We say a sad farewell to the Bunyip and return to Australia

I have been procrastinating ?

It has been nearly 2 months that we returned from our travels and I haven’t posted our final blog. Why you may ask? Have I been lazy? NO Have I been busy? NO Did my computer break down? NO Then why. I have been procrastinating and putting off the final post as it will mean the end has come. Not the end times or the apocalypse but the end of our European travels in our beloved Bunyip. To post our final blog a chapter of our lives has finished. Enough procrastinating, I will definitely finish today, or will I?

The Last Waltz Tour Completed

It was back in 2009 that our travels in our motorhome “the Bunyip” first started. Little did we realize how much of an adventure we would undertake. With eleven trips, traveling through 42 countries, seeing some amazing sights and meeting plenty of friendly and interesting people. We did call this our Last Waltz Tour. As the song goes “the Last Waltz was through, but that don’t mean the party is over”. We still have travel plans and will use our Australian camper van “Scamp” a bit more. If you haven’t seen our blog where we introduced Scamp, CLICK HERE. 

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Scamp on one of its first outings, Mt Monster.

Final Pieces to the Jigsaw.

When planning our trip this year we looked at all the European countries that we have visited, with the Bunyip and on other trips and two countries that we had not visited were Ireland and Wales. These were the last pieces to complete the puzzle. There are only 4 European countries that we have not visited and they are the Ukraine and Belarus, visa issues made it hard to travel there and Malta and Iceland, both islands and not cheap to take our motorhome.

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This sticker map was on the bonnet of the Bunyip and we would fill in the countries when we visited. Ireland was the last abtainable sticker left to put on. With Clyde's help we removed the sticker, with great difficulty.

Our 2023 Europe Trip Map

Have finally put together our trip map. I have placed two icon, the kangaroo are places that we have stayed overnight and the motorhome icon are places of interest that we have visited. The map is interactive, you can zoom in and out and move it around. Click on an icon and you will see a photo and breif description, where it says” look at the blog“, click on that and it will take you to the blog post associated with the place. 

We now have a Youtube channel.

This year we have in our posts put in some videos, to do this we had to make a YouTube channel. If you want to see our videos, go to YouTube and type in Travelbunyip. We took our drone along “The Angry Wasp” as well as our dashcam and phones and put together some footage. We are still beginners and be kind as some of the filming and editing need improvement. We hope to make more videos of our future travels. Subscribe to be kept up to date.

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This is what our Youtube channel header looks like. On a computer it will also have "The Bunyip" and "Scamp" on either side.

Farewell Bunyip

During this years travels we spent some time preparing the Bunyip to be sold, tidying up and removing the stickers. The Bunyip has been sold and we hope that the new owners get as much pleasure out of it as we have. Since 2009 the Bunyip has been on 17 trips and covered over 140,000 kilometers. We have done 11 trips, Sam and Sue one trip, Helen and John 3 trips and Luke with Karen and the family have done 2 trips. Below are a couple of photos to pay tribute to the Bunyip.

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This is the first photo of the Bunyip in 2009. Still has the trade plates on. Looks very plain, we needed to pimp it to look more Australian. With dutch number plates everyone though we were dutch.
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Jenny on the scafolding in preparation to put the large sticker on the front.
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Jenny and cousin Ewoud puting the letters that would read "We come from a land down under"
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The front sticker is on. Thanks to Remko for doing the artwork for us. Even with this sticker on some people thought that we were dutch. Well i am dutch by birth but lived in Australia since I was two.
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Kangaroos hopping on the side of the van.
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The kangroo road sign is authentic, and no I didn't steal it , it was given to us by a council worker in Victoria.
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Over the years other stickers would adorn the back of the van.
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The Bunyip at the top of the Transfagarasan Highway , Romania. This is the photo that I use for artwork and logo.
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We did have some mishaps. I backed into something solid.
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Did some repairs, turned out stronger than before.
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Went through 2 x sets of tyres. Once in Spain and then latter in Slovenia.
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This tyre shredded on the motorway in Slovenia. We thought is time to change the tyres!!
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The step was in need of repair and Martin and Ewout re-inforced it with a piece of heavy angle iron. Since the repairs it never gave us any troubles.
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Moroccan fridge repairman having a look at our fridge. He was a friend of a friend and didn't charge us. He also didn't fix it, that was later done in Romania.
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The Bunyip has been parked in some amazing places. Here we are in the Sahara Desert, Morocco.
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We spent many nights parked in forests.
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Marina's have been a good source of overnight parking. This marina provided showers and parking for 5 Euros. What a great view we had.
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The Bunyip has spent many nights parked on a beach.
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We mostly traveled in the summer months but here in Fussen it snowed overnight. We were very thankful for our heater.
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Not all of our parking places were in glamous locations. We have spent many nights in car parks. Here we are in a carpark in central Belfast, not pretty but very close to the centre of the city.
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The Bunyip was often a drawcard and we met many people who were facinated that we were Australians driving a motorhome in Europe. This family from Moldova came back and gave us a bottle of Moldovian wine, very generous.
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The mini city of all our orniments from places visited interested many people. This group of people are from Transnistria.
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This is the Bunyip after we had taken all the stickers off. Looks a bit naked.
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Kangaroo sign gone and the stickers.
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Kangaroo stickers all gone, back to it's original form.

Bunyip you have been good to us - Long may you run.

Thank You

Our thank go to the Brand Family who have supported us through this journey. Our cousin Martin was responsible for the housing, registration and insuring our Bunyip. Unfortunately Martin passed away a couple of years ago and his brother Ewoud took over these responsibilities. Thank you both and you families for your hospitality as before and after our trips we stayed in their houses.

Thanks go to the many people we have met during our travels who have befriended us and welcomed us into your homes.

Lastly thanks to all who have taken the time to read our blog posts. Over the years we have posted 374 Blogs, hopefully our travels will continue and there will be more of them.

Our next Trip

On a lighter note we have booked a trip to the Mundi Mundi music festival. This is located in the desert near Broken Hill.  We will be taking Scamp for this trip. We attended this festival last year had a great time, hopefully this year will be just as good or even better. We will keep you posted. Cheers Ewout and Jenny

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Chantal and Camo Leeder August 15, 2023 Reply

    Great farewell post! The Bunyip has served you well over the years. We enjoyed meeting you both on your travels!

  2. Clunegapyears August 15, 2023 Reply

    End of an era. Very sad to have read the last of your European trips. They’ve inspired us and given us the confidence to explore some countries we were nervous about. As we live in Crete, Greece, we followed your example of giving gifts for kindness. Not a kangaroo, but Cretan olive oil.
    Safe travels in Scamp.

  3. ewoud Brand August 16, 2023 Reply

    Mooi overzicht en verhaal van je reizen. Met de linken en zo. Jullie hebben mooi reizen gemaakt waar velen, ook ik, jaloers op (zullen) zijn. Nice overview and story of your travels. With the links and stuff. You have made beautiful trips that many, including me, are (or will be) jealous of.

  4. Michael + Pam August 16, 2023 Reply

    J + E
    Your travels inspired us to purchase our Hymer 10 years ago. Looking forward to catching up with you both in Aus some time soon.
    M+P

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