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Just as things were looking up we received another b*tch slap from fate. The van was driving like a dream and after collecting it from the garage we drove 30 minutes down the road to spend a couple of nights in a caravan park. Celebrating the end of the drama of the past few weeks we bought a case of cheap plonk and a take away to help kick it all off. We had a great two days and not having a care in the world was a refreshing change from the previous two weeks. Refreshed and optimistic we set off towards Poo Wong for a drive out to stay in a rest area within some woods. Now the drive was only 70km or so out of the city and on the way there the van started popping out of fourth gear as we were driving along. At first we thought that it might be the new clutch just bedding in or something but it happened again and again. We made it to Poo Wong knowing that there was nothing we could do with it being a Sunday and would have to see how things were the next day. For the first 20 minutes drive or so the next morning all was going well and it started to happen over and over. We had to pull over and phone Peter the mechanic to pick his brains. We had to drive back to Melbourne so he could take a look and drive it and once he did he couldn't believe our luck. The drive shaft in the gear box for fourth and fifth gear had collapsed. Replacing the shaft would cost around $1100 or replacing the gear box with a second hand one would cost around $1000. Either way it was more cash to fork out and to think we thought our bad luck was at an end, how naive. It was another couple of days work to get everything done so once more we packed our bags and made our way back into the city centre to check into a hotel.
We had been receiving interest in the van from quite a few people, the most promising being an elderly Arabian gentleman called Jan and his wife. Peter the mechanic had given us his contact details and Ashleigh had been speaking with Jan on the phone trying to organise a time to meet him for him to view the van. His English wasn't the best and at times it was really hard for Ashleigh to understand what he was saying. It turned out that he had spoke to Peter and wanted to buy the van for $5000, no doubt. But he was stuck in Tasmania as his wife had gotten so sea sick on the ferry crossing that she had to be hospitalised. But he was due back in Melbourne on Wednesday as his wife was being discharged and we arranged to meet him at the port on Wednesday morning. Things were looking up, we had a buyer interested. Minutes after Ashleigh had been speaking to Jan the phone rang again this time it was Peter "Hey guy's I've got the new gear box and I will have the work complete for you early in the afternoon tomorrow..." sounding good so far "...but guys, when I was driving the van into the garage the passenger side door swung open and I thought it was going to fall off the speed it opened. You definitely locked your doors right?" not sounding good any more. We always check the doors twice before we leave the van and I knew in my head that I had locked it. We had to park the van over the road from the garage as the forecourt was full but the van was in clear view of the garage. The fist thing that went through our heads was that the van had been broken into but we didn't have the heart to say it to each other. We tried to put the whole episode out of our minds for the night and curled up on our bed and let the power of hotel TV wash our minds clear of worry. The next morning we were quiet up beat knowing that we were meeting Jan the next day and that the van was as good as sold. We had to wait around Melbourne all day walking here and there until Peter finally got in touch to say that the van was ready to collect. We took the tram to Coburg and walked the 15 minutes to the garage with our hearts in our mouths as the thought of the door returned at once. Seeing Peter he greeted us the way he always had over the past two weeks "Your not going to believe this..." and our fears had been true. The passenger side door had been forced open. A screw driver had been punched through the lock and who ever done it made off with our sat nav, power converter, charger cables and my iPod. B A S T A R D!!!
Peter had checked his CCTV and the van was just out of shot so he couldn't even see what had happened. We felt sick to our stomachs. After everything that had happened over the past few weeks and this had to happen. We had gone a whole year and have had no troubles when it comes to thieves but they say bad luck comes in three's, surely this had to be the end of it as I'm not sure we would have been able to take any more. On the plus side the lock still worked and could be locked and opened from the inside so whoever was going to buy the van could fix it if they wanted too as we didn't want to spend another cent on it. The van once more was driving like a dream and was sounding like a well oiled machine, something that it had never sounded like before. So our bill was $980, Peter had knocked off a few hundred in labour once more and if we threw in our portable DVD player and the DVD's with a jerry can he would knock the bill down to $900. Sounded good to us as our prospected buyer only wanted to buy the van and didn't know of the extra features that came with it, so we shook on it and paid the man. Peter is a nice bloke and I say this in the nicest possible way but we said our goodbyes hoping that we would never have to see him again. We drove the van like it was made off egg shells next door to the caravan park and parked up with the hope of selling it on the next day.
