The camper van has a safe and so I thought I would give it a try and test ran a lock/unlock with the provided key. Then I locked my computer inside of it and then thought of something else I wanted to put in there and so went to unlock it and-couldn’t. Ten minutes of trying and thinking all the while of blow torches and gunpowder and I finally managed to open it again. We won’t try the safe again.
Time to fill up the tank and so I look for a pump with Diesel (signposted in yellow) and spend $110 and then realize that I have used the green pump handle (Diesel in the US) which is unleaded petrol here in NZ. I have to get the van towed a mile to a nearby shop and get the tank drained- $102. The tank drainage is now a mixture of petrol and diesel and cannot be reclaimed. Then back to the gas station for a tank full of diesel (Christine watches me as I select it-it’s a black pump handle here in NZ). $85.
My great wife, all she does is give me a wry and (I think) forgiving and sympathetic smile. She knows I have been punished enough. I play my bugle and drum below her window.
Our man at the repair shop was Grant, a Kiwi of about 50 and a surfer and winter snowboarder with a wife and kids. He worked in meatpacking for about 30 yrs and has now taken this easier job working for his mate-the boss of the repair shop and also a surfer.
Onward with fingers crossed, well, I am travelling with a miniature incarnation of the Hindu God, Ganesh (God of good fortune) that I bought in India. Maybe I should get that small pink and pot-bellied elephant out of my suitcase and position him where he can keep an eye on me- on the dashboard.
At Greymouth we bought an extra duvet since the camper van one is too thin for the mountains we will soon get to.
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