Well, we've finally made it! D-day has arrived and we've managed to make it out. Except...
We're in Bairnsdale. I thought we were heading west first? Strange way to begin then, going 3 hours east to start a westward trip.
Allow me to explain.
So a couple of months ago we decided to get Russell sent into the mechanic to have a good check-up prior to leaving on his epic trip around the world's biggest island. Because we've pretty much only had bad experiences with mechanics in Melbourne, we decided to go with one that Robyn's Dad (Geoff) has used for many years and has lots of experience with 4WDs (Geoff also has a Troopie). So Russell went into Peter's in Bairnsdale for a thorough inspection.
After hesitatingly handing over 7K, we were happy that we could trust that the work had been done and done well. The only problem was that within a few weeks we started experiencing a few problems with 1st gear (one of the gears Peter replaced). It was clunking a bit at random times, and when Geoff and I took it out 4WDing, it jumped out of 1st gear in low range going down a hill. Definitely not something you want happening when you're on a dangerous steep track in the middle of nowhere.
Peter suggested some possible causes of the issue, but had from the beginning said to bring it back to him if we had any problems. After a couple more tests we decided this was necessary, and being used to getting ripped off by mechanics I was naturally nervous about having to pay for whatever work was required (especially because the cause was possibly unrelated to the gear work that Peter had already done). Gearboxes take a day's worth of work just to get the thing out and have a look. You can imagine my relief when Geoff relayed the message that Peter wanted to make it clear that there was no charge. My favourite line? "Tell him he's not in the city anymore."
Which pretty much brings me to the next best part about the country... how both willing and able people (and particularly Robyn's relatives) are to help out. We totally have to send out a massive thanks to Geoff, Robyn's uncle Lloyd and my brother-in-law Mike. These guys did so much for us and aside from helping us save heaps of money, I learnt a whole lot that I'm sure will help me out when I have to do some of my own repairs/mods! Be patient with me outback Australia, I'm just a clumsy city boy.
Oh and as you may have noticed, it's the afternoon now. It might surprise you to discover that I've actually just gotten up. That would be because we arrived in Bairnsdale at 6:30am this morning. We've had about 3 weeks of saying goodbyes and hectic times trying to get everything finished up and now it's almost come to a complete close. We said our farewells to my immediate family last night, whom I beat in our last game of Dominion for a while (yessssssss), who prayed for us and expressed their best wishes, then left Hoppers Crossing at 11:30pm to start our trip to Bairnsdale. Unfortunately we still had to drop off a few things (including our faithful little Suzuki to Robyn's cousin in Narre Warren! Filling out VicRoads forms at 2am in the morning is a rather bizarre experience) and were both struggling to stay awake on the freeways. Robyn took the first leg, we powernapped for an hour and a half in Traralgon, I took the next leg then Robyn took over for the last 45 minutes. Lucky I'm travelling with a Rayment... these guys can just drive and drive (Don't even get me started on Geoff flying in from New Zealand and jumping straight into the car to go the 12 hours to Bairnsdale non-stop. Or the several times he would take the family up to north Queensland and drive over 20 hours straight with only a couple of short breaks! The Luke Rayment Legends are merely the continuation of a legacy already long established my friends...)! We literally arrived here while everybody was getting ready to head out for the day and I just collapsed into bed!
So we've kinda started our trip... At least, though, we get these extra few days to polish off the rest of what we need to do. Or at least, we're hoping we will!
So next time we check in we'll hopefully be somewhere that's actually further west than my place!
See you then.
Much love,
J.
P.S. I wanted to post some (before and after) photos of our troopy but the camera's in the car! Which is currently at the shop... Will chuck em in later this evening!
