My last 12 months of luxury road tripping around Australia have come to an end! The beautiful Butteryfly has been returned to its owner, Ros, and I have transferred my life back to Brutus the Beast.

It’s taken a bit of getting used to moving back into a manual gear shift from the ease of automatic; no air con now either for those hot days driving; having to pop the roof rather than just stepping in for full head height and missing all the other little luxuries that come with a 2020 Mercedes Sprinter that probably weren’t even thought of when my 1986 Ford Econovan was fitted out as a motorhome.

Brutus and I have enjoyed some wonderful adventures together over the last 10 years and hopefully will enjoy many more in years to come BUT …

… within a week of settling back in he refused to go any further without some TLC. A flat tyre that couldn’t be fixed was replaced with a new one and then … on to the tow truck to the mechanic when he just wouldn’t start. Turned out to be water in the fuel tank caused by condensation build up during 12 months of storage!

Every day is a learning experience and my lesson today is – never leave a nearly empty fuel tank when putting a vehicle into storage. The more room in the tank the more opportunity for condensation to build up. The mechanics drained 1 1/2 litres of water out before Brutus decided to play nice and get me back on the road.

Once again I’m a happy camper!