Anny Chih

Saying goodbye to Dee

During the first week of my Wicked Road Trip, I named my Wicked Campervan Dee. There’s a back story that goes with that name but it doesn’t make any sense unless you’ve been driving for five hours across nothingness on your own and can’t figure out how to tune the radio to a working station because somewhere along the line you pushed a random series of buttons and now it’s all static.

I had to return Dee a couple of days ago and it was a little sad to let her go. We’d spent the last month travelling Queensland together and had a good thing going. I checked her oil and water tank every time we stopped for fuel (which was pretty much every day), and she only had one minor hiccup during the entire trip.

Hiccup

Jammed lock

When I got back to Airlie Beach after leaving Paronella Park, I stayed with Tony from The Whitsundays Central Reservations Centre for a couple of days. It’s a good thing too, because the lock on Dee’s hatchback door jammed on the second night. We couldn’t get the door to close so I phoned the Wicked distress line. A woman picked up and said that I should tie down the door with some rope and drive the car to the Wicked mechanic at Airlie Beach the next morning. She gave me an address for the mechanic.

I knew that Tony would have rope, but I asked the woman what I could do if I didn’t have rope just to see what she’d say. Her answer was pretty much ‘tough luck.’ “Hrm, well that wouldn’t be much help if I were in the middle of nowhere” I thought.

Magic mechanic jiggling with a screwdriver

The next morning I was also glad I was at Tony’s because he was smart enough to think of checking the address for the mechanic before leaving. The address listed in the phone book was different from the one the Wicked distress lady gave me. I phoned her again to double check. She checked her address listings again and apologized – Tony and the phone book were right.

Off we went. We had thought that the problem was somewhere inside the door and that something between the key lock and the lock device itself had disconnected. We were wrong. It took the mechanic less than 10 seconds (no exaggeration) to fix the lock with a screwdriver. I was really surprised. I thought it would take at least a half hour to fix and had my camera ready to capture the process. I only had enough time to take two pictures!

Apparently a jammed lock is a very common problem in campervans. It just requires some magic mechanic jiggling and force to get it working again.

Random Tips for Road Tripping Travellers

1. 

   In contrast with most rental companies, Wicked Campers encourages travellers to write on the inside of their vans.

   Check your oil and water tank every time you stop for fuel or at least once every two days. There’s often a long distance between you and your next stop in Australia so it’s better safe than sorry.

2. To avoid hitting a kangaroo if you see one up ahead on the road, slow down, turn off your light (the light makes them stupid) and honk to scare them away from the road.
3. Rope is always handy. If you’re renting a campervan with Wicked Campers, check their “free stuff” table (where other travellers leave their unused stuff) for rope you can take on your trip.
4. Little things you’ll need: matches for the gas stove, dishwashing liquid, dishwashing sponge, bottles of drinking water, maps, handy wipes, and toilet paper / tissue. You can pick these up on your way, or you can save yourself a few dollars and find them on the “free stuff” table at the Wicked Campers depot. Also, when you pick up your linen, take an extra set of sheets and pillow cases so you can take a nap when the dirty sheets are in the wash. It doesn’t cost you anything to borrow extra sheets from Wicked Campers.

Have an awesome time!

Thank you to Wicked Campers for sponsoring my month-long Wicked Road Trip of Queensland, Australia!