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Published: June 30th 2010
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Stump my root!
John standing on a 400 year old tree stump inside the Kalamunda historic village close to where we were staying. Wednesday 30 June 2010
For anyone planning to ship their car whatever you do make sure you build into your itinerary additional time to cope with the delays that packing, customs and clearance will take. Here we are, finally, about to start our final long leg of this epic journey from London to Sydney. The car is sitting in the driveway in Kalamandu of our newly made friends, Sandra and Jack Reffell, who have been wonderful and so generous in giving John and I a bed each evening since we arrived here in Perth to get the car through the eight agencies that our shipping agent, Australia Shipping and Trade, said we had to go through. They too have been great in helping us through the minefield of paperwork, especially Jeff Shaw, the MD, who has spent many early hours in Brisbane on our case.
We have both been able to realize our plans during the break since leaving Singapore. John has seen a distant relative and then visited Melbourne for the remainder of the time, catching up with me last Wednesday here in Perth after I too had spent nearly 10 days with my son and family in Adelaide.
The original village petrol station at Kalamunda
The historical museum had created a living environment by moving many of the exhibits from where they were to one location so that visitors and school children could understand and learn about their local history. When I arrived early last week, I used the time to clear customs, which went smoothly, and then was sent over to the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) to see what was required to clear the car. They completed a form to book the car in for an inspection and then stated how the inspection process works. I was amazed to hear from the officer attending me that there is virtually an acceptance that the first inspection will fail the car and that a second one will be required. More money! But my agent had warned us that this was likely. It does make one wonder what has to be done to ensure clearance at the first hurdle. Our efforts to clean the car though did pay dividends in the end. On Monday my agent asked me to get AQIS to amend my inspection location, which I did by email, and then shortly after I received two emails from AQIS within two minutes of each other, one telling us that the car had failed and needed to be cleaned for re-inspection, and then the second email giving an attachment that gave the car a final clearance. I was confused and
The original Kalamunda railway station
Kalamunda railway station was originally created to deal with those involved with the logging industry that sprung up in the late 18th century and in the early 19th century called for its own railroad to move the logs from the hills to the Swan river. Some of the original route that the railway took, zigzagging its way down the hill towards the river, can be followed today. spoke to our agent who too was puzzled. He rang me back a couple of hours later and said we could go and get the car - AQIS had released it!
When John and I arrived at the depot to collect the car, a very nice inspection lady took us over to the car and while we were checking it over said that they had received a call from someone in the Australian Government telling them to release the car. All we can say is thank you. We also learnt the reason the car failed was because a ‘few’ leaves had been found near the radiator. The fact that the car was supremely clean seemed to have been over looked.
But our worries are over - the adventure starts again at 0800 hours tomorrow morning ( 10 years since I married Elaine (happy anniversary darling - sorry I cannot be with you to celebrate this one, but will make up for it when I return in August). We will be heading off north towards Port Hedland which looking at the map is some 1000 miles away from here in Kalamandu in the hills surrounding Perth.
While we
have been here in Perth, we have had the opportunity to look around. John spent a couple of days and one night in Fremantle on his own, enjoying the ambiance provided by that lovely town, and I took myself off to Perth zoo, which I found to be a most enjoyable experience, and impressed by the amount of research and breeding of rare breeds going on in co-operation with other countries and zoos.
The Hillman has now been serviced and the radiator repaired (as the hard driving over very rough roads in parts of Asia had shaken the core away from its frame but it has still been able to get us this far without leaking so now should see us safely through to the end). Both the people who serviced the car and Vic’s Radiator Repairs must be thanked for their part in keeping the car roadworthy, by donating their time for free - it all helps us in our endeavours to raise awareness and funds for the Prostate Cancer Charity. Also Auto One motoring spares in Kalamunda are thanked for the generosity in giving us the oil filter and oil needed for the service. It should make it
Fremantle's own brewery
This small brewery, Little Creatures, was right on the waterfront of Fremantle. all the way back to the UK!
We are also hopeful that we will be able to help the Prostate Cancer Charity of Australia as we travel around the top of Australia. Any Australian reading this we would ask to make a donation through our web site - www.gb2aus.co.uk - as your donation will be helping both charities but more importantly the work that goes on to find better ways of diagnosing this disease.
The photographs uploaded speak for themselves but are mainly of our time here in and around Perth. My next blog I hope will be some miles north of here by which time we should have some interesting tales to tell.
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Parker Hobart team
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Good luck on your last leg!
Dear John, All the best on this last leg to your final destination. We have been following your progress with Barry and the car the whole way from London and we are thrilled to see you have arrived in Australia safely. We hope you have a fantastic time in Aus and look forward to seeing more posts, especially pictures of you arriving in Sydney. Take care! Best wishes from everyone at Parker Hobart