention spiritually, pretty shabby.

Then emerged the idea of the big trip, twelve months around Australia. Why not now? Well why not?…….and so the Odyssey was given birth. It feels so right and suddenly we became alive by doing things that had we created the opportunity we would probably have wanted to do before. Leone wants to complete a book of her experience with breast cancer; and having just completed his PHd John wanted to translate his academic musings into something that others could read and enjoy, and so a project was coming to life.

Twelve months is not a long time when you give yourself permission to do things that would ordinarily have taken a lesser priority. So what would we like to achieve by the time we come back and how would we like to have described the way we went about our Odyssey.

We believe that when faced with many of life's challenges, (like we had been recently), there is a tendency to resort to big picture explanation to help us make sense of what's happening. Take note next time you throw your arms up in the air and declare 'that's life!'.

Well you need a plan. We didn't want a to-do list of where we were going to be or what we were going to do but rather some principles from which to guide our time for the next 12 months. The problem here is that you forget the simple pleasures of the moment. How we noticed that we had become adept and comfortable dealing with crises, bad news, illnesses and the list goes on. What we found was that we were no longer smiling as much but frowning and feeling quite heavy.

A few of the pleasures we intend to enjoy are:
Walking our dogs along a secluded beach.
Watch and enjoy the many sunrise's along the way.
Be able to wander in a park or along a bush track, with no concern of time.
Sitting outside, reading a book with a gentle breeze blowing.
Listening to music - enjoying the time to appreciate it.
Writing - letters to friends and relatives - a lost art these days!
Meeting many people along the way.

So here is the first guiding principle: Live the moment - for the simple pleasures (enjoy)

We had become accustomed to a pattern of living that was comfortable. I don't mean financial wealth. I mean the complacency, which comes from the doing the same things day in, day out. We felt we had lost a sense of spontaneity. So the second guiding principle: Be Adventurous - the challenge of the unknown (excitement)

But to simply be adventurous and live the moment would be like a bee getting drunk on the most scrumptious elixir of pollens in the Spring. When buzzing around the country we are going to also meet other folks and enjoy their company. So the third guiding principle: Strengthen relationship with each other (renewal)

Wait there's more…we believe that mind, body and soul need to always be harmonized. For too long the body and the spirit had been neglected in favor of getting on with attending to time challenged days where we never completed a day without something having not been completed. It will have to keep for tomorrow. Alas tomorrow comes and the vicious cycle starts again. So for the fourth principle: Recover physical, psychological & spiritual wellbeing (growth)

Now comes the challenge. How to learn with our hearts, our minds and senses. Australia is sure to be more than a vivid tapestry of glorious landscapes and people of various backgrounds and interests. We are sure to find that people, music, flowers and foods will also allow new understanding. Now comes the fifth principle: Extend intellectually (learn)

Last but not least we believe that to be genuine to others you have to be genuine to yourself. We hope to be able to come back and say something is better about us because of what we have done; the way we did it and the reasons we did it for. Our last principle: Strengthen integrity (be true to yourself)

What about fun you say? Well we think that 12 months travelling around Oz, together with Oscar & Poky, in our new Sunliner Eurosports, meeting folks along the way, exchanging tales, seeing new places, revisiting old places, not knowing what is around the next corner, with no itinerary, is a recipe for experiencing a real life - that's fun.

..……..and so this Odyssey of ours is to start from Melbourne in March 2002.

Our new motorhome has arrived at the Sunliner factory. Fabrics and colours have been chosen and work is to start on it soon, ready for pick-up by the end of January.

Our home has now been sold. Our campervan is also on the market and advertised in The Wanderer. We have taken a self-storage unit for 12 months and already have started packing and storing un-needed items like boxes of books!

So there is movement afoot in the Fabre household!

…………………………………but you will have to wait now to hear the rest of the story!

PART 3 - PACKING and PLANNING


What.........THE SHED?

No! No! not the shed ..... please!

........and so the sorting and packing begins for John.

His beloved shed!!

I am sure only "the blokes" out there have an understanding of the pain that John went through - but after months of procrastinating he actually got most of it done in 2 days. I kept well out of the way - I couldn't bare to see such pain!!

His "shed" is now reduced to a tool box the size of a large car fridge (esky). The rest of his "bits and pieces" are in the self-storage unit.

To bring you up to date on the events that have taken place in the past few months:

See first article titled, "The Big Decision" and the second article, "Our Goals".

In summary, we - as in John and Leone - have sold our home and our 4 x 4 campervan, purchased a new Sunliner Eurosports Motorhome, taken 12 months leave from work and intend to travel Australia from March 2002.

