Having driven his Denning Denflex more than 7000km around Australia there were a lot of worse places he could have broken down.

And that was before he had any inkling of the friendly Swan Hill hospitality he was about to experience.

With his bus overheating he pulled up at a caravan park overlooking the Murray and settled in for the night.

"The next morning after the bus cooled down I called Mallee Air-Conditioning and Radiators and they said 'yeah, bring it down'," Mr Chadwick said.

Not knowing how much the whole ordeal would cost him he decided to take the radiator out of the bus himself. 

"They pressure tested it and fixed the holes for 50 bucks, brilliant," he said.

Then realising he needed to the timing belts tightened he headed over to Swan Hill Truck Service Centre.

"We had a bit of a chat and they ended up doing it straight away," he said.

"They adjusted the belts and said 'don't worry about it we didn't do much' and charged me nothing, brilliant."

He cracked the trifecta at Murray Valley Lasers where he walked away with a newly fitted hydraulic hose for less than what you'd pay for a carton of VB — "bloody brilliant".

"Everywhere I went the people were really helpful, and if they couldn't help they let me know where I could get what I needed."

Mr Chadwick said that he would be spreading the word about Swan Hill's hospitality as continued his travels.

"I'll be pointing them in your direction for sure."

For more on this story, pick up a copy of Friday's Guardian (September 18).