Here’s a little bit of thinking out loud that has been occupying my mind recently brought on by listening to the communal camp laundry room chatter about various things some of the other ’residents’ have picked up in their travels and then made good use of. Not necessarily as they were first intended for.
Under the tree covered by a huge cream sun screen on the front and enormous maroon screens along its side is a bus. A very big bus and going by its shape and the sound its engine made when it came in a while ago a very old refurbished bus. Unfortunately that’s all I can show you as the owner has placed a fence along the open side of his site (just visible on the right) which discourages other ‘campers’ from chatting and ‘having a look’ at something different. Camp kitchen chatter has it that as well as a home on wheels it also has been adapted to transport a very small car…..(inside) via a back entrance rather than being towed along behind (outside)
A few years ago we had a speaker at Probus from a bus company, one that had begun in another suburb, had been growing steadily over the years and not long before the talk had bought out the local bus company….. Actually he was a good speaker, gearing his presentation towards an older audience (one who’d grown up using public transport rather than their own wheels right from the start) once he got going I think a lot of the initial resentment about ‘our bus routes being altered by his company’ dissolved especially when he explained that they weren’t just serving the hills community but an extensive area of the eastern suburbs so it made sense to extend routes to other destinations instead of just going up the mountain and back to Croydon railway station. Some people bought it – others didn’t but that’s the way it goes with change isn’t it.
Anyway after describing the lovely new fleet they had invested in someone asked about the old buses, did they sell them, where did they go. To Pacific Island nations, they are used to older stock, know how to service and maintain them.
“We have also donated 4 buses and trained female drivers to go Port Moresby for the UN Women’s safe city program, so female residents can travel on female only buses without the fear of violence. We have sent a bus to Pacific Island Kiribati to transport students with different abilities to school.” source
Bowen’s harbour/marina is used for commercial fishing boats as well recreational boats and yachts. Daft as it might seem I often drive down there to see what’s to be seen – it’s fascinating for me – who lives closer to the hills than the sea 😋
And look what I found over near the public slip way, away from what….at the end of the day….sometimes appears to be ’organised chaos’
A Ragamuffin in Bowen!
I knew the name but couldn’t place her
A former maxi yacht sitting there quietly (and sedately) looking quite forlorn. After retiring from racing she was turned into a ’pleasure craft’ – taking on young passengers wanting a ‘fun intimate sailing experience’ Sadly she’s been retired from that also.
Hopefully it won’t be long before she’s sailing again
https://sailing-whitsundays.com/article/ragamuffin-ii-whitsundays-history.
https://sailing-whitsundays.com/article/ragamuffin-2-sailing-tour
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Early Monday morning cup of tea time has me thinking about all the bits and pieces the caravaners have appropriated with the words Recycle ~ Reuse ~ Repurpose running through my head
I’m also wondering about the big old bus, the bus line’s old fleet and the sailing boat. Have they been recycled, reused or repurposed? What do you think?
Linking to Life the Week hosted by Denyse at Denyse Whelan Blogs.
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Still Waters 