1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,600 Welcome to Manifestation, Motivation and Passion. If you're looking to transform your life, 2 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:16,880 this is the podcast for you. It's all about improving yourself on the inside to see transformation 3 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:24,240 on the outside. I look at how to find and improve motivation and manifest lasting changes. 4 00:00:24,240 --> 00:00:26,280 Thank you so much for joining me today. 5 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:32,080 Okay, I wish you all could be in the studio with me today. I've got the wonderful Laurie 6 00:00:32,080 --> 00:00:37,760 who's got the most incredible energy. Laurie Norton found an old rundown bus, double decker 7 00:00:37,760 --> 00:00:42,800 bus and made it his mission to turn it into twice as nice gallery cafe. Now I believe 8 00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:48,080 this was in conjunction with Eli's gift to help families of seriously ill children to 9 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:52,720 relieve the financial burden so parents can focus on the child without the added pressure 10 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:57,640 of the incidental expenses. So thank you so much for joining us today. Third time's a 11 00:00:57,640 --> 00:01:02,880 charm. We've tried this a couple of times and not had success. So we're here. How are 12 00:01:02,880 --> 00:01:03,880 you? 13 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,080 Good morning. I'm really well, thank you. 14 00:01:06,080 --> 00:01:11,360 Okay. So how did you come up with the idea for twice as nice gallery cafe? 15 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:18,840 So about 15 years ago, I was driving through a paddock and seeing this old rundown 1949 16 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:24,080 double decker Leyland Sydney bus that had been sitting there and used for numerous different 17 00:01:24,080 --> 00:01:31,080 things over the years. And yeah, I just, it was one of them penny drop moments where I 18 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,680 was like, I'm going to do a charity drive around Australia in this. 19 00:01:35,680 --> 00:01:41,040 That's incredible. So how did you know about Eli's gift? Or what, what was the connection 20 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:42,040 there? 21 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,360 So I worked on the bus for about three years and then I left the bus on my parents farm 22 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:55,040 and completely forgot about it for a few years while I had life admin to do. And then I ended 23 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,240 up going and doing a bit of a vision quest up on a mountain and sat for four days with 24 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:07,040 no food and no water and realized that I was putting a lot of time and energy into projects. 25 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:12,960 And if I had 10 projects, 10% complete, cause I've only got a hundred percent of myself, 26 00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:18,760 I stripped down all of my projects. I had one project that I could put a hundred percent 27 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:24,640 in and that was the bus cause it always made me happy. At that point I went door knocking 28 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:30,560 and found a lady, the second door I knocked on, who was from my hometown, four hours north 29 00:02:30,560 --> 00:02:37,160 of Melbourne in Finley, who had land that I could leave the bus on. And it was actually 30 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:43,400 her son went to school with Eli's father. So she was the one who connected the dots 31 00:02:43,400 --> 00:02:47,520 for me and was like, why don't you do the charity drive for Eli's gift? 32 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:53,320 That's incredible story. And so you've came up with the idea when you're on the mountain. 33 00:02:53,320 --> 00:02:59,160 So what was the divine timing moment or what was it that inspired you for this particular 34 00:02:59,160 --> 00:03:00,160 charity? 35 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:06,760 Divine timing has been a bit of a concept that keeps showing up in my life. And quite 36 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:12,080 often I think that I want to go and do something, but the world's just like, no, you can't 37 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:18,920 do that. So the divine timing side of things was the five year break in the middle when 38 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:23,800 I then gathered all the skills that I needed to actually be able to do the bus to go out 39 00:03:23,800 --> 00:03:25,760 and do the charity drive. 40 00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:27,660 And what kind of skills were they? 41 00:03:27,660 --> 00:03:33,520 So I had never done woodwork before. I'd never done plumbing before. I'd never really done 42 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:38,640 anything but worked on power lines all of my life. I spent a few years on a farm when 43 00:03:38,640 --> 00:03:49,920 I was a young child. And so in them five years, I built a table for an ex-partner of mine. 44 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:57,840 And that then gave me a thicknesser and a few skills on how to complete a project like 45 00:03:57,840 --> 00:03:58,840 that. 46 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:03,640 And then once I got the bus down to Melbourne, I sort of looked at it and I was like, wow, 47 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:11,280 this is actually a bigger job than what I thought. And there's a beautiful old saying 48 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:17,320 and it's like, how do you eat an elephant? And it's one step at a time. So in my time 49 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:23,560 away from the bus, I had actually done a diploma in project management. So I then took the 50 00:04:23,560 --> 00:04:29,440 bus and broke it down into all of its small little sections. And I literally finished 51 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:35,440 the elephant one step at a time. So I picked the first thing on the list, created a critical 52 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:42,580 path on how to finish the bus. And then over 18 months, I just nailed off every little 53 00:04:42,580 --> 00:04:45,800 project on the list until the bus was finished. 