Having sold our home at Bonbeach - a bayside suburb of Melbourne - means we need to pack and store most of our furniture and all the other bits and pieces that make up a home.

We rented a self-storage unit a couple of months back, so that as we pack we can make a weekly trip to the unit and can then start to see how much it will hold and what we need to dispose of.
The size of our unit is about the size of a shipping container - 6m x 2m x 3m and the cost is $145 PM - 12 mths total is $1740. We are using McClellands Storage in Langwarrin and they also supply sturdy packing boxes.

So far everything is fitting in OK - so far!!

Near the front of the unit, we have placed a clipboard with a list of the numbered boxes and what each box contains. Each time we go, that list is replaced. The original list is on the computer and kept up to date as each box is packed and numbered.

Beside the clipboard, there is a small plastic box, it contains pencils, packing tape, string, scissors, sharp knife and marker pens. Already this has come in handy as we have opened a box for a music book that was not meant to be stored! But the items in the little plastic box allowed it to be repacked and sealed whilst at storage.

I also purchased a couple of bags of "moth balls" at the local $2 shop and have liberally sprinkled them around the unit. The smell is a bit overpowering, but hopefully by the time we return next year, we will not be faced with moth eaten books or clothing.

The packing up of any home can be painful. Lots of memories being put in storage for 12 months or perhaps even being thrown out! For us, trying to sort out what to take with us, what to put in storage, or what to throw out is no easy task. On a few occasions it has come down to "when in doubt, throw it out".

Amazing what we have accumulated or kept in the past - just in case we need it one day! But does that day ever come?

We have also packed a couple of suitcases. One with enough warm clothes, shoes, jackets etc for our 3 week visit to Melbourne in August (in the depth of winter!). This bag is kept at the front of the storage unit so can be easily picked up upon our arrival.

The second bag contains a full set of clothes for each of us and is left at a relative's home, if we need to return to Melbourne unexpectedly.

So our packing is well under way - and as I write this it is only 8 weeks till we leave Melbourne!

We have a map of Australia on the wall in the hallway. I gave John 15 thumb tacks and myself the same - each of us put the tacks on places we would like to visit. Then I joined them up with string - so we have a very basic route to follow. But I can see that will change on a daily basis!

Then I used yellow "post it" notes of where we would like to be at particular times of the year. Not that we are trying to stick to a timetable, but there are places we want to be at certain times. One is in April when John will do some work in Brisbane, another is the CMCA rally in May, then perhaps we will be in Broome by early August - just the place to fly home from for those 3 weeks! Then of course there is the next CMCA rally in Northam in September and the Solar Eclipse at Ceduna in early December - goodness me, did I say we will be away just 12 months?

We also have a hardcover A5 size book with the alphabet down one side. In this I write down places of interest in alphabetical order. Most of these places of interest I have obtained from various mailing lists, personal websites and The Wanderer. The sections titled "News in brief" and "Member recommended - Parks and Services", plus the articles written by members themselves have been very helpful.

John has been busy sorting out the financial side of things. Superannuation, Insurance, Registration, Medicare, Tattslotto and banking all have to be taken care of, and we only leant this week that our Tattslotto can be renewed over the internet - what a bonus!

John has also spent a lot of time deciding on what notebook (computer) to purchase. There are so many on the market and most do not fit all our requirements! Which one we end up purchasing will be decided in the next week or two. We are taking both the scanner and printer with us and are they being fitted securely into their own cupboard in the new motorhome.

A lot of thought has also gone into what form of communication system we will use. But as we haven't finally made a decision on that - we will let you know all about that next time!

We sold our 4 x 4 Triton Campervan to a couple from Queensland through The Wanderer and the CMCA Website. They will be flying to Melbourne in February to pick it up. It will be sad to see it depart as we had many great trips in it. But time to move on and into our new Motorhome……….

The Sunliner Eurosports is nearly ready to be picked up. We were at the factory last week and still impressed with the workmanship and care that is being taken. The Inverter is in, the gas hot water installed, the BBQ is connected, the lights are just where we want them and they are making a "special" step beside the bed for my short legs! Kevin, Dom, Tony, Nick, Shaun and the rest of the crew really do go out of their way to help and advise you. We wanted two skylights, an air conditioner and a solar panel to go on top…….….at first they thought it wouldn't all fit, but after much discussion and a play with the "jig saw", it all came together very well.

They will be glad to see the last of us I am sure - we had so many questions. But, like everyone else, it is a big expense and we all want to make sure we are getting exactly what we want and need.
Soon we will be on the road and will then be able to tell you if it is right vehicle for the trip - if not, well it will be bit late for us by then - but not for you!

Catch up with you soon………..