Flat Batteries
Byron Bay -> Brisbane, 30th January 2002
As planned, I woke up at 6:30am to head down to the beach and try
surfing once again. I struggled down to the beach with the big
practice board and waded into the water. But after 20 minutes of
trying, I still wasn't getting anywhere. I'd jump on a wave along
with a few other surfers, they'd then speed off with it, but I'd
come to a complete stop! Why? Can anyone tell me? In the end, it was
time to go, so I had to give up. For now.
By about 9am, we were almost ready to go, Stinge and Em headed into
town, and Nat and I stayed to sort out the final things in the van.
We agreed to meet at Woolworth's supermarket at 10am. At about 9:30,
everything was ready to go, so Nat and I hopped into the van and I
turned the key. Splutter! Splutter! I tried again. Splutter!
Splutter! I looked down at the dashboard, and glaring evilly up at
me was a small red light - the battery light. Great! The battery was
dead.
I went round to the back of the van and pulled out our brand new,
unopened jump leads. I tore open the packet and Nat asked the guy
camped next to us if we could use his car to jump-start ours. He
cheerfully agreed and jumped up to move his car round.
I've read how to jump start a car in a few different books, but I've
never done it in real life. I do what the books say and attached the
+ of my battery to the + of his battery, then connected the - of his
battery to the body-work of the van. I've read that connecting the 2
batteries completely is likely to cause a spark, which can be VERY
dangerous. However, after a few attempts, it didn't work, so he said
to do it the way he'd done it before. Just connect the batteries
directly, + to + and - to -. Apprehensively, I did as he said. I
stood back and as I did it, there was a small spark, but nothing
else. After a few more attempts, Custard finally spluttered to life.
Thanks mate!
The guy, big grin on face, was very friendly & more than happy to
help. He moved his car back, and I spent the next 30 minutes keeping
the van's engine running so the battery would charge properly.
Just to check that the battery was fully charged and that there were
no other problems, I drove the car to the nearest service station.
The guy working there used a multi-meter to check the battery. After
a few minutes he said the battery was fine, but it looked like the
alternator was faulty. I asked him how much it would cost to fix. He
was unsure, but guessed about $150. Okay Dokey, another repair could
be called for. I asked him where we could get it fixed and he
suggested a mechanic just along the road.
We met Em & Stinge at about 10:15. After explaining the incident to
them, we picked up a few things around town, and then headed over to
the mechanic.
Parking the van outside, I wandered into the garage. After a few
minutes, a guy in blue overalls came over. I told him that we'd just
had a flat battery and jumped started it. I want to check that
everything was ok, and that there were no hidden problems. I didn't
mention what the man at the service station had said. I don't want
to suggest things for him to pick up on. It's best to wait and see
what he said. He told me to wait outside, and he'd be with us in 5
minutes.
I wandered out to the others and we used the time to eat our
lunches, which we'd just bought in Subway. After about 10 minutes,
we were still waiting. Having decided that it's not an immediate
problem, I said to the others that if he hadn't come out in 5 more
minutes, we'd leave. There'll be plenty of mechanics in Brisbane,
and he will have lost a customer.
5 minutes later and still no sign of him. Right. I started up the
engine, it roared to life, and I started to pull away. Just as I
began to move, the mechanic hurried out of his garage and waved us
in. Ha!
He checked the van, then after a few tests, he declared that the
alternator was fine, the only problem was that the battery was
dying, the voltage was very low. He must be telling the truth,
because no mechanic in his right mind would miss out on an
alternator replacement, which would cost the customer a lot, if it
was faulty.
The battery was not an immediate problem, so we decided to leave it
for now and we started the drive to Brisbane. The drive was quick
and painless with no problems. The only challenge was finding a
parking spot in Brisbane. Eventually we found one a little out of
the city.
After battling through the stifling heat, we quickly found a phone
and I started calling all the hostels. Only one had parking
facilities & vacancies; the Brisbane Backpackers Resort.
Em also phoned Graeme's sister, Pat, who had said she'd like to meet
up with us when we were in Brisbane. After a short chat, she invited
us round for dinner at 6:30 that evening.
After finding the hostel, we checked in and heaved our kit up to our
room. The room was fantastic, almost like a hotel! It was quite
large, en-suite and equipped with a balcony. Under the balcony we
could see the lovely, shimmering pool. Without too much hesitation,
we jumped into the pool. After the refreshing dip, we got changed
and drove off to Pat's house.
When we arrived, we decided to park the van round the corner because
her house is on the side of a very steep hill, and we don't trust
Custard's hand brake!
We hiked up the hill and she welcomed us in. She said that she'd
just got back, so she hadn't had time to get to the shops yet to buy
dinner. She hurried off to buy the food, then when she returned, we
spent the evening sitting outside on our fantastic balcony looking
over the suburb.
We had a fantastic steak barbecue and salad, followed by
strawberries, cream & pancakes. We chatted for hours about our
adventures and her adventures when she went backpacking many years
ago! We discovered that she was pretty much a pioneer backpacker and
she travelled around the WHOLE world by land & sea!
After a brilliant evening, she made things even better by saying
that we could stay in her second house on Bribie Island for as long
as we wanted! We couldn't thank her enough.
After the evening had finished, we headed back. The drive would have
been much quieter if it wasn't for the pack of boy racers. Darkness
lay around us, permeated with the beams of headlights. We sat at a
set of traffic lights, then after lots of revving, roaring &
screeching, the dozen or so cars around us zoomed off. Then they all
stopped dead at the next set of traffic lights. They kept repeating
this and as each set was only about 50m apart, the stopping &
starting got quite ridiculous.
After a while they turned off and we got back home without any
trouble. We quietly entered the hostel & climbed up the stairs and
headed to bed.
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