Driving and Trying to Sell

July 24 to August 1

It took all day Dotti to get fixed up. She needed a new voltage regulator which had to be found second hand. We had her in around 11am and didn't get her back till 5pm. But she was running well with her new voltage regulator and alternator. We met up with a woman interested in the van. She was planning on going traveling with her 2 year old son. She had a test drive and said she'd like her mechanic friend to check it out tomorrow. It was already fairly late so we stayed at the rest stop from the night before. The next morning we got a text saying she decided against the van. We drove south past Brisbane and had another guy contact us about the van. We set up a meet in Ballina with his wife and had a little drive with her. We figured they were going to be a no go though, they had two small sons. We checked into a tourist park and finally had a shower. We drove almost all the way to Sydney stopping at a rest stop about 40km out of town. The next morning we changed the oil and changed a brake drum which we had been told we needed in Queensland. We then got Dotti into a mechanic to get her safety inspection done for NSW, also called a pink slip. She sadly fail but not as badly as in Queensland. We still have an oil leak, the exhaust leaks, the steering is loose and the bull bar is blocking the signal light. We checked into Lane Cove Tourist Park for a week. On Saturday we thought we would see about alternative options for the van and went to a Cash for Cars place where we were offered a measly $200 for it. We picked up the parts we needed to fix up the van. We also spent some time at the mall using the internet to research fixing the steering. On Sunday Beau patched up the exhaust and then we headed into town to get the down low on the car market. We also went to Paddy's Market and got a bunch of fruit and vege for cheap. On Monday Beau figured out how to fix up the steering, removed the bull bar for our pink slip and the roof rack so we could fit into the car market. Then Tuesday we took the van down to the car market. We did show the van to a trio of girls but they wanted the moon for a pittance so they didn't deserve Dotti. We spent the rest of the day in an underground car park. Wednesday we headed to the car market again but didn't stay long as we noticed the oil was still leaking. We thought we had fixed it. Back at Lane Cove we tried to find the leak, looks like it was coming for the oil cap itself. We cleaned everything up and will do that again in the morning before we take her in for another inspection to get our pink slip!

Queensland!

June 17 – Tweed Coast

Well it was back to oatmeal this morning as we finished off our eggs yesterday. I guess I've gone a few days with out it but man I didn't miss it. We got showered and battened down the hatches before hitting the road. We popped into a chemist on the way out of Byron Bay so we could get us more sunscreen, me some cough meds and Beau new soap. I still have chesty cough going on so I figured I should try to do something about it. We got back on the highway for a bit then off of it for another tourist drive. On our way through Hastings Point we stopped at a lookout which was quite spectacular. It's also a gorgeous sunny day so that helps. In the distance we could see huge splashes of water from whales jumping and breaching. Sadly they we much too far away for my little camera, but it was pretty cool to see. We drove up to Tweed Heads and made some tuna sandwiches at Rainbow Bay. We had a walk along the beach in the sunshine but since we hadn't put sunscreen on that morning I didn't want to be out in it too long. I think we'll have to start slathering up every morning again. We started down the road again but stopped when we saw a “Welcome to New South Wales” sign. We were confused until we realized that the state boarder runs through the middle of town! Strangely there was no “Welcome to Queensland” sign. After taking a picture with the boarder marker we set out again and headed up the Gold Coast. We drove through the towns along the beach like Surfers Paradise. The ocean looked amazing but there were tons of high rises everywhere. Beau was also getting quite frustrated with the traffic since every time we almost got up to speed we'd hit a red light. We got out of the Gold Coast snarl and back on the freeway into Brisbane. We found our caravan park with little trouble, only one U-turn needed because we missed the turn due to the itty bitty street signs. After checking in we left shortly after for Linda's place, Mom's cousin. We found Linda's street with little difficulty but had a touch of trouble finding the house. We parked and walked up the street but knew we had gone to far, then we found the teeny tiny numbers that denoted 93. We accidentally came around the back because we went in the wrong gate but we made it. We had a lovely evening with Linda, we told her all about our trip and she shared her plans and some pictures of her daughter and grandson. Dinner was amazing with roast chicken and potatoes as well as Pavlova for dessert. A proper Sunday dinner. We said our good byes and hope to see each other again some time. We had a little trouble getting back to the park since a coupe streets we couldn't turn right onto but we eventually made it onto the right road only to get caught in a random breathalyser check. We were both a little nervous since we had some wine at dinner but Beau blew a triple zero (or 0.000) so it didn't even detect his glass of wine. Phew. We made it back to the park without further incident and wrapped up our evening in the usual way