54 00:04:45,800 --> 00:04:49,480 So how did you work out the space? 55 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:55,000 So I got the bus to a point where I could live in it. And once I had a bed in the bus, 56 00:04:55,000 --> 00:05:01,080 I actually moved into the bus in the middle of winter and had no hot water, no sink or 57 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:08,960 anything like that. And the best way I found to create a space that was suited to me was 58 00:05:08,960 --> 00:05:13,320 to be living in the space and go, oh, I really need a sink. So I built a sink. 59 00:05:13,320 --> 00:05:16,360 So you knew where it would function best. 60 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:17,360 Yeah. 61 00:05:17,360 --> 00:05:18,360 That makes sense. 62 00:05:18,360 --> 00:05:21,760 And then on the floor. So I built a couch. 63 00:05:21,760 --> 00:05:22,760 Yep. 64 00:05:22,760 --> 00:05:23,760 Yeah. 65 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,880 Wow. And now where did you first go once the bus was complete? 66 00:05:27,880 --> 00:05:33,920 So I launched the bus in Bendigo at Australia's first tiny house festival. And from Bendigo, 67 00:05:33,920 --> 00:05:39,960 I headed across up through Cooma and then around to Sydney. And I got to park the bus 68 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:46,400 under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and do the charity drive in Sydney CBD for a few days. 69 00:05:46,400 --> 00:05:47,400 Yes. 70 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:52,720 And then there I went all the way to Cairns across to Tannent Creek down to Alice Springs, 71 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:58,520 Kings Canyon or La Rue to Adelaide and then come across to Perth. 72 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,360 What an incredible journey. And might I just mention in there that you were only going 73 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:05,680 45 kilometres an hour. So that is a really long journey as well. 74 00:06:05,680 --> 00:06:11,260 Yeah. So as fast as the bus would go is 45 K an hour because they were never designed 75 00:06:11,260 --> 00:06:14,440 to go any faster around the Sydney streets. 76 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,880 That just blows my mind. So I guess it would be sort of the equivalent of going on a tram 77 00:06:18,880 --> 00:06:19,880 nowadays. 78 00:06:19,880 --> 00:06:25,880 Yeah, pretty much. I think even the trains go faster than that these days. 79 00:06:25,880 --> 00:06:30,440 To fund the trip, you were doing painting and I understand pan. 80 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:31,440 Handpan? 81 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:32,520 Handpan as well. Yes. 82 00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:40,120 So yeah, I had made it all the way to Cairns and then back down to towards Alice, Alice 83 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:48,160 Springs, sorry, Adelaide. And I had found myself with a blown radiator, a broken water 84 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:53,520 pump, no way of paying for it. I was six and a half grand in debt. And I was sitting down 85 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:57,200 in the bus one day and I was like, oh, come on, something's got to give or I'm going 86 00:06:57,200 --> 00:07:03,120 to have to go home. And I was walking through the bus with a long black because I was still 87 00:07:03,120 --> 00:07:07,760 doing coffees while the bus was broken down in this caravan park. 88 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:14,200 And I sat a leaking cup onto a piece of paper and then I drew a picture with the coffee 89 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:19,240 that had leaked onto the paper with a gum leaf. And the lady walked in and went, wow, 90 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:24,920 that's really good. How much is that? And I'm like, $25, but this one's not for sale. 91 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:31,320 So I figured out a way from there that I could fashion a paint from my waste product off 92 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:35,320 doing the charity drive because every day I've got to put coffee through the machine 93 00:07:35,320 --> 00:07:40,960 to take the cleaner out. So I would turn that into a paint. Then I would paint pictures 94 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:45,880 all day. And from the pictures, I would then sell the pictures so that I could pay for 95 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:52,000 the repairs to the bus and put food on my table. And the coffee painting just took off. 96 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:57,600 And from there, I actually made back the money that I'd put myself in debt doing the charity 97 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:04,320 drive and continued to fund the conscious work I was doing from there forward with my 98 00:08:04,320 --> 00:08:05,840 coffee paintings. 