Checking out the Van
12th January, Cairns.
I got another look at the Kombi today, but it's still not in our posession. First there's a small matter of getting a road-worthy certificate. Before doing this, though, I wanted to get a quick once-over from a mechanic. Just around the corner from the hostel is a guy who'll check it out for $30, so Paul, the Kombi's current owner, brought it over.
So far, our instincts hadn't failed us. The mechanic got it up on the ramps and found only superficial problems with the van - a worn brake cable here, a leaking exhaust pipe there. Overall, though, he was very impressed and said that it was the best Kombi he'd seen in years and that it had been looked after (it's been in the same family for 15 years and the current owner is a mechanic too which all bodes well).
Paul and I then tried to find a garage that could put the van through for a proper inspection - to get the Road Worthy Certificate (RWC) that will allow him to sell me the darn thing! We got one who said they could do it tomorrow morning, which was excellent news. Much like an MoT in the UK, the RWC covers mechanical checks as well as things like seat belts, lights and so on. There are bound to be some things that need fixing, but hopefully nothing major. Fingers crossed.
By the Pier
This evening we started with a meal at The Woolshed - the hostel we are in gives out vouchers for the first night you stay there to be cashed in at the Woolshed for a free meal ("Whatever they serve up in large amounts") or something from the main menu for a few dollars upgrade. We went for the freebie, both choosing chilli con carne which was very nice but about half the size that we could have done with. Well, it was free. If we get vouchers in future for this place, we'll go with the upgrade option!
Afterwards we made our way up to the pier shopping centre which Manda had read about in the Lonely Planet. It looked very quiet there (admittedly it was 7pm) and struck me as a place that is struggling to get large numbers of customers; many of the shop units seemed to be vacant still. We took a look in a few of the shops, but it was very much the same thing that we'd already seen elsewhere in Cairns (and would no doubt see throughout the rest of Australia). One thing that did attract my attention was the aquarium's offer of diving with the sharks and manta rays. For about £30 I could get in the water all scuba'd up and see all the big fish close-up while Manda can film from the outside. We picked up a leaflet and got given a discount if we decide to book - it looks like we have tomorrow evening planned then!