We have been out of internet contact for about 4 days now and as usual, there is a lot to update everyone on. We found out that we will in fact be getting our trucks on the 7th of April… after having to shell out another thousand dollars to get them here two weeks earlier (insert link to rediculous bureaucratic hoops to jump through in order to get our cars out of the country and general lack of knowledge on the part of so called "experts" blog link here) That being said, I am still not holding my breath given what we have gone through to date, and will only truly relax once I insert the keys into the ignition of the "Thundra" and drive her off the docks.
In the meantime, we rented two campervans which happen to be Toyota Hiace’s, so I guess you could say the driving of two Toyotas around the world has begun, even if we are in rented ones. The people at Britz campervans in Australia were even kind enough to offer a discount to us given the nature of our travels and time spent here in Australia.
Even though we expected to be driving around Australia in our own cars at this point in the expedition, driving the campervans is pretty cool. The vans have a fridge, a stove, a small sink, and sleep 3 which is perfect for the 6 person TWBR crew. After a bit of an ordeal getting the vans in Sydney (insert link to blog about idiotic american business banking systems here), we headed out on the Princes Hwy down the SE coast of Australia and have now covered more than 1100 kms through Melbourne and are now on the Great Ocean Road.
Driving south, or anywhere in Australia for that matter, takes you through some interesting towns with interesting names. From Wollongong to Dandenong and through Ulladulla, there is always a little hessitation among people in the van for fear blurting out and totally butchering the of name of the town we are passing by. The highways in Australia outside of the cities are also pretty narrow and even though the speed limit on the open road in New South Wales and Victoria is 100km per hour, the average speed ends up being around 85. Given the shape, size and weight of the vans, they are interesting to drive to say the least. I don’t know if it is the loose suspension, the not so tight steering, or the higher than normal center of gravity, but sometimes you are sure you are going to roll the thing on a tight corner. The road around the town of Malacoota was even more interesting given that you are sharing it with huge logging trucks barreling down the road in the opposite direction at 110km and passing you with only an inch (or 2.54 centimeters) to spare. When the loggers do pass you, they leave behind one hell of a windshear and by the time we arrived in Melbourne, my arms were actually quite sore from trying to keep the van on the road.
All in all, camping out of the vans is pretty cool and is a new and interesting expereince for most of us. However, there are always some problems… which we have since come to call challenges. At this point, Steve and I have been the only ones driving the vans because, as previously indicated, in order to rent them we were required to put down a $5,000 cash damage deposit for each of them. Good thing I cashed out my 401k I guess. However, the other day we did sucessfully manage to get Brain and Kira on as additional drivers, but that was also somewhat of a laborous process, one that I won’t go into here.
