Hello!
Sorry for the radio silence…it’s a long story, but, don’t worry, all will be
explained…
So,
a lot has happened since our “proposed” date for departing Melbourne…
It
all started on the 11th of October.
After
another early morning run, and another long day making full use of the free
food shelf and beanbags at Habitat HQ hostel, we finally got the call from Adam
- the mechanic at ADM motors - saying that “the van was fixed, and she’s
driving great”. We were ecstatic. We were finally going to hit the road and -
not that we don’t like Melbourne, we both think it’s a great city, just that it
probably needs a week, two at most to really enjoy – we were finally getting
out of the city and into real Australia.
It
was 16:18, and the garage shut at 17:30, so we had to be efficient if we wanted
to leave that day, we still had a lot to do. Needless to say, the next two and
a half hours were some of our finest multi-tasking moments.
I
jumped on the tram (using our tomtom to make sure I was going the correct way –
as you’d imagine, I got a few odd looks as I was sitting on the tram holding a
satnav up as we winded down the roads turning each corner), whilst Em prepared
all of our bags and food for the journey.
Got
to the garage with ten minutes to spare, and after a quick test drive in Autumn, I
could happily shake Adams hand as I paid him and left the garage for the last
time…
A
short drive later, and I was back at Habitat HQ and we were loading up Autumn,
preparing to set off on our trip.
Goodbyes
said, bags loaded, onto the petrol station.
Moments
later, with a full water tank and $80 of fuel in her, we drove to Coles
supermarket in Balaclava (a small area just East of St Kilda – more detailed
descriptions will follow…)
With
so much time on our hands the past few days we had actually planned an
impressive shopping list. Consisting of canned goods and vegetables, we have
eaten lots, and well, and still have lots to go almost a week later.
We
loaded up the van, sat in our seats, and were finally ready to go.
Em
was going to do the first leg of the trip, and as she turned the ignition on,
what followed was the start of a very peculiar little adventure…
“BANG!!!”
…the
ignition cut out.
…we
waited.
We
tried to start Autumn up again…nothing.
We
got out, looked around the car, and checked the exhaust to see that nothing was
blocking it. I thought that it had just backfired and that the battery might be
drained.
It
was getting close to 22:00 now, fortunately a fellow car park driver who
happened to be an apprentice mechanic offered his help.
We
got the jump leads out and hooked up the batteries, waited a few moments and
tried to start Autumn up again…
…nothing.
And
now, the immobiliser had stopped flashing too.
There
were no signs of life – we feared for the worst.
It
was past ten o’clock, it was cold, and we were in a badly lit car park in
Balaclava, which isn’t the happiest of places to be in during the day. (Earlier
that day whilst Em had been strolling down the pavement to get a morning coffee
an intoxicated woman with erratic arms flung her forearm towards Em –
fortunately Em has ninja quick reactions and managed to dodge the attack and
escape). In summary, Balaclava isn’t the kind of place you’d want to spend your
day in, let alone your night – with all of your valuables with you in a 24 year
old campervan.
Fear
was definitely kicking in and we were succumbing to drastic decisions.
I
thought I could push the campervan along the road back to St Kilda. It was just
a mere 600m, with only one four-lane highway to cross (and with a 60 litre full tank of
petrol, 80 litres of water, as well as a good 10 days of shopping) lets just
say it wasn’t my finest moment, and the van didn’t move very far.
It
was getting very late and Em had spotted a somewhat “quiet” side road, which
looked better than where we were, so with the help of two shopping assistants
who were locking up their stores, we pushed the van around the corner and set
up for the night.
We
didn’t sleep a lot.
Next
morning, van still intact, we called up Adam.
Detailing
what we remembered, Em chatted to Adam and suggested that possibly a fuse had
gone.
Unfortunately,
our phone ran out of credit and cut him off.
This
wasn’t the best start to our day.
Minutes
later, phone topped up, we chatted to Adam again. He kindly offered to leave
the garage and drive over to where we were. (Thanks Adam!)
