We made it to Melbourne by the skin of our teeth and we had grim faces due to our trip. Old Bert decided enough was enough and he became nearly impossible to drive during the last 45 minutes of the drive to Melbourne. Once again the problem with the gear box had raised it's ugly head and it was something we couldn't ignore or put off. Limping into our camp site, we were relieved to make it there and luckily there was a mechanics right next door to have it looked at the next day. To bust the stress of the drive we had to find a bottle-o and sunk a few beers to calm us down and chill us out. We had no idea what was going on with the van but we crossed our fingers in the hope that it would be a problem with the clutch and not the gear box as that would have cost mega bucks to get fixed. The next morning we took the van into the garage as soon as we could and explained what had been going on. After a quick test drive with the owner, a smashing bloke also called Peter, he established that it was definitely a clutch problem but also that the engine was misfiring and wasn't helping things. We left the van in his hands for the day and waited to hear the diagnosis of Bert's illness. After a day of walking round Melbourne with the worry of the cost lurking in our minds, we finally received the call and it wasn't good. Peter asked if we could go back to the garage so he could show us what he had discovered and to discuss what would be best for us.

The clutch on the van had completely collapsed and the clutch plate was broken in two, something that Peter said he has never seen before. No bloody wonder it wouldn't go in gear. But that wasn't all not by a long shot. Water was leaking into the engine oil and had been for a week or so. I had checked the oil just before leaving Ayers Rock and all looked fine, looking at the dip stick now revealed that the oil had became a yellow colour showing that water was mixing with it. It could have been due to many different things that would all have to be looked at. We knew we would have to go ahead with the work for the clutch issue and once more we would have to wait to hear back from Peter about the engine. So for the first time since January, we packed our rucksacks, hopped on the train into town and booked into a hostel for a couple of nights. I suppose it was like a little holiday being back in a hostel mixing with other travellers and oddly enough we bumped into a guy we worked with back in Gayndah on the citrus farm. A lovely guy from Japan called Kenzo and he had just arrived in Melbourne that day, we chatted for a short while but we had to make our excuses to go grab a bite to eat. It had been a long and pretty stressful day and all we wanted to do was eat and go to bed. And that's what we done. The next day was spent walking around Melbourne waiting for news on Bert. Even though we were rather down about the whole situation we quite enjoyed having the time to walk and explore the city. The only bad thing was that it was bloody freezing cold, something we have became strangers to feeling over the past 12 months. We received a call from Peter mid afternoon and again we thought it would be best to go over things face to face. Everything with the clutch was complete and good to go but the engine problem was like opening Pandora's box. There was one thing after another and he apologised after everything he said as he was aware of our situation and that the van was up for sale. The cylinder head was cracked and had been grind down below the recommended limit. We are not sure of who had done this work but it was a botched job to say the least as they had put the cylinder head back together using, wait for it, GLUE! So whoever done this work knew exactly what they were doing. We couldn't believe we had actually been able to drive it for so long. We were lucky that the engine hadn't seized up or even blown up for that matter. Either way we were the ones who were going to get stung with the bill. Time was getting on so we settled up our bill for the work done for the clutch costing us close to $800 and with smiles well and truly wiped off our faces we made our way back to the hostel. We were both fed up knowing that we had a few more days of this kind of news ahead of us.

We kept ourselves busy and occupied our minds between the times waiting for the dreaded phone calls from Peter. We walked the length and breadth of Melbourne visiting art galleries and done plenty of window shopping as Melbourne is a trendy place with some great shops. One day we hopped on the city tram to take us a blocks walk away from Brunswick street, one of the liveliest and quirky streets in Melbourne. The street is littered with cafes and eateries that crop up between the endless amount of retro clothing shops. We were in heaven. Each shop you walked in played cool music and the cloths were uber cool. Shame about the price tags though. Good job really or we would have a backpack full of leather jackets. We spent hours walking up and down the street checking the place out. At one point we were walking down the road and Ash pointed to a guy saying "Doesn't that look just like Danny from Lindeman Island" and it was Danny from Lindeman Island, a young chef that I had worked with. So for the second time in a few day we had bumped into someone we had met along our travels and caught up after a short chin wag. Funny how it happens bumping into people like that and it has happened a lot. Of all the places in all the world and you just so happen to be in the same place at the same time. Brunswick Street has a cool vibe and is known as the place to be with the locals. It's not hard to see why as you walk down the street and the alleyways are covered with graffiti, not this tagging rubbish, but proper works of art that the buildings in the area have embraced even using graffiti for some of the shop fronts. The place oozes character and for anybody visiting Melbourne I would advise you to spend a few hours here just walking up and down the street as we loved it. If we weren't walking the streets of Melbourne we would be in the library trying to drum up interest in the sale of our van. Many hours were spent there and we became quite fond of it. It seemed to take away the thoughts of our impending mechanics bill for a while. We received many offers for the van but unfortunately they were the sort that always sound to good to be true. 'My uncle in Malaysia wants to buy your van. We can ship it there for you. We will pay you using pay pal...' or 'I'm buying this for my dad but I am at sea for two weeks. I will transfer you the money now if you give me your pay pal details...' We have heard about these things before and they might as well have sent a flashing attachment with their emails saying SCAM!

