Car purchase: From Melbourne to Coffin Bay

The purchase of a camper turned out to be a bit more difficult than expected. We had imagined that we would use the first week in Australia to find a car, buy it, and register it. However, after Covid, there were far fewer backpackers in the country, and accordingly, there were also fewer campers on the market, which were also much more expensive than expected. Eventually, we came across a camper online in Coffin Bay, 1500km away. A red VW Transporter T4 from the year 2000, which was within our budget. We decided to take the risk and travel there. So, on February 28, we set off for the airport. We flew to Adelaide first. There, we rented a car to drive another 8 hours to Coffin Bay. It was the first time for both of us on the left side of the road. It was good that we had a modern car with automatic transmission available for this. Unlike Ina, my ability to drive cars with manual transmission was a bit rusty, so I could focus solely on the traffic. We checked out the camper and decided to take it with us. We paid 7500 AU$ and named it Hugo (after the seller who was French). Over the next few days, we cleaned the interior and exterior. We also spent quite a bit of money on a good interior setup. It's not hard to imagine that a 22-year-old car doesn't run smoothly anymore. The 2nd and 5th gears were a bit sluggish. That's why it took us a while to feel comfortable in traffic. I had a bit more trouble because of the gear shift than Ina. We also discovered a leak in the roof, so it rained inside when it was raining heavily. Of course, we didn't think of that when we bought it. We were able to register it in the neighboring town of Port Lincoln. After 4 days, we headed back to Adelaide, now with 2 cars. On the one hand, we were happy that we finally had a camper. On the other hand, each of us was relieved to be able to drive the rental car again. We split the journey into 2 days and spent the first night in the camper behind a pub. Unfortunately, it was one of the hottest nights we have ever experienced. In Adelaide, we visited friends of Ina's family and stayed there for a few days. They gave us the idea to visit Kangaroo Island first. So, we set out along the coast towards the ferry.