09.11.2019 some days are diamonds and some days are rocks

Finally, we can continue. We thought.

We will enjoy the route along the coast. We thought.

But then what happened changed all our plans a bit.

While we arrived along the coast in Invercargrill and planned our trip to Milford Sounds, our car overheated.

It had never had any problems before and we had it checked before our trip in early October. We thought, before we head to Milford Sounds and have no reception anymore, we better have it checked again.

The worst has unfortunately been confirmed. The cylinder head gasket or the cylinder head is broken and needs to be replaced.

When we heard this in Invercargrill, we were immediately confronted with the facts. Mitsubishi told us that we should expect at least $3000 in costs and that we would have to do without the car, our 'home', for nearly 2 weeks.

So that means a minimum of $3000 for the repair and still having to pay for accommodation every night... A large amount of money.

We decided to call Duncan and Elaine, maybe they have an idea.

Without further ado, we were on our way back to Dunedin (about 215 km). They offered us to stay with them and then visit a workshop they trust.

Our van is currently in the workshop and is being repaired. It is still a very expensive repair, but we have decided to have it repaired now. What would be the alternative? Buying a new van? You never know what you have...

Now we know what's going on, the van is otherwise in great condition and we would be really sad to lose our van now.

As Duncan always likes to say: 'Some days are diamonds and some days are rocks'.

At some point next week we will be able to continue driving.

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