The task begins...

Well its been an active week for me... first I managed to hook up with rellies, my cousin and his wife, at their lovely bungalow near Manly beach and by a stroke of luck they generously offered me a room to board in... all I have to do is "donate" 100 dollars per week. Works out perfectly for moi considering that Id have to pay around 175 for the same in the city! Only problem is that its a bit out of town which means Ill have to take the bus into the city every day in order to attend the garage where Im selling my van...

Thats right Im ready to start selling the van, in fact I got it cleaned a few hours ago and have purchased a ticket for the backpacker car market car park (where I originally bought the van) which allows me to park my van 24hours a day for the next week. I only pay 40 dollars a pop too for having passed the van Safety Inspection and having received a pink slip. Most backpacker vans receive a WHITE slip which means that "repairs are needed" and the van didnt pass the road Safety Inspection.

Last night I arduously drew up my "tactical FOR SALE poster" making sure I highlighted all the reasons why someone should regard $4,999 a bargain price! (hint: notice I write 4,999 instead of 5,000... it should disguise the price that bit more!)

The past week Ive spent all my time cleaning out the van and its accessories at the house. I decided against both getting a service AND getting the small crack fixed on the windscreen (the garage reckoned it was small enough to be "passable"). That saved me around 200 dollars. One garage I went to would have given me a white slip since the key can be removed from the ignition when turned on. This would cost around 200 dollars to fix since the key wasnt the problem: I would need to buy and fit a new 2nd hand ignition. I remembered that this was a problem when I bought the van originally, yet it didnt stop the sellers from having a pink slip. So I decided to look at the original pink slip and see where they got it checked at.. chances were that the mechanic would should the same "courteous" carelessness toward the van second time around. After a full day of trying to find the garage (it was on the OTHER side of Sydney!!) I arrived and, *phew*, it passed successfully!

Ive made a lot of savings this week so I *MIGHT* be a little generous in selling the van and might let it go for 4,800 or 4,700 (at the least).. of course time will tell if I manage that!