Day 70 - Airlie Beach, Australia
Well we left Bowen just before nine and took off at an easy pace for Airlie. Stopping off at the Big Mango tourist information point we bought our tickets for a day cruise on Wednesday. After much debate about which trip to take we went for the fast catamaran as Trevor had been on a sail boat before but unfortunately had suffered sea sickness he had no intentions of repeating it.
The drive was a humble 105 km today so nothing to get stressed about and it was over in no time. We knew that we were getting the van’s brakes sorted here so we were waiting for a call to tell us where and just as we had made it to the camp site the call came through.
We dropped the table and chairs and bikes off at our pitch and headed back on the road from where we had just come for the garage to look at the brake pads and discs.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Trevor & Jonathan’s World Trip 2010
Now we were told that this would be a relatively quick process as they just confirmed the part number and we would be on our way. If only things in life were that simple, four hours later we were finally on the way back to the camp site. It turns out that there are four different version of braking system for our van and it is virtually impossible to work out which van has what. Needless to say after four hours of kicking around a garage car park we were far from amused despite escaping to a shopping centre for all of 45 minuets of it.
The worst part of it all is is that they still can’t guarantee when the parts will be available and when it will finally be done. All being well it will be done on Wednesday if not we have told them to bring us a new van before we leave Airlie.
With all the disappointment of the day so far we walked down into Airlie and after a quick mooch about getting out bearings we headed off to a bar for beer.
After a schooner and then a jug the world was looking so much better and we started making plans for what we would do tomorrow, the one good thing about alcohol is that it makes everything feel much less problematic!
To finish of the day on a high we headed off to a chinese restaurant, our first meal out in weeks so it did feel like a special treat. We even caught a taxi back to the campsite so we well and truly made up for the downer that was this morning and afternoon.
Tomorrow is all about Airlie and then the Whitsunday’s on Wednesday which is meant to be a highlight of any trip to Australia. Time will tell if we agree. After what was a part day the evening made up for it in spades.