Stop, Swap & Away
Trip Start
Oct 15, 2007
1
83
97
Trip End
Aug 24, 2008
Sydney,
New South Wales,
Australia
Friday, April 11, 2008
Jacob drove around the block several times, whilst Kirsty ran to the embassy and collected our passports. Conveniently, Jacob was just rounding the corner by the embassy when Kirsty emerged. It's this sort of slick co-ordination that makes us look like we know what we're doing.
We drove to the school and collected Charlotte once she had finished work. We took her back to her place and bought a fancy looking cake for Sarah and Dan, who would be putting us up again.
When we got to Sarah and Dan's place, the only one home was Tom, Sarah's rather strange nerdy brother. We chatted with him for a while, humouring his Monty Python quotes and 'admiring' his paintwork on his little lead wargaming figures until Sarah got back. She cooked fish for tea, which we followed up with the cake. Dan was late home, so we didn't get much of a chance to catch up with him, but he did make it back in time for cake.
The following morning, we took a train to Thornleigh to pick up the van that we were going to be relocating to Melbourne. The van was quite incredible. It was a 4-berth Winnebago with a toilet, shower, kitchen including an oven and fridge, table and chairs...even a kitchen sink. We spent a while sorting out the paperwork and about half an hour going through the inventory to make sure that everything was there ("four teaspoons...check"), then we were off. We drove the van back to Sydney centre, popping into the school to get Charlotte to sign the paperwork and fax it back to the rental people. Holding our breath, we drove under the low branched trees to get out of the school car park - the roof of the van wasn't insured against damage. We took the van back to Kingsford, where we left it whilst we went to drop off the rental car and got a bus back.
Vehicles sorted, we drove over to Bondi Junction to collect Charlotte. As we parked, Jacob managed to stuff the side of the van into a huge bulging knot sticking out of an overhanging tree outside her house. Balls. As it turned out, the van came handily equipped with a conveniently positioned scrape - thankfully marked on the damage report - and a scrubbing brush to take off the mossy smears. No worries.
Charlotte was as wowed by the van as we had been, so we were all acting like excited children. We went and bought some supplies from the supermarket and stowed them in our plentiful cupboards.
It was time to hit the road.
