And They are off!

After two years (or more) of planning Sheridan and family were due to leave at 10 am yesterday morning on their epic (to borrow a word from Aidan)trip around Oz.

Of course not everything goes to plan. The car had been serviced and had a clutch replaced last week. Sunday there seemed to be a leak. Phone to dad/Warren who says it has to go back.

We offered them the use of the Jeep to get them on their way and drove down on Monday morning. in the meantime, they had delivered car to repairer and had been told it was be ready after lunch, only postponing the start by four hours. As we were already on the way when they got that news, we left the Jeep there "just in case". Car did take longer to fix but back on same day.

As they were heading North they drove both vehicles and Dennis (caravan) and we met them out on the highway to collect the Jeep. I did take a photo of them packed and ready to take off but only had my phone. Now if I could work out how to go from the phone to the computer and my blog, I could post the picture but as I don't know how to do that, the photo stays put. They drove off at 5.45 pm, a little behind schedule but not too bad. First stop wasn't far and we did get a message that they had arrived and were settling up in the fading light.

Starting to make it more real for us as we are now down to 28 days until we leave and there is quite a bit that I want/need to do around home first.

The Car (my car)

Since we have bought the Jeep the Hyundai has been driven almost solely by me and we  have come to regards it as "My" as opposed to the Jeep which of course is "his" car.

Sadly we are trying to sell my car as I have finished work and there is no further need for us to have two cars especially as we are going to be away for six months in the Jeep and caravan. The motor bike is registered and can be used as a second vehicle if we need a second one. Yep, can just see me jumping on the bike and riding down to the shops if Warren is at tennis in the Jeep.

Although I do have a bike license, I have not ridden a bike since we were on the farm property many many moons ago so if there is a desperate need, it would either be a taxi or the bus which does come to the bottom of the street. Besides Warren did insist on me sitting astride the bike before he bought it. I hoighed (hiked)my leg over it and could just touch the ground on either side with my tip toes.

These are a couple of the photos that have gone up on the selling site.

The road worthy was done on Tuesday and it passed with flying colours. There have been several people looking at it but so far no-one has been in contact but its early days yet.

Bloody Jeep

Nice car but its costing money. First there was the initial cost, then it cost almost $500 to change the rego. As it had done 82,000kms it was due for a service, apparently the 80k is a big one and yep! $900 odd dollars. At least we knew that everything was A okay.

Rego was due 26 September, another 500 and then, then the battery decided to die. New battery was $320.

Of course there is the extra insurance and road service as well. Don't want to work out how much another car is costing.  

I drove a friend home the other day, she has never driven and now she is a widow and reliant on buses and friends, how glad I am that I have a vehicle to drive and can choose to go where and when I want.

Fingers crossed that no money out except for fuel for that Jeep.

We bought a Jeep!

Everything was going swimmingly, we had the caravan  up for sale to make way for the new one, had a few inquiries. Had a few people want to offer a lot less than we wanted before they even looked at it. We were prepared to drop the price a bit but we didn't want to lose money on it.

Anyway two weeks ago, we got a phone call from the salesman who would be looking after our after sales service. Along with the purchase of the the new van we had also ordered the electric brakes and Anderson plug for the car. He, Sam rang to tell us that the van would be built in the next batch being started in August and was checking our requirements. He then asked what car we would be using as the tow vehicle when Warren told him, he came back and said that he didn't think the towing capacity was enough (the guy from Melbourne who sold us the van said it would be!)

It appeared that Sam was correct and we decided that we couldn't afford a new caravan and another tow vehicle so we cancelled the new van and canceled the ad selling the old van. Back to plan B! We found a Jeep near here and ended up buying it, picking it up last Tuesday. Quite low mileage and had everything on it that we needed. The reason for the Jeep itself is that Warren wanted a diesel and I wanted auto if I am going to help with towing, that cut out a lot of brands.

Before collecting it, we went to the RACQ to get insurance and Warren just couldn't help himself, he stood up and announced "We bought a Jeep!" just like in the adverts.