First on our shopping list was the car, as we have lived in Melbourne for three years without one.

> neil in rusty

It is a 1982 7-seater Nissan Patrol station wagon. It has gas and petrol, a bullbar, side steps, new tyres, new gas tank (new rego!) and is really big. It has some problems, such as the spontaneous stalling situation, but for a 19-year-old car it's excellent value.

There is still some work we have to do on it. We have to take out some of the seats to make room for all our stuff and give us enough room to sleep in the back. We need to keep at least one seat in there because Amanda is coming up to the coast of Queensland with us, and Gerald is meeting us up the top of WA in the Kimberleys.

One of the most important things we need to consider is the fridgey. We are buying an Autofridge (the creme de la creme of camping fridges) which will be hooked up to a solar panel and battery. We want to be able to access it from the front seats, so it's likely to be next to the passenger seat in the back (and therefore conveniently assigning the job of bar wench to Amanda. mwa ha ha).

Mums (and Norm): don't worry, we are taking it to Vicroads to get a 4WD once-over. We'll get all new hoses/plugs/points etc, and have spares of everything to take with us. We are also going on a 4WD course down in Anglesea before we go (no, it won't be anything like my driving test). Trish, a little bird told us (Kathy) that you were worried about us having an accident in our car because of its age. Anything that hits us will come off second best, don't worry :) We're taking the Toorak tractor lessons on How To Hit Pedestrians and Shopping Mall Curbs Successfully.

Last updated: 13th October, 2001