Driving and Trying to Sell

July 24 to August 1

It took all day Dotti to get fixed up. She needed a new voltage regulator which had to be found second hand. We had her in around 11am and didn't get her back till 5pm. But she was running well with her new voltage regulator and alternator. We met up with a woman interested in the van. She was planning on going traveling with her 2 year old son. She had a test drive and said she'd like her mechanic friend to check it out tomorrow. It was already fairly late so we stayed at the rest stop from the night before. The next morning we got a text saying she decided against the van. We drove south past Brisbane and had another guy contact us about the van. We set up a meet in Ballina with his wife and had a little drive with her. We figured they were going to be a no go though, they had two small sons. We checked into a tourist park and finally had a shower. We drove almost all the way to Sydney stopping at a rest stop about 40km out of town. The next morning we changed the oil and changed a brake drum which we had been told we needed in Queensland. We then got Dotti into a mechanic to get her safety inspection done for NSW, also called a pink slip. She sadly fail but not as badly as in Queensland. We still have an oil leak, the exhaust leaks, the steering is loose and the bull bar is blocking the signal light. We checked into Lane Cove Tourist Park for a week. On Saturday we thought we would see about alternative options for the van and went to a Cash for Cars place where we were offered a measly $200 for it. We picked up the parts we needed to fix up the van. We also spent some time at the mall using the internet to research fixing the steering. On Sunday Beau patched up the exhaust and then we headed into town to get the down low on the car market. We also went to Paddy's Market and got a bunch of fruit and vege for cheap. On Monday Beau figured out how to fix up the steering, removed the bull bar for our pink slip and the roof rack so we could fit into the car market. Then Tuesday we took the van down to the car market. We did show the van to a trio of girls but they wanted the moon for a pittance so they didn't deserve Dotti. We spent the rest of the day in an underground car park. Wednesday we headed to the car market again but didn't stay long as we noticed the oil was still leaking. We thought we had fixed it. Back at Lane Cove we tried to find the leak, looks like it was coming for the oil cap itself. We cleaned everything up and will do that again in the morning before we take her in for another inspection to get our pink slip!