Melbourne, we meet again

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After a short 4 hour flight into Melbourne, arriving at 23:00 local time (which was 1:00 in my biological clock), I was exhausted. I just wanted my bed, as soon as possible. However, I was quite happy that when I declared my muddy hiking boots, they cleaned them for me. Free of charge. I'd been too lazy to clean them after the past couple of hikes.

When I got to my hostel, I first met Samantha: the girl that I had planned an 8-day road trip with - all the planning was done through text messages. We exchanged hello's but we were both tired and my bed was surprisingly comfortable for a hostel bed, so I was asleep within seconds.

After a good night of sleep, Samantha and I headed into town. We visited a shopping mall and went to the botanical garden and the shrine of remembrance, but most of all, we finally got to know each other face to face. Luckily, we got along well so that was a good sign for the coming roadtrip. Later, we also met up with Charlotte (whom I met in Christchurch) and Danielle (whom I met in Byron Bay and Brisbane) for drinks and the next day I also met Eva again. Melbourne was good fun, but I was also very excited to finally start this road trip.

The start of the road trip was a bit messy. One of the back doors of the car wouldn't open and the owner forgot to tell us anything we didn't ask. Thankfully, the car was similar to the car we rented from Melbourne to Sydney so I remembered some buttons. Piece of advice: Wicked Campers is cheap, but that's for a reason. If you can afford to spend more, always go to Jucy or Spaceships - my experience with Spaceships was great and I've heard great stories about Jucy.

If you thought this was the messy part, think again. We got a tank that was half full so after about an hour we had to stop at a gas station. I had never loaded up a car with petrol before, but I knew that we needed petrol unleaded 95 or 98. I found one called premium unleaded 95, so I filled up the tank. Less than 500 metres later, the car wouldn't speed anymore and Samantha managed to pull over to the side of the road before it stopped completely. We tried to restart it, but we couldn't. When we called Wicked Campers Roadside Assistance, we got their voicemail (I just love that company). After 10 minutes, they called us back and we came to the joint conclusion that it may have been a flat battery. He told us to just wave at passing cars so that one of them would stop and help us jumpstart the car. When I hesitated, Samantha started waving the jumpstart cables around like crazy and within a minute a car stopped in front of us. Unfortunately, the man told us it wasn't the battery. He asked us when we got fuel and to see the receipt. Turns out it was diesel instead of petrol, and that fucks up the engine. I've never felt more stupid. I was convinced that the label said premium unleaded 95 but either way, there was diesel in the tank and I put it there. Roadside Assistance told us they'd send a tow truck, which finally came after 3 hours of waiting.

An update on how this ended will follow soon!

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