Our Matilda van - now sadly sold! April 2011
dear blog readers - Louise here...
Just to let you all know the final details regarding our journey, and its end, around Australia.
We arrived at Magnetic Island on 2nd April to stay with Matt's folks under their house in the 'granny flat'. We had to sell Matt's Mitsubishi Mirage car and our lovely Matilda Camper van that had so reliably got us around Australia.
We then posted notices on the local free community notice boards on the island, and I am happy to say Matt's Mirage sold within about 10 days; Happy days; we were asking $3,500 but settled for $3,300. Now it was time to get rid of the van - we need the money desperately to help pay for our house build, that we would like to start soon.
Every morning Matt drove the van to the end of our street, with 'For Sale' signs plastered in the windows to hope to catch some passing trade of fellow islanders on the way to the Nelly Bay ferry terminal. We also put up new notices locally and online on the free classifieds. Matt also had the brains to email the RV Campervan dealers in Sydney and Brisbane with photos, to see if they were interested.
I should tell you at this time, that we did go and see the used RV dealers here in Townsville, and they only would offer us $25K! Oh please; we paid $40K for it and we wanted $33k - $35k if possible. It felt like an insult.
Every morning in my meditation sessions with Matt, I would do my 'affirmations' and say that the van would be sold. Well blow me down, if last Tuesday 19th April 2011, a car yard in Narrabeen NSW, (near where we used to live on the northern beaches) called up. Matt had already spoken to a salesman about the van the week before and he too had only offered $25k. But now the same salesman (Aaron) asked if we still had it for sale, and offered $28k - but Matt stuck to his guns and said the lowest he would go was $30K.
Aaron said he maybe had a buyer and would call back in 5 mins, which he duly did and said we had a deal on $30k and he would put $5k straight away into our bank account - BUT we had to get the van to him by Sat 23 April for his buyer! Matt said yes of course and the running around began; Air fares had to be booked to come up from Sydney, but of course it was Easter and Anzac day combined and the fares were extortionate! We could get a fare for $199 each from Sydney to Townsville but we had to leave on 28 April, after Easter, Anzac Day and my birthday on 26th. So sensing the cheap fares would go quickly, we booked them.
Now accommodation was the next issue. Our good chum Geoff Williams who lives in Freshwater, (near our old place) let us stay on his sofa bed when we completed our trip back to Sydney, but would he have plans to go away over Easter? Amid the chaos, Matt checked the bank account online to find us $5K richer, so we knew now the deal was ON!
I left a frantic message on Geoff's answering machine and told him to call us back when he got home, no matter what the hour. Geoff is a bit of a social butterfly and we assumed he was out enjoying himself somewhere; it turned out he was - at the Sydney Easter show - and on his return home at 11pm he got my message and phoned. When we explained the situation, he said the words 'of course you can come and stay' and we heaved a sigh of relief.
And no doubt some of you are thinking, 'why didn't they just get their van on a train or haulage truck and send it down that way'? We did think of that one, but it would cost over $2K but we calculated that with petrol and air fares we could do it for $900 - so a long drive down to Sydney was on the cards.
So on Weds 20th April, we set off for Sydney, carrying the minimum we needed for 3 nights on the road, mindful that most of what we took with us would be left behind with Geoff or given to charity. Unlike our previous adventures on the road, when we could just stop where we wanted and more importantly, go where we wanted, it was just drive, drive and then drive some more, as we had to get to the RV place in Narrabeen, Sydney Northern Beaches, by Saturday afternoon. And its 2300km from Magnetic Island to there. So on Weds 20/4/11 we set off once more, singing our day song; 'On the road again' for the last time as we headed south. We spent the first night in a rest area near Yaamba, Qld. and got up early and took off south again.
We were fortunate that our chum Darran in Wellington Point (near Brisbane) was kind enough to let us stay for a night, on 21.4.11, before we drove further south the next day. Darran's good pal Chris was driving up from Sydney to see him, and we spoke briefly on 21/4 just to say hello; Well blow me down, we are just south of Ballina the next day, ( Fri 22.4.11) when we get a call on the moby, just as we pulled into a rest area for a cuppa. It was Chris! He said 'I just saw you guys going past me, where are you?' We told him, and about 5 mins later Chris pulled up in his ute behind us. What a spin out... So Chris became our first and last ever guest in the campervan: see photo.
Chris meets us on the road for a cuppa; 22.4.11: our first and last guest in the van!
We eventually arrived back in Sydney on Saturday morning 23.4.11 around noon, to grey skies and pouring rain.
We made our way to Geoff's place at Freshwater, and unloaded our sheets, blankets and assorted camping utensils, and with Geoff and I following Matt, in Geoff's car, we headed for the RV Centre at Narrabeen in a downpour of rain. Matt raced on ahead while we were stuck at traffic lights, and by the time Geoff and I arrived in the office, Matt had the cheque in his hand. We waved goodbye to our van and jumped in Geoff's car tightly clutching the lovely cheque, but feeling a bit sad that our faithful van had been sold.
The next few days passed in a whirl; we went to the Art Gallery of NSW to view the Annual Archibald portrait prize paintings, then onto the Salon de Refuse at Observatory Hill, where the refused entries to the Archibald are shown. Geoff, Matt and I, in the past, had made this a yearly event, and Geoff was stunned to find that rather than go alone (as he had expected to do) his old chums were on hand to accompany him!
My birthday on 26th April 2011 (age 56!) came along and we had a lovely dinner for 3 at Ribs and Rumps in Manly, and before we knew it, it was time to jump on the plane and head back to Townsville.
Ribs & Rump Restaurant; Manly NSW 26.4.11 Matt, Louise and Geoff
So dear chums we are now minus 2 vehicles that we have been fortunately able to sell, and our block of land in Horseshoe Bay is next to go! If anyone out there wants to buy please give us an email at londonlouise@gmail.com We promise to give you mate's rates...
Here are some stats of our big trip; we did 48,000 kms (including taking the van back to Sydney to get sold); Used 1 set of rear tyres; 4 oil changes; around 5000 Litres of petrol costing about $7,250 (average price $1.45 per litre) plus a new windscreen, as the original one got a stone crack after just 2 weeks on the road, but lasted with medical tape holding it together until the end of the trip. (We also got a new exhaust in Darwin, Matt has just reminded me.) We had 2 blown tyres near White Cliffs, NSW at start of the trip, and got bogged near Ballarat near Victoria.
BUT OF COURSE - we had a massive amount of fun and saw all 22 things on our wish list, and more besides. A big thank you to all who put us up in their homes, and who put up with us also...You know who you are!
The next adventure (or nightmare) depending on your viewpoint is to build a house here on Magnetic Island; I shall keep you all informed when it gets going... If anyone knows a cheap house builder please let me know!
Thanks for all the comments along the way; it was so good to get other views on what we were doing.
Love from Louise and Matt (now at the end of the big adventure...)
