Chelsea’s RTW Travel Log

Sorry I’ve been so lax about posting lately… our Internet significantly slowed. We’ve had nothing short of adventure lately (along with errands like car shopping, buying groceries, and stocking supplies for our road trip). We headed to Bondi Beach, Manly Beach, and the city centre several times. A lot of our time has been spent figuring out registration details amongst the states and meeting people to look at their jalopies.

We looked at several cars… First, as mentioned before, we started at the Kings Cross Car market, which is where buyers sit for days on end hoping to find a buyer. It’s on the second floor of a parking garage (very dark and depressing down there). In total, we visited this market three times. People are extremely friendly, so we learned a lot talking to other backpackers, like what type of insurance to buy, why states rego (their word for registration) play into the price, how to save on propane for a gas stove, why a station wagon is your best bet, etc. The cars at Kings Cross were a little pricey, but there weren’t very many of them. The cheapest was $2,800 and we both agreed we could find better. We tried to bargain with the garage people, but they wouldn’t budge. I suspect they got ripped off by a dealer and are trying to make their money back now.

The third time we headed to the garage, a polite Dutch fellow greeted us and beckoned us to look at his car parked on the street before we headed there. He wanted $3,500 for his car, a Toyota Lexen (which, believe it or not is really a Holden Commodore). A Holden in American speak is another term for General Motors. Phew! His car was really nice, but $3,500 was WAY out of budget. We were looking to spend $2,000 or under. Everyone (car dealers, Kings Cross folks) kept telling us that $2,000 wasn’t going to get us anywhere. We both heartily disagreed.

Anyway, we told the guy that we were only looking to pay $2,000. He looked like he was in a hurry to sell… so he came down to $2,700. We walked.  Justin gave him our phone number and told him that we were going to look at another car that was only $1,500 (this was true). We agreed to call him after looking at this other car) in case we wanted to negotiate further.

So, long story short we met him later in the evening with $2,350 (all of the cash we could raid from all of our cards at the ATM) and offered him that. I think we tried to negotiate too quickly. He wasn’t happy with that. We almost didn’t have a deal. We let him stew in his juices until he arrived at $2,500 for the car. We had a deal!  He called his girlfriend and we all agreed to head back to their place for a drink and to sign the papers. Horray!!!!

Now, about the car.
1994 Holden Commordore Wagon
175,000 km
Power locks
Tape deck/radio w/fifty or so cassette tapes
4 New tires
All maintenance records
Camping gear: 2 chairs, table, gas can, tent, water container, tarp, mosquito net, and more

The great thing about a Commodore (or in our case a Toyota Lexen) is that it’s really long. This means we can get a piece of foam custom cut for it to lay out as a bed. It’s not like a van where it looks conspicuous when you’re parked on the street. We’re told we can get the foam at a place called Clark Rubber.

To about Justin’s experience driving our new baby with the driver on the right side, read his post on 8/07/08.