The Car........

On Monday (23rd) we went car shopping. We didn't really know whether to rent or buy. We knew we didn't want a van again (got the t-shirt and all that). But we only really wanted to drive the great ocean road to Adelaide then catch trains and buses for the rest of Oz. But checked out a few places and after much discussion and plan changing and idea swapping we decided to buy a car and drive all the way to Perth (about 3000km) and maybe continue up to Darwin and back to Melbourne depending on how we do for time. Travellers Auto Barn do a thing where they sell you a car (at extortionate prices) and guarantee to buy it back from you at a given percentage which depends on how long you've had it. They make sure the car is roadworthy, has good tyres, air-con works, and do all repairs necessary before you take it away. They have various offices around Oz and also provide roadside assistance. As it happened a couple there were just bringing theirs back for the buyback and we decided to have theirs as we'd spoken to them about the car and it'd been good to them but the air-con didn't work. James at the Autobarn said he'd sort out the air-con and anything else that crops up during it's inspection and we could have it by about Friday. Sweet, we thought. Didn't really want to spend that long in Melbourne but happy to hang around and know that we've got a decent vehicle before we start on our mammoth journey!

Seeing as we were going to be hanging around for a few more days we moved hostels as the one we were staying at was a shit hole. We treated ourselves to an en-suite double room in a new hostel on the other side of the city. That was nice to have a bathroom to ourselves, in the same room, no more running to reception in his pants for Rich!

Also as I was going to have to do a lot of driving too, I decided to get myself some new glasses. Fortunatley we came accross an opticians that had a box of $40 frams and they had some shiny new pink ones which I really liked so I did buy them and am very happy to have glasses again :-)

On one of days in Melbourne waiting for our car, we had lunch at a restaurant of Federation Square where they were showing the tennis on the big screen, so we sat there all afternoon watching yet more tennis and drinking wine, and all evening!!! I think somehow we didn't pay for our last 2 bottles, as we had no receipts and no memory of paying!! Tee hee, didn't actually run off without paying as we stayed all night, but we got chatting to some locals and moved tables and it was a busy place, so maybe they just forgot to bring the bill, hey-ho, not complaining!

Friday arrived and we could pick our car up :-) Did a few things in town and went to the autobarn around noon. Car wasn't ready as air-con wasn't a simple job but it would be ready by the end of the day. We hung around waiting, had some lunch and hung around some more, and finally it was ready! Our 1988 Holden Commodore station wagon! We chucked our bags in and off we went, destination: Great Ocean Road! James had told us to stay within 50k of Melbourne and if we have any problems to take it back and he'll get them sorted. We didn't though, first stop was Torquay about 80 km away! This was a little surfy holiday town, popular with locals as much as tourists.

We went to the sports bar as Rich wanted to watch tennis and got chatting to a Melbourne lad (Hud) who Rich seemed to get on with really well. He was telling all sorts of stories about the dangerous wildlife in Australia (and there's lots of it) which was all quite interesting as well as scary! He pointed out some of the best places to see locally, but unfortunatly, we'd forgotten all the details of what where by next day!

In Torquay, we went to a Quicksilver and Roxy sale at the primary school, that was great, loads of clothes going at silly prices!! I got stuck right in and got loads of shorts and tops and stuff for this sunny climate, Rich got a bit bored but still managed to find himself a shirt and trousers :-)

We headed a bit further out next to Apolllo Bay, where, after buying shorts and the like, it decided to lob it down....typical!! The car was leaking water and Rich was quite worried to we decided if it was still looking bad by next day we'd go back to Melbourne and get it sorted.

Rich checked the leak the next day and decided that as much as we don't want to go back to Melbourne we need to get it looked at before we attempt to drive 3000kms! So, off we go back to Melbourne, James tells us to take it straight to the garage which we do. He tells us it's something to do with the heater and he could bypass it and to come back in about 3 hours. So we loitered around and went back 5 hours later, they'd not even started work on it! When they eventually did, they realised it was more than that, that the head was cracked! James rang us and said it'd probably take about 3 days for them to sort that out, and then we'd have to stay close by again to see if everything else is OK. Bugger, we really didn't want to hang around that long. He did however, have a different car that we could have. Slightly more expensive but is already registered in Victoria so would save us loads on the registration (which is a complicated and expensive process). After looking at this other car, checking it out, doing tests, talking and discussing ideas and stuff with James, having Pizza (that James bought), we finally decided to take that instead of waiting round for the other one. We'd have to stay close for a day or so though to see if anything if wrong with it. So at around 9.30 pm, we drive off in a different car and find a campsite just on the outskirts of the city! The second car feels a lot smoother though and felt a lot sturdier. The temperature gauge didn't seem to work though.

So, next day (Tues 31st!) we told James about the temperature gauge and he sent us straight to a garage, they looked at it, tested it and reassured us that it's OK, so with that, we left Melbourne again and headed West, to the Great Ocean Road (again!!)

Phew, after over a week since we first decided to get a car, we were on the road......yay!!!



(This right here above, is my idea of hell on Earth, Rich)