Kitty Kat and Owel picked up the new bus from North Richmond on the 6th November 2018. This beautiful old bus, a 1989 Mercedes Benz, was mostly fitted out and certified. We, of course, plan to make many changes.
We had a pre-purchase inspection done at the time. The guy was very thorough and identified a few small issues, to be expected on a 29 year-old school bus, originally operating in Ulladulla NSW. It only had 265,000 kays on the clock, so it was “just run in”.
The indicators were not functioning, the cooling system header tank hose had a small leak and we had about a three hour drive through peak commute time, along the notorious Pennant Hills Road and M1 expressway. Oh, and you need an MR truck license to drive this bad boy. As it happens, Owel has a higher qualified HR license, but many winters have passed since he last drove a heavy vehicle. Merci is rated at 16 tonnes, 12.4 meters (40 foot) long, there were a few things to get used to.
We had to have a name, our Prado is called Pradi. So, it is our pleasure to introduce Merci.
A so begins the preparations for The Life We Dig… and Owel did not hit the pole!