I did write this blog days ago but something in the technology world black hole swallowed it, so here comes a repeat of the week of delivery. After arriving in Gympie on the 8th November and sleeping over at the Victory Hotel Motel (very nice old pub with motel built at the back) and having been very impressed with the Gympie that exists off the highway that we have been just driving through for years, we went down to Performax International on the morning of the 9th to have the hitch fitted to the All New BT-50. We had the meet and greet and congratulations on our purchase, handed over the keys and brake controller to be fitted and then decided to go down to Crossroads (the sister company of Performax) to have a look at the shell. You can imagine the navigator's surprise to find this was not the van we inspected and purchased in May. The Skipper at this point was blissfully unaware of any difference.

There had been great debate over the past months as to the best crew member to be hired for the laundry department. The skipper was convinced the twin tub hand pump model would be best because it was light and small. The navigator however had her heart set on a Dometic Front Loader to be fitted under the kitchen bench. We had aquired a quote from Crossroads for "Dominique" and the skipper being from Ireland very close to the Scottish border, nearly swallowed his tongue when told she would cost $2,200 fitted. Now the Navigator/Negotiator ever on the lookout for an opportunity was at this point torn between liking this fifth wheeler better than the one originally inspected and seeing an opportunity. So she put on her best frown and said "This is not our van?" At this point the staff at both Crossroads and Performax started running in circles and pretending brain damage, denying all knowledge of what had happened to the original van. So at this point the negotiator said to the skipper you go and sit in the car and put on your best frown face and then went in to negotiate with the original salesman. This was beautiful to watch. After several minutes of just listening to nonsense, the deal was layed on the table. I will buy the Dometic washing machine and if you fit it free of charge we will take this van. The saleman proceeded to tell me, he could not make that decision. So, I said you have my mobile number, ring me when you have spoken to whoever makes these decisions and walked out.

The look on the skipper's face at this point was priceless. I hopped in the car and told him not to smile until we got down the road. The skipper proceeded to tell me, he couldn't see any difference and come Friday morning he was hitching up that van and towing it home.

Well the upshot is, at 6pm that evening we received a call from the salesman who apologised for the late hour but had been in a meeting with management all afternoon and they had decided they would fit my washing machine free of charge! This resulted in a flurry of phone calls, the hurry up of the hitch fitting to allow an early morning trip to Brisbane on Friday morning to pick up Dominique from the wharehouse and deliver her back to the rig to be fitted. The financial reward for this was substantial. Instead of $2,200 Dominique was able to join our crew for $1,065 fitted. At this point the skipper was wondering how all this happened so quickly and why we now needed to go and get a sullage hose to test Dominique at the first opportunity. A box of the new washing bubbles (highly recommended) and some softener were purchased and on the second night stop over on the way home everything that wasn't nailed down was washed. Dominique performed beautifully. She is quiet, washes beautifully, and clothes come out smelling like a rose. The navigator is delighted, the skipper is still scratching his head.