Travel Diary: Selling Letoya and leaving Australia

Here's the next chapter ...

15 March This morning we had what would be our last lie-in in a campsite and set off in the direction of Sydney. We went and had a look at Port Macquarie on route but since it was raining we couldn’t go and explore so we ate some sandwiches and set off again. We only made it as far as Meadowie rest stop just off the highway at about 4.30 after driving all day.

There was another camper pulled up with the biggest Great Dane we have ever seen, it looked more like a horse!!! As food is running out we ended up having egg on toast and a bowl of cereal for tea.

16 March I received a text in the early morning announcing the arrival of my beautiful nephew, Riley (born on 15 March in English time). I was so excited about this that I couldn’t get back to sleep for the next few hours and when Shaun woke up about 3 hours later I was so excited to tell him!! And as he woke up with Michael Jackson in his head, a new member of the family had been born and the sun was shining we knew it was going to be a good day.

We set off and made it to Sydney, firstly going back to our old haunt, Rockdale carpark, to clean the van. With a bit of waxy wash and tire shine Letoya comes up a beaut.

After Letoya was probably the cleanest she has ever been, inside and out, we headed back to Kings Cross where we bought her!! Unfortunately, at this time of year it’s a bit slow so there aren’t many sellers and even less buyers. We sat for a few hours without seeing a single person look at our van. We met some other people trying to sell their vehicles too who had told us that they hadn’t even had anybody come look at the vehicles in days - we were getting worried now. The last time we were here the streets were swarming with eager buyers and not really enough sellers but this time it had all changed. They had told us that they were all staying in a small park at Glebe Point Road and the rangers didn’t bother you and it was closer than Rockdale. That evening we all sat under a tree since it was raining and had a few beers. One of the couples called Dirk and Anneke had sailed from Germany and stopped at various locations on the way ending up in Australia two and a half years after later, very brave!! There are two girls called Linda and Bertha from Holland trying to sell a four wheel drive camper that looks straight out of the army. Then there is Valentino Rossi, I mean Lorenzo from Switzerland, who looks like an identical twin to Valentino Rossi. A nice group of people all very different but with one thing in common, trying to find a buyer.

17, 18, 19, 20, 21 March Not really a lot to say for the past few days. We’ve spent every day the same sitting in our van on Victoria Street trying to sell our van, with very little luck. We had one guy come look at our van who wanted it as a work van and was only willing to pay $3,500 when we said he could have it for $3,800. He took it for a drive and was very impressed but told us that $3,500 was all he had, a bit of a time waster who was a bit of an idiot anyway. A few more people looking but nobody very keen to buy.

22 March This morning we went back to the mechanic in Rockdale so he could give Letoya her well overdue service and provide a safety certificate so it might be easier for us to sell as she doesn’t have any rego left. Everything went fine and he told us to go back in the morning to clean up the oil leak and we’d be on our way! We headed back down to the street and eventually a French couple came along (the girl had apparently seen Shaun on Sunday but I thought he had imagined her as he thought she was interested and we hadn’t heard anything from her) and were very keen on the van. They were however test driving everyone’s vans and later on sent a text saying they were going to decide which one – turning it into a bit of a battle between us all who had now become friends.

Anyway, at about 9pm they sent us an offer of $3,500 which we declined and ended up settling for $3,800 so we could get the hell off the street and begin the next chapter.

23 March We headed off early back to Vin Diesel AKA The Mechanic to clean up the oil leak and fix any minor damages. This turned into a nightmare after they had pulled out of fuel pump and found a crack in it. He told us if we didn’t get it fixed he wouldn’t give us the safety certificate which we had already promised Audrey and Romain ... We decided to throw in the money and try and renegotiate the price with the French couple. They wouldn’t budge and we thought that was that. We spent the rest of the day in a sulk and went back down to the dreaded street.

By 5 o’clock however we received a text saying they would meet in the middle and give us $3,900, which we were so glad for even if they were being muppets all day. We met Audrey and Romain at Glebe and they offered for us to stay in the van until we could rearrange our flight out which was ideal for us. Luckily a flight became available on Friday 25th March at 9am so we are off to New Zealand a week early.

24 March Today is our last full day and night with Letoya. Don’t know whether we are happy or sad about this - on one hand it has been an awesome 3 months travelling around this amazing country but on the other side it’s back to hostels ... but I think we are ready for the next chapter.

We spent the day doing bits and bobs in town and in the shopping centres. We spent our last evening at Glebe Point and even managed to score a shower at the hostel up the road.

25 March A very early start this morning as we met Audrey and Romain at 5.30am at Glebe to do the hand over. Everything went smoothly (Shaun wouldn’t let Romain drive again until he had the key since he’s a Frenchy and nearly hits the cars parked in the road) and we said our goodbyes to Letoya and left her in the hands of this very nice couple, we are so glad she is having nice new owners, and we walked away $3,900 richer!! We only lost $600 but when you put it in perspective we spent just $600 to travel Australia and way cheaper than renting or bussing and hostelling.

The airport shuttle bus picked us up not long after, where the Thai driver made us load our own luggage and climb in via the back door, like being back in Thailand!! We had a few hours wait in the airport where Shaun spotted our first celeb, none other then Heston Blumenthal the crazy cook.

Looking forward to catching our flight and touching down in New Zealand!

A la perchoine, Jodie & Shaun