#47 to Kununurra

600 kms - 8 people - 3 vans (2 x 2pl seater, 1 x 4pl seater (2 of those must be skinny)

It's a small miracle but we manage to leave Firztroy Crossing at 7.30 a.m. - we have 600kms to drive today and we drive at 90km/hr.

Ken & Eileen (K&E) start out in our van.  The two girls sit in the "skinny people" seats.  After a while, I have to admit I'm not skinny and retire to the back of the van to a small spot on the couches. I brace myself across the chairs packed in the middle and fall asleep. Then it's my turn to drive and Ken takes over from Greg and Pip takes over from Paul and then we stop for lunch and we rotate again and we finally crawl into Kununurra at 5.00 p.m.  Exactly the time the caravan park office closes, and exactly the time Ken told Britz we would be there to pickup his replacement van.

And there is Alan with the replacement van… it's a thing of beauty! 

New Van ... Ken is almost smiling now!!

K&E almost knock Alan over in their rush to claim their new home. Alan has driven down from Darwin - 830kms to deliver the van.  He tell us that he (and a lot of other "geriatrics" (as he calls them)) do this kind of thing on a regular basis for Britz!  There is a slight panic because the a.c. wouldn't work but then realize they need to flip the main power switch to "on" and it worked and then we join the rest of the park for a "Sausage Sizzle" dinner (too tired to cook ourselves) and afterwards everybody flops into bed exhausted - none more so than K&E.

I mean it wasn't K&E's fault they ended up with the "upgrade"  -  a van that drove like a tank and required more height clearance than the others. It wasn't their fault that it was crawling with ants that required being doused in spray because (according to the mechanic) they eventually start eating the wires! It wasn't their fault that the grey water tank was so putrid that the foul smell came up through the bathroom drain (it obviously hadn't been cleaned out). It wasn't their fault that the battery wouldn't recharge and caused the fridge to stop (and food to spoil) and the step to stay in the "out" position so they couldn't drive. It wasn't their fault that a bearing in the a.c. broke that caused the power steering (amongst other things) to fail.  None of this was their fault.  

… and when the van wouldn't work anymore, they didn't yell and scream, they didn't whine and complain - they just quickly took everything out of the van; their clothes they had neatly packed into the little cubby holes, the food they had found hidden cupboards for, the fridge & freezer items, and all of the other gear we had dumped into the extra space of their "upgrade".  They redistributed everything between the other three vans and hoped they would eventually find it all.

the old one - urgh!

Honestly - they deserve a medal.  I wonder how I would have handled all of this? … sadly I think I know!