Couple ditch house to live in vintage bus with dogs – and will welcome baby on board

A couple have shared how they decided to completely change their lifestyle, ditching their home and moving on to a vintage bus to travel around Australia with their dogs

When preparing to welcome a baby, many couples settle down in an apartment or home and deck out a nursery room for their little one.

But when Laurie Brown and her husband Chris have their first child soon, the baby will be living on a vintage bus, instead of a regular two-bed.

That’s because the couple have ditched their regular lifestyle and have moved on to a 1968 Austin vintage bus and are travelling around Australia with their two dogs.

And not only are they having the time of their lives, they are also saving over £800 ($1,500 AUD) on rent each month.

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Originally from Newcastle, Laurie met her husband Chris seven years ago after a successful Tinder swipe and they’ve been living together in Darwin, Australia.

The 34-year-old said: “Chris and I had been in Darwin for a long time and we really wanted a change of lifestyle.

“We had always been interested in tiny homes so we decided to give it a go.

“The bus is like a hotel on wheels and we adapted so well to tiny living.

“Soon it will be Chris and me, our two Moodles, George and Frankie, and our new baby living on the bus.

“It’s going to be a packed bus but we can’t wait.”

She continued to say: “We bought the bus just before coronavirus hit, and when we were halfway through the renovations we found out we were expecting a baby.

“We still wanted to continue with moving on to the bus.

“I am due in two weeks and I am not nervous at all about having a baby while living on the bus.

“We have been travelling around the country for the past two months, but we are going to stick to one place to actually have the baby.”

The couple bought the bus for £5,500 [$8,500 AUD] after coming across it online and immediately falling in love.

The lifestyle works well for them, as Chris who transforms antiques into lamps, is able to run his own business while they are travelling.

The vintage bus perfectly compliments the business, but it does also have all the mod cons they need.

“It took us 18 months to fully complete the transformation of the bus. It has all the mod cons. We have a microwave, shower, air conditioning, a toilet and a washing machine,” said Laurie.

“At the back of the bus we have the toilet and shower area, we then have our bedroom, and then towards the front of the bus we have the kitchen area,

“We don’t need a seating area as we sit outside most of the time.

“Due to the limited amount of space we had to get rid of lots of stuff, but then you realise you don’t really need it anyway and you just had it for the sake of it.

“We can’t wait to continue our travel plans after the baby arrives.”

She added: “Our favourite thing about our life on the bus is that we can just be wherever we want. We have total freedom and no ties.

“For us, we believe that home is where you park it.

“We have everything we need on our bus.

“We love our way of life.”

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