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ON THE ROAD AGAIN…JUST ABOUT
We weren't expecting much from Brisbane and weren't proved wrong, as we wandered around a city that seemed to lack any major landmarks or interesting sights. As usual, we had left things to the very last minute and frantically managed to book a campervan at five minutes to six just before the Apollo hire office was closing. It was a bit pricey but we were pleased to have been able to book a van for us to pick up the next morning. That night, we had a tasty Chinese meal then went to the cinema to see the Baz Lurhmann film, 'Australia' as it seemed appropriate to see it whilst in the country it was portraying. Unfortunately , although it looked good on the big screen and gave us an introduction to Aboriginal beliefs, it was a bit of a disappointing film with some dreadful acting.
Next morning, we set off to collect our van, keen to get back on the road and put some miles on the clock. We didn't realise at the time that, by the end of the day, we wouldn't have actually made much progress at all. We got to the Apollo depot near Brisbane airport and spent ages filling in forms, signing long contracts and trying to get an explanation from the inept assistant as to why we would not be covered for damage to the roof and undercarriage of the vehicle despite us forking out a small fortune on their most comprehensive insurance. But the fun was only just beginning as she showed us around our 'Adventure Camper', clearly having never seen the inside of one of them before. Parts were missing, things didn't work properly and the amount of screwing (of the bad kind), zipping and unravelling it would have involved every morning and every evening to sort out the sleeping area and retractable roof scared us off, and we decided to ask for a different model. Suddenly, we really missed good old kiwi Nobby who had looked after us so well in New Zealand. We haggled with the manager who eventually gave us a better van for the same price so we were happy. This one was similar to Nobby but much bigger and was basically a converted white Ford Transit van.
Bigger isn't always better, of course. Hours later than planned we set off with Emma behind the wheel. We did a few laps around the block to get used to the new vehicle but soon realised, as we lurched, stalled and kangaroo-hopped our way around the streets, that this van was going to be a b***** to drive. Emma bravely carried on as we tried to head out of the city towards the nearby koala sanctuary which we wanted to visit. We never made it there thanks to an unfortunate combination of navigational incompetence (Duncan) and an inability to drive (Emma) this beast with its six gears, diesel engine and terrible clutch. We gave up on the koalas and tried to leave Brisbane where the rush hour traffic was beginning to build up. The highlight of our Australian driving adventure to this point was stalling in a traffic jam on a hill in the middle lane of a three-lane carriageway. Emma made Duncan get out and push but fortunately managed to get the engine going just in time.
And so we were finally on our way and determined to put a few miles on the clock before nightfall as that was the point at which we had been reliably informed that all sorts of bumper-threatening critters like kangaroos and ostrichs would emerge from the shadows to play chicken on the highways of Australia. Given the day that we had just had, we decided that a prang with a possum would have been too much to cope with so, as the sun was setting, we headed for a campsite at a place called Dicky Beach near to the surely made-up names of Mooloolaba and Maroochydore. To celebrate our achievement of escaping from Brisbane, Duncan finally decided to get rid of his beard (sorry Ivy!). After four months without shaving, 'Beard Watch' was no more.
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