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Well, where do a begin telling you about my escapades this week?
Last Wednesday Amanda and Mike turned up at 7am to pick me up ready for our journey. I think they were slightly put off by the amount of bags I had, but we'll not worry about that too much. We also picked up a guy called Melvin from Holland, who was wanting a lift to Kununurra (our first destination.)
All was going well on the 9 hour drive until we got about 100k from Kununurra, and the car decided to spack out. It had overheated, and wasn't going to cool down too quickly as we were in the middle of the boiling hot outback. We managed to get about another 8k by taking it really easy, but then the car decided it wasn't having any of it and we had to give up. So, we're in the middle of nowhere and so our only option was to ask for a tow. Out came the marker pens and paper and we made a sign asking for a tow, and waited about 10 minutes, then low and behold, the first car that went past was a 4 wheel drive and stopped to give us a tow. He was a bit of a Wolfe Creek type character though, so we made sure we were on the main road the whole time and not being taken off o some disused quarry!
He towed us to the Western Australia/Northern Territory border, and from there we got a tow truck to take us to Kununurra. We thought the fault was a split water pump, and so the garage replaced that for us once the part had been flown in from Perth!!!!...except even after doing that the car still wouldn't start.
Turned out that it was a bit more serious and costly than Amanda and Mike were hoping for, and so, after 4 days of being stuck in Kununurra waiting for the car to be fixed, it seemed that we were going to be stuck there without a car indefinitely! It's not really the kind of place you want to be stuck in either. It quite easily tops in being one of the worst places I've been to in Australia.
So after discovering that I'm now getting a lift to Perth minus the vehicle, we had to find an alternative way of moving on. We decided to put up a sign asking for a lift to Broome, and also one offering the van to a good owner, and one selling the camping equipment, and in the mean time booked a flight over the Bungle Bungles in the Kimberly's and went on a bbq boat cruise, where we scoffed our faces and got very drunk. While on the boat an Australian lady phoned offering us a lift, providing we were able to leave at 9am the following morning. Being pissed, I was certain that we could manage that. The fact that we had everything sprawled all over the tent, and then the minor issue of 100 bags between us, and a car that either needed to be scrapped or sold, and selling enough camping equipment for an army, I was optimistic, and decided we needed an early morning to get everything together.
So, 6am came and we all got up (slightly hungover) and then by the time I'd come back from the shower Mandy said she'd had a call off a guy asking about the van, and was one his way round to see it. Now this is 6.15 in the morning remember (again, adding to my theory that the Aussies are weird) and so we got all excited and were packing everything up, when another call came about the tent. It was like a scene from Benny Hill, Mike was off at the garage showing this guy the van, me and Mand were packing everything up and hauling it over to the entrance of the campsite waiting for our lift, and then the guy showed up to see the tent, decided he wanted it and would like to see what else they had for sale, so Mand stayed with the bags while I'm driving with this guy to the garage and was in the boot of their van, selling anything I could lay my hands on. Now I'd only known Amanda and Mike for about 5 days by this point, and had only spent 9 hours of that time in their van, yet I'm in the boot, looking for inflatable dingies and oars, and cookers and chairs, so we could get rid of as much of the gear as possible. It was so funny. The guy decided he wanted the van, and offered them $500 dollars for it, talk about landing on their feet, and they also managed to sell loads of the heavy stuff, then just as the van got towed to the campsite for our rucksacks to be offloaded, our lift arrived!
Fortunately, the couple who were offering us a lift weren't too surprised by the amount of luggage us 3 'backpackers' produced, and so off we went on our journey. That wasn't until we'd been to attach an aeroplane to the back of their car! They were towing it from Brisbane to Broome to use as spare parts for a friend of theirs who is has an aviation school! That night we camped in a beautiful spot in the middle of the outback. We had a fire on the go, and the stars were incredible. Mike and Mandy had a smaller 3 man tent (they sold the 6 man one) that we all slept in...and from the first night of us being together it's been me, Mand and Mike in a bed!!! They've got a double inflatable bed and when they realised they didn't have any extra sleeping gear, asked if I'd be ok in a bed with them, so we all got to know each other pretty quickly, and to be honest, sleeping in a bed without them now just wouldn't be the same!!!
We made it to Broome, with everyone stopping to ask Helen and Glen (our new roadies) about the aeroplane at every petrol station, and only had to pay $100 bucks between us 3 for the pleasure. We were well chuffed, that's like 12 quid each for a 1000k journey.
Once in Broome we decided to treat ourselves and went out for a flash meal, and the next day we explored the town and hired a car to see all the places of interest. Me and Manda went on a sunset camel ride aswell, down cable beach, which was hysterical. These camels were making the most amount of noise, and I was s***ting myself cos I had this huge scary camel at the front, but once I was on it I loved it, although when it stood up, I nearly fell off. Could have been funny, but I'm glad I managed to keep hold!!! Broome and what we've seen so far of the west coast is lovely. The beaches are stunning, and the sea is a turquoise blue, and really clear, so you can snorkel.
Amanda's mum has come to the rescue by offering money for them to buy a new car, but there isn't anything for sale in Broome that are any good, so they've decided to wait til Perth to buy one. The only problem with that is that it means we're in the same predicament...we still don't have a vehicle to get to Perth!!! So, we put up a sign again asking for a lift, and found one that would take us all the way to Perth. It was funny as it turned out to be the same guy that we called form Kununurra asking for a lift, except we'd missed him by a couple of hours. Haha
So, I'll update you again soon, on our way to Perth tomorrow!!!
See ya, love Lauz xxx
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