Brynhild
03-16-2009, 03:49 AM
Have you ever had a disastrous time of it while you were meant to be on holidays or vacation?
This happened to my family and I when we were heading down to Victoria for my brother in law's impending wedding. The trip by car is about 1000km and we had hoped to make it there by evening after leaving around 4am. HA!
I drove for the first part of the trip when I noticed the voltage light came on and the ex told me that the alternator was on its way out, keep driving till the battery conks.
Three hours later, we made it to Goulburn and waited around for the auto-electrician to open. About three hours later, we were ready to head off again. I think I drove for only another hour or two more before the car overheated. Pulled over, the ex walked to see where the next shop or town was - turns out we were only about a kilometre away. I wasn't walking, I was eight months pregnant and had two toddlers to mind, and keep out of 30+ degree heat.
We managed to eventually limp to a service station, and found out that the fan got busted when our alternator was being replaced!:mad: I can't remember what happened next exactly, but the car was driveable enough for us to reach the Victorian border some hours later. It was too late in the day to drive to Geelong, so we found a motel for the night in a place called Seymour, north of Melbourne.
We booked in to this place and it was a hole! The double bed sank in the middle and neither of us could rest without rolling inwards, so the ex slept on the couch. It was bad enough for me in my condition! There was a road crew hamming it up till all hours of the night along with that. Ironically, the kids didn't seem too bothered by all that was going on. I settled them to sleep, undisturbed.
Just when we thought the noise had finally abated and I was ready to drift off to sleep at some ungodly hour, a bloody coal train came tearing through the town and sounding off with its horn! The ex was still awake, we just looked at each other and laughed our heads off.
That was the worst beginning to a holiday I ever had, apart from another time when I hit a kangaroo at 100km/h while driving up to Queensland. The ex got the same car back only the day before, due to an accident in which a woman crashed into his front left panel. When I hit the roo, it was the same front panel that got damaged - again! I got upset at hitting the roo, even though they are such stupid animals at times. I was pregnant then, as well, with my first child. We looked at the dead roo, the damaged panel, and laughed at the irony of it. I'm laughing now at the memory, but that could've been a lot worse, given the speed at which I was driving.
Please share your disastrous trips. :D
This happened to my family and I when we were heading down to Victoria for my brother in law's impending wedding. The trip by car is about 1000km and we had hoped to make it there by evening after leaving around 4am. HA!
I drove for the first part of the trip when I noticed the voltage light came on and the ex told me that the alternator was on its way out, keep driving till the battery conks.
Three hours later, we made it to Goulburn and waited around for the auto-electrician to open. About three hours later, we were ready to head off again. I think I drove for only another hour or two more before the car overheated. Pulled over, the ex walked to see where the next shop or town was - turns out we were only about a kilometre away. I wasn't walking, I was eight months pregnant and had two toddlers to mind, and keep out of 30+ degree heat.
We managed to eventually limp to a service station, and found out that the fan got busted when our alternator was being replaced!:mad: I can't remember what happened next exactly, but the car was driveable enough for us to reach the Victorian border some hours later. It was too late in the day to drive to Geelong, so we found a motel for the night in a place called Seymour, north of Melbourne.
We booked in to this place and it was a hole! The double bed sank in the middle and neither of us could rest without rolling inwards, so the ex slept on the couch. It was bad enough for me in my condition! There was a road crew hamming it up till all hours of the night along with that. Ironically, the kids didn't seem too bothered by all that was going on. I settled them to sleep, undisturbed.
Just when we thought the noise had finally abated and I was ready to drift off to sleep at some ungodly hour, a bloody coal train came tearing through the town and sounding off with its horn! The ex was still awake, we just looked at each other and laughed our heads off.
That was the worst beginning to a holiday I ever had, apart from another time when I hit a kangaroo at 100km/h while driving up to Queensland. The ex got the same car back only the day before, due to an accident in which a woman crashed into his front left panel. When I hit the roo, it was the same front panel that got damaged - again! I got upset at hitting the roo, even though they are such stupid animals at times. I was pregnant then, as well, with my first child. We looked at the dead roo, the damaged panel, and laughed at the irony of it. I'm laughing now at the memory, but that could've been a lot worse, given the speed at which I was driving.
Please share your disastrous trips. :D