Ready to roll!

A dilapidated old school bus has been given a new lease on life as a mobile holiday home – complete with all the creature comforts.

- Marian van Wyk

‘No ways. Under no circumstances,” was Martie Koegelenberg’s knee-jerk response when Gert phoned her in early 2013 with the news: “Sweetie, I’m going to buy a bus”.

End of story. Or so Martie, a DA councillor in Caledon, thought. She laughs as she recalls how Gert called again 15 minutes later: “Angel, I bought the bus. It was a bargain.”

Standing next to Bot River Stone Works as though that was its final stop, the rusty rickety old school bus immediately caught Gert’s eye... Apart from owning his own electrical contracting company, Gert is also an extremely handy entrepreneur – and he makes delicious goat’s milk cheese, red wine and real farm bread to boot!

Gert explains: “The asking price was R38 000 and I was able to quickly scrape together R10 000. I told the owner that this was my deposit and if I didn’t return the following day with the rest, he could keep it. We’d no sooner reached our agreement, and even negotiated a small discount, when a bakkie screeched to a halt in a cloud of dust and he was offered R40 000 for the bus! But the owner stuck to his word – the bus was mine for R35 000.”