We are still in Sydney!!!

Before I begin with why are are still in Sydney, I learnt a new "O" at the weekend -"houso" - meaning a person who lives in Social Housing accommodation. I really am getting down with the local lingo now (remember, if in doubt, add "O")!

Over the weekend, we went on a Vic Widman 4WD course about 3 hours South West of Sydney. We packed up the camper trailer with all our camping gear, filled up the dual fuel tanks and off we went to camp for the first time. On the way down, we decided to test out the rear fuel tank which holds 180 litres of fuel. We could not understand why it was averaging about 3kms per litre until we got out of the car at our camp site and the stench of diesel was gut renching. It had leaked diesel all over the back of the car, all over the camper trailer and we are guessing all over the road. Great - another problem with the Battered Fish. We ploughed on and set up camp - by this stage, it was past 9pm so we set up the camper trailer for the first time using the Battered Fish's driving lights (at least they worked!!). Not bad for the first effort - about 1 hour.

I had been warned before we went that when you go inland in Australia at this time of year, it could get cold. When Australians say this to you, you think they mean about 15 degrees as even now, they wear scarves and coats when I am in shorts and a t-shirt. However, this time, they were right - we woke up with frost outside!! I ran to the camp kitchen to have a coffee to warm up and found out that I needed a 20c coin to work the stove. Would you believe it that the only coin that I did not have was a 20c coin!

By the time I had gone to get change, we were running late and still had to pack up the trailer. 45 minutes later, we were on the road to go to our course. When we pulled up at the course, I did a quick scout around and all I could see were brand new 4WD's. I later found out that the Battered Fish was the oldest car by a few years!! However, she did not let herself down. We tackled river crossings, sand driving, steep corrugated hills and forest drives - everything was done very slowly but we managed everything, even the steepest of hills. The instructors thought the "big white shed" (as they called the Battered Fish) would be great for our trip which installed us with confidence after all the problems that we seemed to have encountered. On the Sunday, we were lucky enough to have one on one tuition with an instructor, Rob, who taught us how to drive the Battered Fish towing the camper trailer. The first challenge was to reverse the camper trailer into a camping spot. I "wasn't bad for a Shelia" according to Rob!!!!

We left the course Sunday evening after having a fantastic 3 days of 4WD driving. Not only did we learn so much about the car and what it is capable of, but yet again we met some fantastic people.

So, it was back at the mechanics on Monday morning where they tightened up a few hoses and drain points and so far, we have not encountered any further leakage problems. We then drove about one hour West of Sydney to have the car converted in order for us to be able to use waste vegetable oil on the journey. We picked the Battered Fish back up on Thursday evening and just to let all you cynics of veg oil out there know, the car is running brilliantly on veggie oil. Infact, we even got up to 120kmph in fourth gear!! The smell comning out of the exhaust is not too bad either - a distinct Nando's chicken smell at the moment!! A massive thanks to Fitian for doing the conversion and for all the effort he put in for getting us running on veggie oil.

Our D Day is now set for Monday so fingers crossed nothing goes wrong between now and then. First stop is still set for Stockton Beach.

For those lawyers amongst you, you will be pleased to hear that I have accepted a job at Corrs Chambers Westgarth. My start date is 19 January 2009!!

Take care everyone
Rach and Ged x

PS - Dotti and Steve - Bear and Rabbit, the mascots, are very much enjoying their trip! Photos will follow shortly.