Day 96

04/10/2009

Lazy day with an important decision to be made. Started with a slow breakfast, then an hour and a half massage before watching the Japanese Grand Prix.

Got a text from Pat and Simon to say they had finally made it to Timor and expected to be in Dili in about 48 hours.

Weighing up the option of shipping to Darwin and going through the quarantine inspection, re-cleaning and re-inspecting and possible time delay (and cost) is not easy. Our intention has been all along to drive our own van in Oz, but trying to clean it with limited time and resources, and hearing the experience of others when importing into Australia have caused us serious concern.

We are already 10 days later than our planned flight/ship to Darwin so our Oz time is much reduced. A further delay even of a week - the ship wouldn't arrive in Darwin until Friday 9th then unloading and getting to quarantine with weekend reduced working hours a probability - would only leave us with about 18 days. Driving time (no sight-seeing) from Darwin to our original destination of Brisbane crossing central Oz and then around the south east looks about 10 days, and that's assuming we get through quarantine. A big assumption.

So we have decided something has to give, and we will ship the van straight home from East Timor. This will let us fly to Darwin around 7th October, where after a couple of days we will hire a camper van "one-way" and drop it in Sydney, going via the north and east, and not crossing the centre or getting to the south east coast.

I have enjoyed driving most days for the last 3 months, but we'd like to end the adventure at a slower pace and see some of Australia. By not rushing around a big area, we leave plenty to explore on our next (and subsequent) visits.

Just need to let the agent here know first thing tomorrow, collect some extra stuff from the van and find out the additional cost of shipping to the UK.