Major problem early in the morning; the ‘reliable’ troopy took 3 attempts to start when we were leaving the south east cape campground. Both Dave and I looked at each other and said “oh shit”. A major recalculation on our travels made us take refuge in Hobart waiting until Monday for a mechanic to be open. To add to the frustration, once we arrived at the caravan park we ended up having the worst sites choosing either a site with low lying trees (our roof top tent wouldn’t fit) or one with a torrent of water....hmm which one. Lucky one level caravan site freed up but as we started setting up it started pissing down with rain. They say everything comes in 3’s. There was a silver lining... Amy and Tom changed their plans to surprise us and put a great big smile on our faces and mainly making us get out of bed. We strolled down to the pub to have a few drinks mainly get out of the gusting wind, freezing rain, and for Dave to cheer on the Brisbane ROAR. That night the wind reached 70km gusts which makes sleeping impossible when you’re on top of an already high vehicle in a tent! It was a horrible night; it would be absolute silent then a roar from the wind far in distance. The wind would come past like a freight train hitting the side of the car rocking it and blowing the tent like nothing before.
The next morning was similar to the night, knowing that we just couldn’t sit in the tent all day we drove into town with Tom and Amy finding something to do. We found Mona Museum of Old and New Art that had free admission. Dave and I are still finding words to describe what we saw for example: there were collections on beastality, male and female genitalia, Egyptian relics, and mechanical light things. Anyway, that consumed most of the day. The wind and rain kept up again all night along with a chilli 7 degrees.
Monday morning was a drastic change from the weekend waking up to SNOW on top of Mt Wellington with perfect skys.
Back to life...the car took 4 attempts to start. We ‘broke’ down just 200m from the best diesel mechanic in Hobart (what a coincidence J) from there they suggested many problems but thanks to our friend Colin and my dad many of the possible problems were eliminated. So after a few hours we found out it was the started motor which would take a full day to fix so Dave being ‘the man’ organised with RACT a hire car and accommodation for 2 days. Being under 25ys we would have to pay an age excess of $30 per day for a new Toyota Corolla so we declined and went for Bretts car rental..hmmm ended up with a 1998 Mitsubishi Magna. Our accommodation was a standard budget room as anyone would expect but it does have an unlimited hot shower without a water saving device, a heater, and a TV we can watch from our bed! Couldn’t really complain.
Good work Jess and Dave! Well done for keeping your heads up, we know from experience how hard it is to think positive when the troopy 'shits' itself. To be sat here at Hamilton camp site with you guys is proof that you guys have grabbed the bull by the horns, dealt with what you've been given and ran with it! Good job team!!!
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