FINALLY GETTIN OUT OF HERE!

---

By the time morning came the power had gone again. We could not bear the thought of spending any more time here so we packed up in the hope that things may change. This time we were in luck. Not only was the highway open, but the power was back on. we threw our stuff in the van and made a dash for the bank. The queue outside was ridiculous. Because they were running on limited power they couldn't run the alarm system. This meant they were only allowing one in one out. We skipped the bank and went to the petrol station.

When we pulled up at the pump the owner came out and shook his head. We thought it strange, but went to the other petrol station. They too could not serve us. With the highway open we decided to take our chances and get out of town hoping that we would come across a petrol station before we ran out. We did manage to find one but it was incredibly busy. We found out that the two petrol stations in Orbost were not working because some idiot had cut all the petrol pump tubes just so they could drain out the dribble that was left in them.

With a full tank we were on our way, but we were not prepared for what we would see. As far as we could see on each side of the road there was nothing left except black burned trees and charred grass land. I can only imagine this is what it looks like when a bomb has gone off. Smoke was still pouring across the road, embers fluttered in front of us on the wind and there were even pieces of trees that were still on fire! What was so amazing was just how quickly things were being fixed. Along with clearing the road and fallen trees hundreds of new telephone and electric poles were already up. The workmen were doing a fantastic job.

After stopping at a few places and being told that we must spend hundreds of pounds on a new exhaust we found a nice man who welded it in 20 minutes and charged us $30 (about £18) Hilda now sounded like a new van. We had lost so much time in Orbost that we now only had one night spare to spend at 90 mile beach. We had been looking forward to 90 mile beach from the start and were planning on the spending a good few days there but we would now have to settle for about 15 hours.

Our journey there was not uneventful. On the long road to the coast we could smell something strange. We were looking at each other with disgust and blaming each other for ages until we saw the sign for the sewer treatment plant and the river that flowed from it. The smell was terrible and how people lived here was beyond me but what worried us most was if this river was on the coast road where did it go?

Thankfully as we got close to the coast the river and the smell disappeared. The beach was just as we hoped it would be. Miles of sand with no one else around. What we didn't realise was just how many free camping areas there were. Over 20 areas had been created just set back from the beach, some with facilities some without. We picked our area and got set up in time to walk over the sand dune to the beach for sunset.

Andy had been feeling a bit rough all day and by evening it was clear that if had been struck down with manflu. Guys you will all know how terrible this can be and ladies can you imagine just how terrible it is to be stuck in a metal box will a sniffing, snotty man who is feeling sorry for himself? I had a very large glass of wine and as it was so cold we got into our sleeping bags and got an early night.

The following day as we travelled back past the river I was very jealous of Andy’s blocked nose. Our first viewing was lunch time tomorrow so we wanted to find a campsite within easy driving distance and spend some time cleaning the van and getting our stuff together. We found a campsite in Tooradin and enquired about a pitch. When he said he could squeeze us in I didn't think he had meant it quite so literally. We were squeezed in between two permanent residents on a piece of grass which wasn't even a proper pitch! In the end it didn't matter because we were only cleaning and by the time we had almost finished the glorious sunshine had gone and it was pouring with rain so we had to sit inside anyway. The rain didn't stop all night and this time we were not only tucked up in sleeping bags but we also had blankets!

In the morning we finished our last few jobs including changing the spark plugs. Mount Eliza was just a 30 minutes away so we were soon arriving at the couples house where they were waiting excitedly on the driveway. We spent a good few hours with them, showing them everything inside all the mechanical bits and taking them both for a test drive. They both absolutely loved her and as we left they told us that they were almost certain they would buy her, but they just wanted an hour to talk it over.

We drove a short while and parked up on the sea front. We didn't want to travel all the way back to Melbourne then turn around and come back if they wanted her. Watching the phone and waiting for it to ring was like waiting in the dentists waiting room. Finally two hours later the phone rang. The news was not good. Hilda's handbrake was not like our cars at home as it pulls out from the dashboard. The lady had lost most of her fingers in a car crash 20 years ago and she was concerned about struggling on a hill start. For this reason only they were forced to buy a van that they didn't like as much as Hilda. We were gutted. Its was really important for us to sell her to someone we liked. We had become so attached that if we could afford it we would have her shipped home.
We had other people interested so we called them and arranged viewings for the next day.

After picking up something for dinner we realised that it was getting late. We couldn't go to Melbourne as we didn't want to pass Andy’s manflu on so we tried to find a campsite. Everywhere we went was either full or their office was closed. The area we were in was not good for free camping so we were forced to drive 30km in the wrong direction to the closest one. We were just reversing into our spot when we got a knock on the window. "Are you planning on spending the night?" asked the man. We told him we were hoping to. "Well I've just been advised to move all my stock off this land. We are expecting about 5 metres of flood water to come crashing through here shortly" We thanked him for the warning and drove away quickly - another near miss to add to the list!

We were hungry and out of options for somewhere to stay. We couldn't even find anywhere to pull over so I could cook dinner. After searching some more we finally gave in and bought some fast food. That night with nowhere else to go we pulled over on the side of the highway outside a derelict hotel. We didn't want to draw attention to ourselves as this wasn't a camping area. We didn't even put the roof up. We just crawled in the back exhausted and went to sleep, hoping that people would just assume we were a parked van.

We didn't hang about when we woke up, people were out walking their dogs and were giving us strange looks as we got out of bed. We had our first viewing at 11am in McDonalds car park in St Kilda. Once again the viewing went well, but he needed to talk it over with his friend who was unable to come to the viewing.

We drove to meet our next viewing. They were a lovely Australian couple. His parent had taken him on a road trip through the centre as a child. Ever since he had dreamt of doing it again and wanted to show his wife all the amazing things he had seen. After another great viewing they made us an offer. They had a maximum budget of $6500 and were happy to spend the lot on Hilda. This was less that what we were hoping for so we said that we would keep their number and get back to them if we didn't get a better offer. It wasn't long before we heard back from our other viewing. He offered us $7300 which we were more than happy with. We were pleased to have sold her so soon so that we could enjoy our time in Melbourne without worrying about viewings and if we would sell her in time. We collected a deposit and booked into a campsite just north of the city for a couple of nights to allow Andy to recover from his manflu.

---