We woke early as we had arranged to meet Jan around 9am at the port but he was not answering or returning any off our calls. This wasn't looking good. At 10am he finally called to say that the doctor would not discharge his wife and that they were going to be in Tasmania for another four days. We did not have four days to wait as we were due to fly to New Zealand on Monday 12th this was the last thing we needed. All hope of us selling the van had gone. Jan wanted to transfer the cash straight into our account if we left the van with Peter. Peter agreed to this and it was looking up again. Jan had to talk things through with his wife and he would get back to us. Then all of a sudden we started receiving text after text off people wanting to view the van. We arranged to drive to St Kilda to meet a German couple that wanted to take a look and have a test drive. We were there in a flash and were as keen as mustard to show off Bert and all the fantastic new shiny parts that he recently had fitted. Our sales pitch was spotless and they were impressed with the van but they gave nothing away that showed that they loved it and were going to make us an offer. "We will give you a call tomorrow maybe" and like that they were gone. We drove back to the camp site not really knowing how we felt, plus the gears still seemed to be a little shaky. Jan finally got back in touch and said that he did not want to transfer the money into our account as we could just take off with his cash and the van. Fair enough, there is no way I would buy a vehicle without even seeing or driving it first. He said he would do the transfer into Peter the mechanics account and we could get the cash off him. Now this wasn't fair on Peter as he wasn't selling the van and he told Jan as much. This was turning into a nightmare and once more he said he wanted to speak to his wife again. We had wrote off the idea of selling the van that day as things looked pretty bleak. Out of the blue the German's phoned us and made us an offer of $4750. We had an offer and we bit their hands off. We had arranged to finalise everything on Friday morning. We started receiving more texts off people wanting to view the van and another person came to the camp sight to take a look. We were jostling with people to see if we could get more cash for it but we were happy just to have an offer. Jan phoned once more and we told him we had excepted an offer, he still wanted to buy the van and begged us to stay a few more days so he could sort something out but for the sake of another 250 bucks we just wanted to get rid off it and not have to worry about it any more.
Friday couldn't come quick enough and we were counting down the seconds to 10am. The German couple showed up on time on a miserable rainy day looking like a couple of drowned rats. A few worries ran through our minds "What is they ask about the sat nav that has been nicked? What if they notice the lock is smashed in?" we kept our fingers crossed. We filled out the relevant forms and with the exchange of keys and a hand full of cash the sale was complete. We had spent $4100 getting the van fixed up and had made back the money and a little bit more. We could have held out for more cash but we didn't have the time and we were happy covering what we had spent. We have had our use out of the van and for what we would have spent on accommodation, tours and travel we are probably still in a better financial situation than we would have been not doing it ourself. It is good to know that the van has been sold to other travellers and it is ship shape. They were going to head to Great Ocean Road so we gave them some tips of places to see. Bert lives on and long may it be, hopefully we will see him drive past us somewhere in Oz. But with a pocket full of cash, like a bank robber fleeing the scene of the crime, we booked a taxi as our getaway car to take us to the airport. After a quick stop off at the bank to deposit our wedge we were there. For the first time ever we turned up at the airport without having flights booked but we just wanted to get the hell out of Melbourne. We found some relativity cheap flights (if you can call $480 cheap) and slapped them on the card. We put in a call to Mr Jace O'Conner and within a few hours we had touched down in Sydney.
Jace picked us up from the airport and it was great to see him again. As if we had never been away he wasted no time in taking the piss out of the both of us. That evening we met up with Paul and went for a bite to eat at a cheap and cheerful place. We caught up over drinks and as the drinks and the conversation flowed, so did the hours of the night. We had talked all night about what we had got up to whilst we travelled together, Jace nearly dyeing in Laos and all manner of things. The next day we hit Bondi beach, not to sun bathe as it was bitter cold but to do the coastal walk. The sights were great and it was a good way to let the wind blow our small hangovers out of our heads. That night Jace told us we were going to an old school house party at one of Walshy's mates. Now we turned up not knowing anyone as Walshy wasn't there yet. It was like a scene from an American Pie movie. It is bad enough crashing a party when you don't know anyone but it is even worse when it is a themed party. After a few minutes we realised that there was a lot of double denim going on. Denim jeans, denim shirts, denim skirts, denim jackets, denim hats, if it was denim and you could wear it it was there. So looking like a couple of spare parts we stood in a corner knowing that the only thing that would make the situation any better was to get drunk and get into it. By the end of the night we had people asking us to say sentences and to quote we got this response "EEEEEEE you sound like them off Geordie Shore!" Somehow we made it to a club in the city centre and danced the night away until god knows what time. It has been a very long time since we have had a night out like that but we loved it all the same. It was great having a laugh with Jace again and it felt like the old travelling days once again. The next day was spent feeling like somebody had parked a double decker bus inside our heads whilst our mouths felt like they had had a party and everybody was invited but hadn't taken off their shoes at the door. Rough is an understatement. The day was spent recovering and watching movies with an undercurrent of excitement building knowing that the next day we would be getting a new stamp in the passport and flying to a new country. New Zealand here we come!
Love Peter and Ashleigh x
- comments
MAM & DAD Hi you GUYS well you got rid of BERT in the end, he did you well and got you back safe, shame you had to spend all that money getting it back on the road, never mind that is history now, I knew you would end up with a hang over in Sydney good old Jace. Hope you have a brill time in New Zealand be safe Lots of love MAM & DAD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
MAM AND RAY HI kid's well that sounded like a couple of fraught weeks !!! thank god it turned out well in the end for you and Burt is still hitting the road on yet another adventure go Bert go !!! . Im over the moon you are having such a great time in New Zealand enjoy every minute especially the England rugby match on your birthday on the 24th September son , 28 Eeeeee Peter getting on son eh !!! fingers crossed England dose us proud and make's your day extra special !! We will be thinking of you Love you both mollions Mam & Ray XXX :O) XXX :O)