99 00:08:05,840 --> 00:08:10,240 What an incredible story. So you're doing the painting still today? 100 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:15,120 Yeah. So today I'm still painting. Not as often as what I was. 101 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:16,120 Yes. 102 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:22,160 But there's a beautiful little community based cafe in Bibra Lake called Heart Arrest. And 103 00:08:22,160 --> 00:08:28,680 Lani that's just opened it up has given me some work. So I'm doing some barista work 104 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:34,280 on Wednesdays there at the moment. And Lani's kindly opened up a little space in the cafe 105 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:39,760 for me to display my coffee paintings and a kids book that I actually wrote as well. 106 00:08:39,760 --> 00:08:45,320 Oh, wow. You're just full of different ideas. You've got lots going on. 107 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:46,320 Yeah. 108 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:47,560 So what's the children's book about? 109 00:08:47,560 --> 00:08:53,320 When COVID hit, I had just come across into Western Australia, found a beautiful lady 110 00:08:53,320 --> 00:09:00,600 who had space for me on their farm in Oakford. So Ken and Wendy opened up their space for 111 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:05,680 me to bring the bus in. And because I couldn't be doing the charity work, I always liked 112 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:10,960 to have a conscious project in my life. And I had actually painted a series of pictures 113 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:19,360 and written a short story and sort of dedicated it to my nieces back in Melbourne. And my 114 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:25,840 conscious project then was, well, let's write this book and put a dedication in the back 115 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:32,200 of it and explain all about Eli's gift and the work that they're doing and give them 116 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:37,040 a shout out so that when people buy the book, they're actually hearing about the charity 117 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:45,080 drive and everything that I'd been out doing. So I wrote the book, published it, and then 118 00:09:45,080 --> 00:09:52,040 put it up on eBay. And also it's in Harder Frest and it's called Claire and the Koa Tree. 119 00:09:52,040 --> 00:09:53,040 Claire and the? 120 00:09:53,040 --> 00:09:54,040 Koa Tree. 121 00:09:54,040 --> 00:09:55,040 Koa Tree. 122 00:09:55,040 --> 00:10:00,840 Oh, wow. That's incredible. So eBay or at Harder Frest? 123 00:10:00,840 --> 00:10:03,040 Harder Frest in Bibra Lake, yeah. 124 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:07,560 Fantastic. And you play the handpan as well. So that was getting you through some of the 125 00:10:07,560 --> 00:10:10,800 lonely nights you were playing the handpan while you were traveling around Australia. 126 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:17,040 Yeah. Before I left Melbourne, a dear brother of mine, Amrit Sandhu from Inspired Evolution 127 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:24,120 podcast, he lent me a handpan so I could see if I actually liked the instrument. And from 128 00:10:24,120 --> 00:10:31,440 there after having no musical background or anything, Amrit helped me get my first handpan. 129 00:10:31,440 --> 00:10:36,640 And then on my lonely nights or whenever I was in a beautiful space, I'd just take my 130 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:43,080 handpan down and sit there and play by campfires or in gorges or there was some lava tunnels 131 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:48,880 up north that I ended up playing the handpan in. And yeah, it was a beautiful gift to give 132 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,840 to the world. And I still do a little bit of teaching today. 133 00:10:52,840 --> 00:10:57,840 You've been on the most remarkable journey. So how can people contact you if they are 134 00:10:57,840 --> 00:11:03,280 wanting to get handpan lessons or if they've got a group perhaps that they would like to 135 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:05,360 have coffee painting lessons? 136 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:11,160 So Facebook and Instagram under twice as nice gallery cafe, there's always people reaching 137 00:11:11,160 --> 00:11:17,800 out and saying hello and actually really value that community time to get together with people 138 00:11:17,800 --> 00:11:24,040 and it's really soothing for the soul. So yeah, just reach out and send a message and 139 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:30,160 whatever you've got going on, I'm always up for finding a way to go and hang out and 140 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:33,800 meet new people and teach what I can where I can. 141 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,800 Perfect. Well, thank you again. Thank you so much for coming in today. 142 00:11:37,800 --> 00:11:39,800 No worries. Thank you for having me. 143 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:46,800 I'm Quinn Carnegie and I hope you enjoyed this week's episode of Manifestation, Motivation 144 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:57,840 and Passion. I'm so thrilled you chose to spend time listening and would be even more 145 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:03,440 grateful if you left a positive review. And if you found value, no doubt your family and 146 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:10,440 friends will too. I'd love it if you share it with them. Thanks again.