Bags on the Highway and Exploding Bottles
Melbourne -> Mansfield, 14th January 2002
We had an early start today to load up our van and make the final
preparations. With the van fully loaded, we pulled out of the
mansion we'd been living in and drove off down the highway. We'd
originally intended to hit the highway straight away but we needed
to go via the city centre to pick up the insurance certificates
which we couldn't get yesterday.
After a short drive, we stopped again at Ikea. We'd found that one
of our storage boxes for the van was too big, so we swapped it for a
smaller one and a little, cute, toy kangaroo! Later, we christened
him 'Roobarb' and the van became 'custard' (because it's custard
coloured). You've guessed it, now they'll always be known as Roobarb
& Custard! He he!
We got back onto the highway and continued on towards Melbourne. We
were driving along happily in the middle lane at about 80km/h when
suddenly I noticed it had got a bit breezy. I looked up into the
rear-view mirror and simultaneously, Em & Nat squealed in panic.
Looking more carefully into the mirror, I could see what they were
panicking about. The boot door had flung open and the contents, i.e.
our rucksacks, in the back had spilled out over the highway! Like a
snail trail, our van had left a trail of luggage along the highway!
Quick as a flash, I threw on the left indicator and saw that the car
in the left lane, noticing our situation, was hanging back. I pulled
across and off the highway. I turned the hazard lights on and we all
poured out. I ran back along the side of the highway, closely
followed by Em & Nat. Luckily, the van behind us had stopped and put
on his hazard lights, protecting our bags from the oncoming traffic.
Cars were swerving around him, and leaving our bags in relative
safety. The man had already started moving some of the bags off the
side of the road. I made use of the fact the traffic lights were
red, to dash over and grab the last bags and pull them to safety.
Images of Frogger, the little frog in the computer game that tries
to cross the motorway without getting squashed, jumped into my
mind...
However, most of the bags had been rescued safely, except for one,
which was an unfortunate 'casualty'. Nat's rolled up Thermo-Rest
(inflatable camping mat) had blown across the road to the middle of
the far lane. We watched as two cars, then a huge truck drove over
it, then it bounced right to the far edge of the road.
We had luckily stopped right in front of the local police station,
so Stinge had run in to get some help. There was only one policeman
on duty, so he was reluctant to come out. But when he eventually
did, he strode across the highway and grabbed the Thermo-Rest, then
gave it to us. Phew! After a quick check, the Thermo-Rest looked
fine, even with the tyre marks on it.
Our veins now pumping with adrenaline, we went back to the van to
inspect the boot door. I was positive I had locked it, and on
inspection the lock was in the 'locked' position. Hmm. A test was
needed.
I clambered into the boot and squeezed in so the others could close
the door. They then locked it. I pushed the door, and after a few
hefty pushes, the door opened. We checked it once more and the same
thing happened. I then stood outside, locked it, shook the door and
it opened. We inspected the lock and we could see that it was
definitely broken. Great!
We reloaded the van, carefully putting everything on the back row of
chairs instead of in the boot. We closed the boot door, and as we
didn't have anything to restrain it, we just hoped it wouldn't open
again. But if it did, nothing was going to fall out this time.
We got to Melbourne without any other problems and after some
skillful/lucky driving, we managed to get back to the Backpacker car
dealer. Melbourne has lots of roads with 'No Left Turn' or 'No Right
Turn' or both, making it difficult to get to places. The infamous
Melbourne 'Hook turn' where you actually pull across to the far of
the left lane to turn right (trust me, it does work when you follow
the rules), doesn't help!
After taking the Insurance certificate, we told the guy we were
having 'a few problems' with the van. He got his mechanic to check
it out. After flooding it with heavy sprays of oils, he then
concluded it was broken. In about 10 minutes, he took a lock from
another van and fitted it to ours. The lock was now completely
fixed, at no cost. After a quick bite to eat, we started our drive
out of Melbourne.
On the way, we stopped at Healesville to visit the well known Animal
Sanctuary. We spent a couple of hours walking around the park,
looking at the amazing animals. Australia has some of the strangest,
but most fascinating animals in the world. We got close to
Kangaroos, Echidnas, Wallabies, Koalas, Wombats, Platypuses and
more! We even came across a Wallaby sitting upright in a very sedate
mood, looking like some learned guru. Emily managed to get close
enough to stroke it!
After that, we visited the gift shop where I bought a 'Learn to Play
the
Didgeridoo' book. It looks really good and I've got to learn how
to play this traditional Ozzie instrument. I'm making a list of
things I've absolutely got to learn how to do on my world travels.
So far, playing the
Didgeridoo
and being able to use chopsticks are on the list.
We wandered back to the car, but just as Stinge was about to climb
into his seat, he noticed a bottle cap on the floor and squealed. We
all panicked, thinking someone had broken into the car or something.
As I looked in, I could see thick orange goo all over the front
passenger seat and the middle section. I quickly noticed the small,
empty, orange bottle lying on it's side in the middle. Nat's Carrot
juice had fermented and exploded in the car. Yum! After a quick
clean up mission, the smell of rotting carrots began to dissipate
and we continued our journey to Mansfield.
A few hours late we pulled up to a thin, gravelly, dirt track, that
apparently classifies as a main road in Australia. After driving
along it very carefully for a while, we stopped outside the house, a
ranch type place in the middle of a huge farm. We headed inside and
were greeted by Carol, her daughter, her daughter's baby, her
daughter's friend and her daughter's friend's baby. It seemed as
though everyone in Mansfield was there to greet us! Quite soon
later, two lovely German shepherd dogs also joined the proceedings.
We spent the rest of the evening chatting with them about our
adventures and our exciting drive. After a few beers and a fantastic
dinner, we continued the talks for another hour or so then headed to
bed. We'd been given a room with two bunk beds all to ourselves.
Thanks very much! After not too long in bed, we all dozed off,
carefree.
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