Author: Sophie Dixon-Box

There And Back Again…Maybe #5


Ode to a backpackers’ car










Car parts


Friends helping Rob check various car parts




O car, o car,

You’ve come so far,

Why did you have to die just after we bought you?

Yes, the Leone is in pieces.. quite a few of them. But there is hope, because the broken bits are fixable! In the meantime, here is Sophie’s guide to the pros and cons of purchasing a car to ferry yourself around Australia.


To buy, or not to buy?


My first word of advice is to avoid buying a car at all, unless someone in your group actually knows what they’re doing when it comes to fixing the problems that might well arise while halfway up the Stuart Highway. It may be cheaper than renting and more flexible than a bus pass, but few people want to spend their trip holed up in a repair garage.

If you don’t have a mechanically minded person with a half-decent set of tools on board, think long and hard – kidnapping by bearded maniac is rare, but who wants to be stuck in the middle of a desert, Priscilla-style?

At this point I should mention that we do not have a proper mechanic about, merely a hydraulic engineer who has plenty of tools and an inkling of how a car works. Which seems to work for us girls, but makes Rob a very stressed young man, bless him, *hug*


Auto Marts

Hostels and internet cafes are full of car ads in Sydney, or you could go someplace like Travellers’ Autobarn, who give you camping gear and guarantee buy back, but rarely at the same price you originally paid.

Think about:


  • Make – spare parts are more common for Ford and Holden models

  • Car, jeep, ute or combi – how much space you need and what is it for?

  • Diesel or petrol – rural areas tend to stock more diesel

  • 2WD or 4WD – do you want to go off-road?

  • History – how far has it been and how much has it been fixed?


And when you’ve spotted the vehicle of your dreams, check the thing over and take it for a decent spin. Common sense stuff, but it’s probably being more picky than usual cos a) the thing’s probably been round Aussie a few times already, and b) it still needs to cover a few thousand miles with you!


Paperwork

Unfortunately each state appears to have its own requirements when it comes to cars (next to nothing in Western Australia if the tales are to be believed), but here’s what I’ve managed to gather about the various bits of paper:


  • Pink slip – the Warrant of Fitness, proving that your car works (in theory): must be updated each year.

  • Green slip – compulsory third party insurance (not a bad idea).

  • Blue slip – registration document, which is absolutely essential for signing over ownership and needs updating each year.











Car frustration


Jennie’s getting frustrated with the car



Signing the car over properly is easiest done at an RTA office (or an equivalent state authority), because if things aren’t in order the car can be repossessed. Then again, if the car is registered in a different state to where you’re buying it, it may need to be re-registered altogether (even more fun).

Logbooks are also worth checking for, as they might list what repairs and services have been done on the car – though it’s rare to find logbooks intact for a backpacker car.


Preparation

There’s only so much you can check without buying the thing, so be prepared to get your hands greasy if you want to make sure your new pride and joy will go the distance. Try to drive the car for a couple hundred miles before setting off too, as more serious problems may show up.

Basic checks include cleaning out the radiator, a complete oil change, water levels, changing lightbulbs, new tyres… all sorts of things, mainly with the guidance of our trusty Gregory’s ‘destruction’ manual. Most of the bits and bobs we purchased from Repco, Super Cheap or some other variety of parts dealers.

This range of work is also brilliant for educating people who know nothing about cars like myself – I’ve been driving for years, but tend to be a 100% cyclist / public transport user – if only to help me realise how basic my paltry knowledge is!



Equipment

First thing: car essentials.


  • Maps – free from breakdown services, should you join up

  • 25 litre fuel can – for those long, dry stretches in the middle of nowhere

  • 25 litre water can – 5 litres for each of us, another 5 litres for the car, plus some left over

  • Car consumables (eg. oil) – for checks every few thousand miles

  • Tool kit – for emergency fixes

If you also choose to camp your way around Aussie, sleeping and catering arrangements are necessary, our choices being:


  • 4 man tent – we’re going to be in it for a long time, so some space is good

  • Air mattress – again, 3 or so months on the ground…

  • Two-burner gas stove – for those all important meals

  • 4 kg gas cylinder – should last a fair few months!

  • Baby primus – so we don’t need to break out the stove for mere cups of tea

  • Kerosene lantern & some torches (aka flashlights) – to brighten the way at night
  • Assorted cooking & washing equipment

  • Shovel (of the funky folding variety) – useful for um… digging stuff

  • Mobile phones – we don’t know how well they’ll work in the centre though!



It’s probably not worth going nuts on food and other accessories, as you can stock up along the way, but enough to last a couple of days if you break down might be good. Toilet paper also good, for anyone who doesn’t want that Glastonbury Festival feeling.

This does sound like a hell of a lot of stuff (and trust me, it’s great for making you cut back on useless clothes that you’ll never wear), but most of it’s pretty useful. Most can be bought cheap though second-hand noticeboards or camping surplus shops – travelling with a group also cuts back on the dollars.


Breakdown Membership & Insurance

In advance of our actual trip – and during the extensive checks and reconditioning that’s currently going on – we have also joined the NRMA. This is the New South Wales breakdown service, but since all the breakdown organisations are affiliated you’ll be covered no matter where you join. They also give you lots of free maps, plus an Australia-wide Camping Guide is available for $5.50 if you fancy supplementing your Lonely Planet, Rough Guide, etc listing.

On the insurance front, registered vehicles are automatically covered by third party only – not a bad idea, but if you bump into anyone or get broken into you’ll still have plenty of money to fork out. As a result, we decided to upgrade to fully comp from FAI / Allianz – though if you’re under 25 (even if you’ve been driving for six years) you count as inexperienced and have a nasty excess. Ouch!


Better the devil you know










BBQ fun


New cooking equipment is a great excuse for a BBQ



Yep, a car can be great. But it can also commit highway robbery on its poor, unsuspecting owners.

Our most unexpected car-related expense has come from the heads, though I’ve been told that this can happen to most engines at any time. For a short while the engine appeared to be overheating, and the water had to be topped up regularly. A thermostat problem was initially diagnosed, followed by a crack in one of the head gaskets… or so we thought. On opening up the engine (which Rob discovered had never been apart before and was otherwise in great condition), we found that both heads themselves were severely cracked.

Fixing this was expensive… about as much as we paid for the car in the first place.

Still, after some debate on whether it was worth trying to get some old heads from a wrecker’s yard we decided to get the heads properly machined and fit it all back together. If it could happen to our originals it could happen to others, so why not get them done up good as new and save most of the worry? And if something was going to go this wrong (aaaaaargh!), at least it happened in Sydney rather than halfway through the outback.


And finally…

Every car deserves a name – at least that’s what I’ve always thought – and ours will soon be baptised ‘Scrappy’, courtesy of a bottle of fizzy Passion Pop.

Why this name? Well, Rob has this habit of calling a Subaru a Scooby Doo, but we feel that our car is a little feistier than Shaggy’s best mate – so Scrappy “lemme at ’em!” Doo is far more suitable. And then of course there’s the matter of causing us so much hassle recently. Hmmm.

But after all the waiting and saving, we’re setting off in only a few days – and my itchy feet simply can’t wait. Living and working in another country is a good thing, but the prospect of actually seeing it is far, far more tempting!