Cars - Part 1

We had little luck with our car at first. We bought a Holden Captiva from a somewhat suspicious car dealer after just a few days of looking at cars. The elegant lady did not mention that it had a nail stuck in the rear tire. When confronted, she reduced the price by $40 and we became proud owners of a right-hand drive car.

A week later, the car broke down on a two-lane avenue. The automatic transmission, which I valued highly, seemed to have some major problems. Luckily, just 2 days before, we had joined the RAC, the local automotive association. A friendly young man helped us push the car to the side of the road, and an equally friendly tow truck driver took us and the Captiva to an RAC workshop.

On the way there, the native Indian chatted with us about beautiful excursions and possible vacation destinations here in Western Australia, which helped us recover from the shock much faster. Although this breakdown caused us to miss the opening hours of the School Uniform Shop, so Aurel and Leon still didn't have uniforms on the Friday before school started, fortunately, the shop opened at 8:30 am on Monday, the first day of school, and the boys were perfectly dressed just before the bell rang at 10 minutes to 9.

Two weeks later, another nail in the tire, which we quickly had repaired by a Scottish man with a strong accent. Since then, we've had no more technical issues, knock on wood or rather: touch wood!

Even though we had a rough start and we are always shocked at how much gasoline this machine consumes, the car suits us pretty well. When you fold down all the seats and squeeze yourself behind the steering wheel, you can fit two beds in the trunk. You can fit three surfboards, 2 bodyboards, and 5 people inside (uncomfortable, but possible). The car fits just right in the garage in terms of height. As I said, it fits! The only thing that's simply too much is the many unfamiliar horsepower, but more on that in Cars - Part 2!