After spending my first few Australian weeks in Melbourne gathering info about how to attempt to experience Oz, and perusing the hostel bulletin boards to buy a car, I received and email from Aine and Noel, an Irish couple that I ran into several times in New Zealand. They informed me that they were about to conclude their holiday in Australia, and were making their way south from Darwin to Perth and needed to sell their car before flying back to Ireland. I had been leaning toward seeing the more isolated and remote west coast of Australia anyway, and this would save me from having to drive the few grueling days across the Great Nullarbor Desert. Soooooo, after exchanging a few emails about the car, I told them I would fly to Perth and buy it from them. Site unseen and no test drive.
The 3.5 hour flight from Melbourne to Perth was flown by Capt. Sam Hill (I always wondered "who in the Sam Hill" was. Now we all know that he is a pilot for Qantas Airlines). Anyway....
Aine and Noel picked me up at the airport and we walked to the parking lot when I finally saw her...Mary: the fading red 1985 Subaru Station Wagon. Now she ain't much to look at, but it gets worse. Along with having almost 300,000 km on her, she's lost some of her initial workings: first and foremost, no air-conditioning (there is a button for it on the dash, but it does nothing), no hazard lights (but hey, what could possibly happen that I would need them?), no horn, the back lift gate does not stay up (i use a little piece of iron to prop under the hinge), the glove box is screwed shut, some of the air vents work (some of the time), the drivers side window only goes down 3/4 of the way (and you cant put it up all the way and shut the door. You have to shimmy it to the left then gently push the door closed), there is no rear bumper, the gas cap is just an orange cap to a lawnmower that loosely fits over the top of the hole-then a couple of crumpled pieces of paper hold it on tight once you close them in the gas cap door), the front tires and back tires are two different sizes and there are three different brands of tires, the heater doesn't work (and there were a few evenings on the south coast when it was needed), the rear wiper doesn't work either, the 'padding' on the interior roof and sides of the doors is so dry-rotted from years of dry heat that it is just worn out, scuffed and scraped off... oh yeah and worst of all NO RADIO!!! Can you imagine that for me?! Thank gawd for ipod! Although that's just rude with someone else in the car.
However, Mary does have a redeeming quality: the engine runs...and runs...(and hopefully keeps running....) No oil leaks, never overheated, and shifts fine. Although she really needs to warm up in the morning by massaging the gas pedal until she revs to life.
But, Mary is my Oz Chariot and so far she has performed. The Photo: So I took her to the beach at Lucky Bay for a picnic (where she got stuck in the sand and I got 5 Aussie Lads to push us out).
The End.
Side note:
after buying the car, I spent a few days in the charming town of Fremantle, which is just South of big Perth. I stayed with two different Servas hosts (http://joomla.servas.org/). What great people and a great international organization.
While posting a sign on the ride boards at the various hostels (I was looking for someone to share the ride/costs of driving to see the Southwest corner of Australia for a few weeks), I saw a note for "Camping Gear for Sale". I wanted to acquire a few things anyway so I called and arranged to meet the sellers the next day. Around noon, I met two German dudes in their 40's (can you imagine anyone traveling internationally at that age?!). They were flying back to Germany that afternoon at 4:00 and desperately wanted to unload their gear instead of throwing it away (ok, put on your salesman cap). Long story short...I bought almost everything they had for pennies on the dollar. Including: "The Palace" a huge 4-person tent with vestibule, queen size mattress with pump, gas lantern, 2 sets of mask-snorkel-fins, big beach umbrella, a large and small gas stove with fuel cans, sleeping bag, cooler (esky), service for 4 (plates, cups, cutlery, pots, pan, espresso maker, cleanup stuff, cord and clothespins, etc), and some food. And Mary already came with 2 folding chairs, 2 boogie boards and such.
So, in an instant, I am traveling POSH, baby! TaaDaa....
