Vehicle Searching & Happy Thanksgiving!

Well it’s been another busy week and a bit since we moved into our new place here on 44 Palmerston Street. We have been busy getting our paper work in order and searching for a vehicle. Ross has been working every week day, and we opened our new bank account and signed up for our tax file numbers. We waited patiently for our money to arrive from Canada, after spending some serious time on the phone with each of our banks and then with our parents (thank goodness for our parents!!). Meanwhile we have been trying to buy a car or even a camper van, we have been told that it was easy to get a car for cheap, and the resale will be no problem. There is so much demand for vehicles here with all the backpackers its crazy!! We are frequent news paper/internet searchers, trying our best to call each ad before it is sold – a very difficult task, let me tell you. You should see the prices, the cars are in the low 1980’s and are being sold from anywhere from AUD$500 to $1300 - in Canada the cars we are looking at wouldn’t even be functioning never mind being up for sale. After talking to Ross’ boss Mal and Chris our landlord, we have decided that it would be a better idea to purchase a camper van. What is a camper van you may be asking yourself? A camper van looks just like a regular van, but the top pops up like a tent trailer when you are parked. It has everything you need for camping in the back: double size bed, double burner + grill, sink, 3-way fridge, cupboard space, and if you’re lucky any other camping gear that has been left behind from previous backpackers! They are pretty awesome, most are in the 1983-86 year range, and we have been told to purchase nothing but Toyota. If you want a better picture of what we are talking about look up on Google what a Toyota Hiace 1984 camper van looks like. Anyway, after calling like 20-25 ad’s from the newspaper and the internet, we narrowed it down to two that we really liked. We took the first one for a test drive which was interesting in itself, as it was our first time driving on the opposite side on the road! And got our first taste of what it’s like to drive a camper van… very different! The van was very cute on first impression, a nice bright yellow exterior with a white top and pretty yellow flower stickers on the back window. After seeing and test driving the other yellow van we decided to put in an offer with the first one as it was closer and had more extra’s to offer. We took it for an inspection at a local garage and found out it had a small oil leak and a hole in the muffler system that would start to be a problem once the weather starts to heat up. The guys that owned the van weren’t willing to budge on the price, but were willing to fix the muffler. After some deliberation and talking to our dads, Chris, and Mal we decided that it was too risky to purchase that van. And never mind, it’s a little hard to buy something that big with zero dollars in your account, as our money still wasn’t here from Canada!! Now that our money is finally here we can start looking again, hopefully the other van we test drove is still available.

Our house situation has been great this past week. We were sad to find out that the couple we really started to get along with were moving out, we exchanged numbers and helped them pack there things into their new 1983 red Toyota Corolla car. To our pleasant surprise the girls that moved in to their room are really cute and easy to get along with. They are sisters from France and we are the same age. We have spent the evenings hanging out and even a day at the beach sun tanning - while Ross worked (poor Ross!). I guess this is a good time to say I haven’t got my WA nursing license yet, I am supposes to hear back from the nursing board this week. I can’t wait to find out, and actually start working. And to the best part of our week, the other couple, that are proving to be difficult to get along with, just left one day without saying anything to anyone. Yay!! They have apparently left for a trip to Thailand and no one knows when they are returning, not even Chris our landlord. They didn’t leave rent money, so we are hoping they get the boot when they return! Here’s hopingJ. As for us we are looking at a few other places that Chris has that are a bit cheaper, and next time we update we will probably be in a new house. Otherwise all is well here, weather is starting to get hot, and its sunny here most days. We have had a couple days of 30 degree weather, and not a cloud in the sky! Oh and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!