Troupie Adventures

Gday mates,

Hope all is well with you. You will notice that a lot of this post is about the Troupie. It does seem odd that a vehicle should get so much room on a blog but this vehicle is extraordinary. It has been our transportation, our hotel, and our shelter from the many Australian critters. First we must start with the history. About five years ago, Ben traded the Troupie for a motor bike he had with the intention of fixing it up. The "fixing up" stage got significantly prolonged by a trip to Canada which got extended to three years from the 8 month initial plan.

February 2005 - The Troupie gets left behind as Ben goes to Canada

A few weeks before we came over in December, Ben's dad and the neighbor started to work on getting the Troupie functional which was a true transformation. Ben ended up spending about three days doing the finishing touches and here we are today cruising around in our house on wheels.

November 2007 - Things start happening

A new paint job. Ben arrived just in time for the finishing touches.

And tada!!

Since we wrote last, we have been able to catch up with lots of friends in Brisbane. Strangely enough, it rained everyday we were in Brisbane which is odd when there is actually a drought here. The great thing about the rain is that it is warm rain. The "chill you to your bones rain" of Vancouver does not seem to be here.

Roomie reunion - Ben, Jes and Jamie (Ben's brother)

Ben and Christel eating "fairy bread". Fairy bread is an Australia delicacy - fresh white bread spread thick with butter and artistically topped with many many many sprinkles.

Mmmmmm - this is an idea definitely worth taking back to Canada. Cold Rock Ice Cream. You get to choose what flavor of ice cream and then you get to pick mix ins (ie. M&Ms, brownies, gummy bears, etc). Sooooo yummy! We stopped here on our bike ride because it was rainy. Lucky for us it rained a lot of times that day and so we got to sample a lot of different foods.
Where's Waldo - I mean Ben?? Looks like a tree that would make a good horror movie!
Swiss Cheese Racquelette with Pascal and Katrina. We had never had this before. It is highly recommended by us.
We spent one evening with friends Christine and Michael and had a great time catching up!

On the 4th, we ventured over to Fraser Island. It is the world's largest sand island and you can only drive on it with a 4X4 vehicle. Despite it being all sand, it is covered in trees. Fraser Island is beautiful as you will see with the pictures.

This picture does not capture the pot holes that we very plentiful but it does give you an idea of why we needed to be driving a 4x4:) It would be a great story if we had gotten bogged but we didn't and that's probably better in the end.


Our favorite was driving all on the beach. It wasn't as bumpy and the view was incredible.

One of the highlights was all the sounds that the birds and other critters made throughout the day. Kookaburra's have a great laugh and in combination with all the other animals, the woods are alive!! The only real damper on the whole experience was the knowledge that there were many dangerous snakes. It wasn't just our imagination because at one place we stopped, they said that someone had seen a Carpet Python slither up a tree and eat a crow and it's babies the day before. So...we mostly just tried to be safe in our Troupie home whenever it was dark.

Our home away from home. Yes, the bed is not made...

We have been back in Toowoomba with Ben's parents for the last few days and our neice Jordyn has been visiting also. On the weekend, we will depart once again for a trip down the coastline to NewCastle.

Peace to all. Until next time...Ben and Charlene