Twenty
minutes on the scene and after using a few gadgets that Em and I hadn’t packed
in our bags, he diagnosed it as one of the main fuses had gone. (A wire had
short-circuited on the exhaust as we started it up and blown the fuse.)
As
mechanics do best, he got out his tools, soldering iron in hand and made us a
makeshift temporary one and started up the engine. We followed him to a nearby
shop and he ordered a replacement fuse in for us – Autumn was fixed!
A
day delayed, we set off. Saying our goodbye to Melbourne, we were finally on
the road.
 |
| Autumn with her old and new owners |
Next
stop, The Great Ocean Road. Note to self, a full tank of water whilst driving
along Australia’s windiest road with multiple inclines and steep declines is
not very fuel economic. Needless to say, we drove a fair old way, and stopped
for the night just west of Bells Beach.
A
beautiful morning woke us up, and Em’s spider sense was tingling. “We should
probably get out of here”, she suggested to me as we started to think of morning tea…followed shortly by a friendly warden knocking on our window saying that we were parked in a national heritage site
and it was a $120 per person fine. We weren’t laughing. We apologised as sincerely as we could, as we hadn't actually seen any signs…he kindly let us off with a warning.
Definitely awake now, we set off west. Several hours driving later, we soon left
the Great Ocean Road and were heading towards South Australia.
We
decided to stop off for lunch in Bridgewater Bay, (still in Victoria), a
picturesque 4km long white sand beach that really was beautiful.
After
a day on the beach, we decided we’d stay here for longer and went off in search
of somewhere to sleep for the night - where wardens and fines wouldn’t factor into a morning lie in.
 |
| Could be Mars? |
Amazingly,
five minutes down the road and we came across a camping car park. It was by the
sea, and a short walk from several national heritage sites. One of which, natural
blowholes, was a 200m stroll towards the cliffs, whilst natural springs was a
2km walk away. With dusk and darkness looming, we looked at each other and thought
we’d jog it. Flip-flops flapping, we got there with plenty of time, admiring the Mars-esque landscape along the way - and we can say that jogging
is our new favourite way of seeing the sites.
 |
| Em - just after a 2km flip flop jog and seeing the natural springs. |
Along
the way, we remembered that we had met some guys from Adelaide in Nomads hostel
whilst in Melbourne, and as Em drove along the highway, I leant back across our
camper to grab my stuff and try and find their details, jokingly remarking
“watch out for police cars”.
…famous
last words.
Moments
later, Em was flashed down by a police car and we pulled over.
Sheepishly,
I got out of the car and spoke to the officer. We were flashed down because I
wasn’t wearing my seat belt.
 |
| Our lonely planet guide to driving in Australia. (Looked at after the incident). |
As
above, you can see that it wasn’t a smart thing to do. After explaining to the
officer that I had just momentarily taken it off to grab my things, and then
put it on again (so the window for him seeing me without it on was literally 10-15
seconds) he swiftly took my driving license and walked to his car. He didn’t
look happy.
Bizarrely,
he returned a few minutes later, and was a changed man, smiling, he said as he
passed me my license back, “That’s alright, I trust you. You can go now.”
We
were confused. But happy to oblige, and drove off.
After
that series of events we set off for Bool Lagoon, a large national reserve
where we would stay for the night.
On
arriving, and noticing the park admission fees, we decided to carry on moving,
and headed west.
Now,
finally, we're parked up in a small town called Kingston...we stopped for a
while at a truckers lay-by on the way, but thoughts of the film Wolf Creek soon got stuck in our
minds and the hour drive to the coast at night time seemed less scary than staying in the van!
We’ve
just popped into the local library to do some well-needed bank transfers (we’ve
been keeping all of our money in our savings account, so we need internet to
access it and transfer it to our current account.)
Before
getting to the library, we had a quarter tank of petrol and $5 to our name...of
which we spent $4.80 on stamps for postcards...., yes, that's right, we had 20
cents to our name earlier today?!
But,
all transferred, safe and sound, we're now ready to hit the road for some more
adventures.
Will
keep you posted,
Luke
x
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