Hastings Point

Humpback Whale

Queensland-New South Wales Boarder

Dinner with Linda

June 18 – Brisbane

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day, perfect for exploring Brisbane. It was only four km into the city from our park so we decided to bike in. Our bike ride turned out to be a little more strenuous than we thought since we had to go up a few hills. We biked along the sidewalk till we found the bike path into the city. We reached the CBD and started off at the Queen Elizabeth Mall which was actually a pedestrian street. It also had the information center. We got the down low on sights to see and started out on a self guided walking tour. We quickly gave up on our walking tour since we kept missing the alleged sights it was also the arts and architecture tour. Brisbane is on a river and there a bunch of pedestrian bridges crossing it. We took a funky one across and started walking along a riverside boardwalk. We knew we wanted to take a ferry along the river but had to figure out which to take. We were in the area called South Bank and popped into another info place where we got the dl on the ferries and were recommended to walk along the river to next ferry terminal along. South Bank was very cool with some restaurants and shops as well as a pool with a man made beach. Seemed like the spot to be on a gorgeous day. We continued our way along the boardwalk past the Maritime Museum. We walked up to the top of the cliffs that run along the south bank and were rewarded with a great view of the city. Once we reached our ferry wharf we hopped on the City Ferry and were taken across the river where we had to change boats to a City Cat. The City Cats are the fast ferries and go up and down the river for some distance. We were headed down stream. There were soooo many massive houses along the water with huge boats out front. It was really enjoyable to see the city from the river. We went to almost the end of the ferry's route which took about 30min from where we started then headed back up stream and alighted outside of the Queen Elizabeth Mall. We were feeling a bit peaked after all our biking, walking and sun so decided to head back, we also didn't want to bike in the dark. We were side tracked by a spraypaint street artist who we watched work for a little bit and then picked up some fish and fococcia bread for dinner. We wanted naan but there wasn't any so we are substituting fococcia. We retrieved our bikes and set out for home. We arrived back at the park just before the sun finished setting. We made some delicious fish curry and the focaccia went surprisingly well with it.

A City Cat on Brisbane River

Brisbane

A City Ferry

Story Book Bridge

Brisbane River

June 19 – Glasshouse Mountains

We awoke to another blindingly sunny day and enjoyed our oatmeal and coffee in it. We hit the road then hit up a grocery store and a gas station. Back on the road we start heading out of Brisbane but pulled into a McD's after not too long. Beau wanted to send his resume off to his buddy's boss at Bombardier but the internet was too slow to upload the file. We had some 30 cent ice cream cones than gave up on the uploading. We'll find a library tomorrow and do it then. Back on the road we drove for about 60km then turned off for the Glasshouse Mountains scenic drive. The Glasshouse Mountains were once a volcanic range surrounded by sandstone that eroded away over many 20 odd million years and left only the plugs of the volcanoes. We headed into one of the parks and made some lunch. Then went for a short hike to a lookout point. The look out was pretty good but the sun made photo's next to impossible. We drove up the road a short ways to another look out and got some great views of the surrounding mountains. I also got some pictures this time. After having our fill of the mountains we decided to check out a rest stop hoping it might be okay. Turns out it was back far enough from the main road that the noise wasn't substantial. Since we still had a bit of day light we set to work patching a small hole in the canvas was well as reattaching some velcro for the screens. With those jobs out of the way I did some crocheting while Beau played guitar. We made some sidekick like pasta with a bunch of vegetables thrown in. It turned out alright but there wasn't a lot of flavour to the sauce. We finished off our box of wine and did some more crocheting and reading. 

Mt Coonowrin

Mt Beerwah

Glasshouse Mountains

Us at the Glasshouse Mountains