The damage report on Bert's heart was in and it didn't look good. We were up early and made our way to the garage to find out what needed to be done. As we arrived at the garage one of the mechanics was welding and out of nowhere a fire broke out. We didn't know what to do and it could have easily got out of hand. Thankfully they managed to put the fire out before any major damage had been done and nobody was hurt. Thick black smoke was billowing out of the doors for a good while. Peter looked stressed and a bit shaken so we told him to take his time and sort out whatever he needed to do. We waited for an hour whilst the garage was restored back to working order and the mechanic responsible for the fire received a good b******ing. We made our way into the office to find out what the damage to our bank balance was going to be. The work that had to be done was going to set us back $2480. Thankfully Peter tried to help us out as much as he could. He gave us all the parts at cost instead of retail and he cut off six hours worth of labour charges amongst other things. Without his help we could have been looking at a bill of nearly $3500 easily. He also gave us contact detail for a couple who are looking at buying a camper van and we are meeting them on the 7th to see if they want to buy it so fingers crossed for that. The cost was a lot more than we were wanting to pay but we had to bite the bullet and ride this roller coaster out for a few more days yet. With our hostel being as cold as a snowman's cold bits on the night times we decided to change our digs and moved to the Formula 1 hotel. No expense spared but it was warm and cheap so it was right up our street. We were looking at another days work on the van before we could move back into our home on wheels so to cheer ourselves up a bit we thought we could do with a laugh. For this we booked ourself onto the Neighbours tour. I have to start out by saying that this was totally crap and it didn't help that neither of us had watched the show in the past five years. But it was that crap and cheesy that it was funny. We were sat on a bus full of hard core fans bar two lads who where there for the same reasons as ourself. First stop, Ramsay Street. It's a lot smaller than it looks on TV that's for sure. Not really listening to what the guide and the die hard fans were talking about, we grabbed the opportunity to have a nose around the street seeing where Dr Karl and Harold Bishop lived and got to get a cheesy photo holding the Ramsay street sign. After the fans talking about something that happened on some episode back in the 80's for about ten minutes we got back on the bus and drove on to the next part of the tour. Pulling up outside of the school that they use as Erinsborough High, we were encouraged to take photographs. Now this is a real school so one of the lads who was there for a laugh came out with "I'm glad this bus has the Neighbours tour plastered all over the side of it cause if it didn't we would look like a right bunch of paedo's, all taking pictures of kids in a school!" this cracked us up, the die hard fans not so much. We then moved onto the studio where we would be met by one of the Neighbours cast past or present. Now who would it be, hopefully Dr Karl Kennedy or even the Barron, Harold Bishop. Even his Mrs, Madge would have been a treat. Who did we get? A dude who plays Dr Kennedy's son Mal. "Who's he?" Ashleigh asked straight away making us laugh even more. So we hung about outside of the set of the garage and grease monkeys feeling uncomfortable as the super fans swarmed Dr Kennedy's son for photo's and autographs. We couldn't help but giggle at it all and we couldn't believe that we had actually paid money for it. To be honest we could have drove around the sights ourself but it enabled us to do what we had set out to achieve and that was to have a bit of a laugh.

Back safely in the city after avoiding getting bored to death by the super fans we wasted no time in collecting our things from the hotel and hopping in a taxi to take us back to our home as Bert was ready for collection. Even though it has cost us an arm and a leg to sort out, we are glad we did because Peter has done a fantastic job. It is like driving a totally different vehicle and it has gone from sounding like a bag of hammers to sounding like a kitten purring. This will give us a great footing for selling it on. Whoever ends up buying it are in for a treat. It's ironic that it is at the best it has ever been and we are selling it. What an adventure we have had though. From setting out from Airlie Beach a few weeks ago to reaching Melbourne only just, we have covered 5600km (3500 miles) that's like driving from Newcastle to London 12 times. Not bad going and definitely worth it. This week has been the most stressful out of all our travels and we are pleased that it is over and we no longer have to worry about it. Things are looking up and our trip to New Zealand is just around the corner. Today marks our one year anniversary travelling. It only seems like a few weeks ago we were saying goodbye to family in Newcastle airport with tears in our eyes. We have achieved so much in a year and we still have so much to do. Over land, sea and air, from Bangkok to Melbourne we have travelled over 17,000 miles and we still have a bit to go yet.

Love Peter and Ashleigh x