Date:

Event:

"The Great Ocean Road Adventure"

We took the car (which Brian now fondly call's "Brick") and drove the "Great Ocean Road". It was a beatiful couple of days and there are many photos of the trip. There was one small adventure to share...

We were heading back to Lorne on Monday late afternoon to have a nice dinner and see a few people the night we had met before on "the deck". We drove from the last "tourist trap" of the day (which was closed. Brian was thrilled!) and started to head back to Lorne.

We were about 100 km from Lorne when we realize we are driving in the "orange" and needed gas.So we pull into a station in Lavers Hill, but they are closed. We can pay $20 to get the person to come out and turn on the pump, but we decide to head to another station I remembered seeing down the road. Well, that station was closed as well. (yes, it is only 5:30 on a Monday, but the whole 2 gas stations within 50 km of anywhere on the "Great Ocean Road" are closed).

So we go into the Police Station across the street and they inform us that we have to get gas before 5 or wait until the next morning. They tell us Apollo Bay is only 50 km away, and if we can get there, then there is a gas station. So we head out, not sure if we can make it all of the way to Apollo Bay, but we decide to try. About 16 km down the road, the car kind of sputters, so Brian decides to turn around and pay the guy to come out and turn on the pump becuse there is no way we'll make it to Apollo Bay.

Well, he was right, we somehow got back to the gas station on fumes and pull in and call the cell phone number that is on the door. At this point it is probably about 6:30 when we finally get someone to come to the door. It was a young girl, probably about 14. We had to slide the money under the door, and then she turned the pump on. We were so happy to have gas. We put in about 5 gallons to get us to Apollo Bay and start on our way. All of the sudden Brian says "there's some smoke" and the car isn't really going very well. I say (in all of my brilliance), "She just needs to get some gas in her" as Brian is flooring it to try to get her moving. So we pull over on the side of the road and the car starts smoking. We both were pretty bummed out, but we checked the fluids and she wasn't over heating, so we didn't know what was wrong. We finally decide to trek back to the Otaway Junction Motor Inn / Cafe, which thankfully was open because the gas station people were less than helpful.

There were two wonderful ladies who ran the cafe/motel and they let us use their phone to call road side assistance. RACV is the AAA over here. Did you know that you can use AAA in other countries? Well, thank goodness, you can! So they put me in touch with Ken in Port Cambell (we had been there earlier in the day - about 45 min away from where we were). I explained what had happened and this was the conversation that followed:

Ken: "Did you by any chance put diesel in it?"
Abby: "I don't think so" and turned around to ask Brian.
Brian: "No, I don't think so" (both of us thinking "Why would we do that????")
The two women: "You can't put diesel in a car - the nossels are different"
Ken: "You can in a 1983 Volvo".
The two women: "Well, they don't sell diesel over there"
Ken: "Yes they do, and it sounds like you might have put diesel in the car."

So Brian runs over to the gas station to see if it was Diesel and... it was and we did. OH NO! We put Diesel in the car - we hadn't even looked because we were so happy to get gas(petrol) and diesel is always in a pump by itself (or so we thought) and that was the one she turned on - so how could we have done it??? Who knows, but we did.

Abby to Ken: "Ok, so we DID put diesel in the car, what do we do now????"
Ken: "Well, I'll have to come out there and then if there is a drain, we can drain it out, if not, then I'll have to take the gas tank out (AKA: Tow the car and charge you a fortune)."
Brian: "Can't we just siphon it out?"
Ken: "Well, we could try that, too"
Abby: "When do you think you will get here?"
Ken: "I'll meet you at the car in an hour"

So we gave him exactly where we were and hung up. It was now 7:30 pm. We ordered some lattes from the women at the cafe and sat down to wait. One of the women called her husband who is a mechanic and let us know that the engine would be ok, we just had to get the diesel out and the petrol in to get her up and running. That made us feel a little bit better, but we still were nervous. As it was starting to get dark, we headed down the hill to the car at about 8:05. Brian looked under the car, and did see something that looked like it might drain the gas tank, so we had some hope. As it got dark, we just hoped that Ken would show up and help. We didn't want to walk back up to the motel.

At 8:42, Ken pulled up in a white old van that reminded me of the toyota mini van we used to have, just without the seats in the back. Ken had to be about 70 years old, with a beard and mechanic hands. It's dark, but he has his flashlight and a huge white piece of cardboard that he through on the ground and crawled under the car. There was a drain and he opened it up and started draining. About an hour later and many funny stories (including the one about "the bloke last week that did the same thing that you've done"), the tank was drained of the diesel. He had brought some petrol with him (knowing that the gas stations were not open - thank goodness) and filled her up with about 5 gallons. He hooked up a battery to our battery to help with the starting so our battery would not die and Brian tried to start her up.

No luck. Ken said he couldn't hear the fuel pump. He gets out a hammer and starts banging under the car. Brian and I just look at eachother and shrug. Brian tries a few more times, no luck. Ken can't read the fuse box list, so Brian finds the fuse for the fuel pump. Ken takes it out, puts it in, Brian starts the car and still no luck. So Ken then goes under the hood and starts fidling with things. He then goes to his truck and pulls out a yellow can of something. I like to call it the "Magic Yellow Spray Can". He pulls off some valve and starts spraying into some part of the car and Brian tries to start, Ken keeps spraying, Brian keeps starting and then finally she turned over!!!! YAY! What is that magic yellow spray can?

It's now about 10:30 pm. I think a total of 2 cars have passed while we've been working on the car. We ask Ken how much we owe (figuring it'll be at least $200), and he says, "Well, AAA covers the call, so I'll just have to charge you for the petrol. So, I guess about $30." Brian hands him $50 and tells him to keep it -we are so happy that he cared enough to get us up and running and didn't just tow us to his shop. He followed us a little bit to make sure that we were going ok, and then turned around. If you are ever in Port Cambell and need a mechanic, look up Ken. He was awesome.

We get to Apollo Bay. We fill up the car (with the engine running, because we don't want to turn her off) and finally get to Lorne around 11:30. We go to the Pub and have a Guinness and laugh about it.

I know this was long, and it probably rambled on, but I had to share the latest "Brian and Abby Adventure". The car is great and we made it home without any problems on Tuesday. I'm glad it was an '83 and not an '03. I don't think Ken would have been able to help with an '03.

I'm not sure where Brian's luck comes from sometimes...

• We arrived safely in Melbourne. We will be here until March 16, 2005.