Advertisement
Published: September 22nd 2006
Edit Blog Post
Getting Started!
We arrived in Sydney on Tuesday at noon. We grabbed a $10 shuttle to the city centre from the airport to get to the hostel we are staying at called WakeUp. On the shuttle as well were two other girls from Canada, and one 'interesting' girl seemed fixated on sheering sheep and was asking the driver where she had to go... the poor driver thought she was saying ship and was telling her she would have to go down to the harbour and talk to one of the tour boothes... quite funny. The Hostel is okay - We are staying in the dorms, so there are 6 other bunks in with ours. Our roomates have been mostly English and are friendly, although often hard to understand! After getting settled in, we walked down the main street to the nearest bank - Commonwealth, and opened a joint account for the two of us. We figured this was one of the first things we needed to take care of to avoid paying all the bank fees we are currently paying using our canadian accounts. After this we grabbed a sandwich at a deli and continued walking down the main st
towards the harbour. After about a 30 min walk (along the way I picked up a new hat, ditching the husky one and Carolyn a new pair of shades - nice!), we reached the famous Sydney bridge and of course, the Opera House. Both are quite spectacular to see. We went back up to the hotel and made a few phone calls, sent emails, and updated the blog - the first telling of our engagement!
We now have a Mobile!
The bankers that opened our account were young girls and they recommended we get a vodofone mobile, which we did the next day - if you want the number, please email. The last few nights have been early to bed, as all the walking around and figuring things out is quite exhausting! After getting the phone we looked through a couple papers and zero'ed in on finding our home for the next year.
Hunting for a Campervan
After getting an idea of what we should be paying, we went down to a car market in King's Cross that is popular with backpackers and their vans. We looked at a few that were quite smelly
and beat-up - it sure is tough trying to decide whether or not a particular van is what you are looking for. We finally found one that seemed fitting - Carolyn especially liked them because they were from France and could definitely speak better French than English! The van seemed in pretty good shape - we took it for a test drive around Sydney, which was quite interesting! A few times there were cars directly in my lane, but then I realized that it was me in their lane and had to get over to the left... oh well, I will figure this out soon enough! The vans are all manual with column shifters, which is also quite new. We agreed with the price the french couple were asking after bringing it down $500, but decided we should get a mechanical inspection before purchasing. All the cars require a pink slip - which is a really basic check (lights, tires, no oil leaks, etc), but for $150 we could get a full check. The mechanic showed up at 4pm and spent the next 3 hours tearing the thing apart. At the end of it all, the crestfallen frenchies were told
that their van required about $3000 dollars worth of mechanical repair - including a new head gasket. Needless to say, we walked away from it, happy enough to have spent the money and not be stuck with a money trap like that! We hadn't eaten lunch that day, and it was quite late and dark after getting out of their, so we were quite tired and a little discouraged. But not for long through, because after all, it was only our first day looking!
Finding the Perfect Campervan!
We went back at it the next day - having made a bit of a friendship with the mechanic who had mentioned another van he had done some work on that was in faboulous shape that was for sale. As we were going back through some of the vans in the market - almost ready to buy a Nissan pop top (Gotta love those Nissans!) that was very, very old and rickety for really cheap - and the van the mechanic had spoken of pulled in! We took the new one for a drive and after inspecting it all over, decided to buy it for $6800 AU. We hung out
with the guy (Steve) selling it yesterday and most of today while we are getting everything processed.
We decided to purchase basic 3rd party insurance which will pay for damage to the other vehicle in the event of an accident, as it seemed cheap at $375 for a year. We will pick up the sweetest camper you will every lay eyes on tomorrow! We need to head to victoria state to get the registration switched over, so we have decided to do a loop to Melboure inland (8hr drvie), and return along the coast, then continue North all the way until we hit Cairns at the top.
The camper is a 1978 Toyota Hiace - in excellent condition. Only 177k and 4 owners - with a full service history! Pretty rare to find with these campervans! It has a pop-top, which allows even me to stand up straight inside, as well as a 3-way fridge and stove that even has an oven. There is a sink with a 40L water tank, and it does have A/C but requires a belt to be put on the compressor. I cannot wait to further modify the inside and turn this van
into a true home! It is a yellow colour with a white top, with full bull bars on the front and back. Indestructable.
Heading out on the Road!
We will stay our last night in Sydney tonight after we cook our $7 pasta dinner we are going to make in the Hostel kitchen. We plan to spend more time in Sydney at the end, and check out the rest of the tourist sites and destinations, because we don't really feel like we have 'done' Sydney, but are anxious to get going! As of tomorrow - we will be on the road!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.212s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 15; qc: 73; dbt: 0.1073s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.3mb
Derek
non-member comment
Shweet ride!
Now THAT's what I was talkin' about! Hope you have room for visitors...