Soaker of a Start-up

Man, how the time flies. We find ourselves beginning the second leg of our journey, our escape into pure independence as travelers on the open road. Our super cheap flight was on a HUGE plane. The aircraft was a little cramped but it was brand new and suited us just fine. I enjoyed the company of a highly intelligent 4 year old girl from New Zealand who was seated beside me and after a quick sleep (8 hours later) we arrived at the Coolangatta Airport. Basics of our first week here: We arrived in Brisbane with a personal limit of 5 days of car hunting before we would take a bus or rent a car, to van shop elsewhere. We had already picked over the camper vans online on gumtree.com.au which is basically the Australian form of KIJIJI. What we were in search for was an old converted van with big buy-back potential, so we can resell it without a hitch when we leave the country. Basically the auto market in Oz is flooded with old 70’s and 80’s vans which have been suited with a convertible bed, fridge, stove, and sink, all we will need to be highly self sufficient throughout our Aussie travels. Our flight came in on Saturday morning and by the afternoon we had found ourselves the cheapest double in all of Brisbane at $70/night. Pricey, but in Oz and in the city, we were looking at spending $60 a night for a couple bunks in a dorm room at a backpackers. We contacted our first pick and arranged to meet him the following morning at an organic produce market where he and his partner would be selling jewelery. We were eager to get “in” the van ASAP as it was costing us so much to eat out, sleep in the city, etc. Brandon jumped right in as he had to test drive the 1979 Toyota Hiace, oversized with old-school column gear-shifting. In addition to all of these considerations he had to master this on the opposite side of the road. With only a little bit of a natural leftward lean, Brandon eased the old van through the little Brisbane suburb. We had to act fast because we knew she was a steal. Even while we were taking a look at her ourselves, 2 other callers tried to arrange test drives. We had looked for a while and knew what was out there, we told them we wanted it right away and arranged to get her turned over as fast as possible. It took much longer than we had wished but with the two of them wanting to keep the van another week and us hoping to sleep in it the following night, we came to a compromise of Wednesday. This meant we would have to wait 3 more days but we were happy with what we got. We took in some of the city over the next few days. Unfortunately for us, we arrived at the beginning of the largest rainfall in 30 years.

Our last 48 hours in the city were full of rain and when Wednesday came around the precipitation was insane. We couldn’t get away from the city fast enough. We would head about 100km inland in order to pick- up our registration sticker from a fella in nearby Toowoomba. We spent about 3 hours on the highway covering a total of 20km. The rain was bringing the city and entire Central Eastern Coast to a stand still. The waterways swelled and poured onto the highways. Only an hour after we waded through the road hazards, the highways had to be closed, stranding hundreds of people. We really weren’t sure how the rain and flooding would affect our travels but when we stopped to pick up our sticker and were offered dinner and a place to stay for the night, we were happy to accept. Geoff owns a car dealership and has been involved with this particular van for the past couple years. Basically as the van has been passed between owners, most of them being from overseas, Geoff has provided his address as the permanent local address for the ownership. Geoff is incredibly kind and with an extra bed and bathroom we were set. The rain was still falling along the coast and the news was covering stories of extreme flooding and evacuations all throughout the region where we had planned to start our road trip. We stayed with Geoff for 5 days, enjoying all the comforts of having a home and his laid-back style. While Geoff was working we took it easy and became friendly with his two Cockatiels, Susie and Perky Bird. Geoff was even generous enough to loan us a vehicle from his car lot as he suggested we take a couple day trips using his place as a home base. We left out big van parked in his lot and were able to zip around taking in some of the wine and farming regions. Even as far inland as we were, throughout our journeys we encountered many bodies of water which were swollen beyond belief. Since it would still be a while before the rain stopped or the flooding would be cleaned up, with Geoff’s local expertise, we embarked on an alternate route.