Having completed our trip the final hurdle was to sell our four-wheel drive car. In many ways I was looking forward to the challenge because when I was younger I'd helped my dad sell various cars and he taught me all the tips and tricks. I'd also done loads of research before the journey.

The main difficultly was the distortions of the backpacker market in which we'd be selling - such as dealing with young inexperienced buyers, Australia's complicated buyer/selling process which is different in every state, most buyers having a short deadline, and the fact that most backpacker cars come with all the camping equipment which impacts on the price.

However, I also knew that all these complications came with opportunities which I was determined to utilise.

It may seem odd but we decided our unique selling point for the car would be its cleanliness as most backpackers cars for sale are filthy inside and out with most not even suitable for a pet dog to sleep in. Richard and I spent two days getting the car in shape - washing it by hand with a sponge and bucket of water, waxing it, and hoovering inside using a borrowed vacuum from the caravan park. The car looked a picture at the end!

Knowing our car would appeal to the more adventurous being a four-wheel drive and to the slightly older backpacker with more money we started our price at the top end - $7450 with plenty of room to come down.

We advertised the car in the usual backpacker locations such as on the internet and trawling round hostels putting up leaflets on the notice boards.

The other place to sell cars is in the street outside the hostels in Kings Cross. Victoria Street is the prime location where you park up in an available space, stick a For Sale on the window and wait for backpackers to walk by and take an interest. Given that the street is adjacent to the Red Light district, it made me feel like a prostitute advertising my wares!

On our second day in the street we had some interest from a German couple who seemed moderately interested but didn't want to take our phone number when we offered. We met them three days later and the four of us were all gutted as they had wanted to buy our car the next day but couldn't find us so they had bought another one. They were already disappointed with their hasty purchase as it was leaking large amounts of oil and much older than ours.

Having not had much interest on our initial price we reduced it down to $6300. The next three people to view the car were all mechanically minded - an engineer, a mechanic and a master mechanic. They inspected every detail and all three said it had a good sounding engine; one put in a low offer but we refused it.

The street was becoming quite entertaining each day as we got to know the other sellers. There was a group of French in three vehicles who were living in their vans and car in the street while they waited for buyers. They set up their tables and chairs on the pavement and cooked dinner. In the evening we heard they had loud parties and annoyed the local police. One afternoon they got their comeuppance as the police had done a check on the vehicles and found one had run out of Rego (the equivalent to road tax and MOT). We observed as on officer went over to the car and took the registration plates off it! The next day all three vehicles along with the French had gone and the street returned to normal.

The owners of a van that wasn't in the best mechanical shape (e.g. didn't start some days) made the best of their situation by getting a colourful design spray painted on the exterior. It looked great and paid off for them as it was sold the next day. We found out later that the paint job had only cost $200, which we thought was a bargain.

Another entertaining group who we referred to as Goldilocks & the Two Bears comprised an English girl and two lads. We met them on and off as they had stayed at the same caravan park as us. The two bears had bought a van a few weeks ago as they didn't have the paper part of their driving licences so couldn't rent one. They'd only driven to Canberra and back in it to pick up Goldilocks and a friend and were now trying to sell it. Unfortunately they'd been taken in by the built-in TV and DVD player and paid too much for the van. Eventually after no luck selling it on the street they sold it to a garage for $3700 less than they'd paid and were hoping to sell the electrical and camping gear separately to make up some of the loss.

We felt a bit sorry for a lovely German guy who was selling his van. It was in quite good condition and he'd had a few people say they wanted it and then let him down when it came to paying. He stuck at it and eventually got the $4000 he was after.

Even though we'd only had a few people look at our car I believed once we had the right profile of person they would buy it for $6000. Our car looked and sounded far better than all the others in the street, its only downside was the high mileage at 336,000km but I'm convinced many others for sale with a lot less km's have been clocked.

One evening we got a call from a French couple and we arranged for them to view it on Victoria Street the next morning. They had looked at loads of cars which we were thankful for as we knew they would have discovered that 95% of backpacker cars are scummy. They were suitably impressed with our car but said they had one more to see that afternoon. However, about thirty minutes later they came back whilst we were munching on our sandwiches and offered us $6000. Bingo! $1500 more than we paid. We accepted their offer and arranged payment.

The new owners got a good deal too as we had spent a fair amount maintaining the car to a good standard with regular services and repairing things which needed attention. The new tyres alone had cost $1000 and were still worth a good $600.

All in all I'm pleased our efforts and research was fruitful. I've never seen Richard clean a car so much!

If you take into account our total spend on the car - buying cost, services, repairs, taxes, extra camping equipment etc - and take off the sale price then it works out our costs were just under $4,000. That equates to £2200, or two weeks hire of a four wheel drive - not bad for an eight month road trip!

Katy