It stopped itself on the pavement, so we walked to the car yard to face the music. The salesman came with us to look at the car, and immediately tried (just as we had) to get the seat to go further forward. He sat in it, held onto the steering wheel and pulled as hard as he could. This had absolutely no effect, so he slid the seat backwards a little, and then slammed it forwards as hard as he could. Something appeared to give, a bolt at the back of the seat came out, and the seat was slightly further forward than before, or indeed further than it was meant to go. He then got down in the back seat and tried to fix the damage, announcing after a few minutes that all we needed was a bolt and it would be right as rain. He said he was sorry that there was nothing more he could do to help, and walked back towards the yard.

Laura now resigned herself to getting used to driving it, and tried again. It was no good though, be it Laura’s or the car’s fault, she simply couldn’t drive it. We parked it again, and again, the handbrake was nearly useless. By this time Laura was very upset, and Mark bravely set off again, back to the car yard. He returned a few minutes later saying that everything would be fine. The salesman had offered us two or three car that we could have as a direct swap for ours. Feeling very relieved, we returned together to choose a new car. We tried another Ford, but they simply weren’t built for Laura, and this time it was the pedals she couldn’t reach. Feeling useless, as though she wasn’t destined to drive again, we tried another car: a Holden. Laura fitted perfectly, the gears were very easy to find, and the handbrake was in its usual place. This was the one.

We filled in all the paperwork and were then driven to the nearest Registration office to register the car. Ecstatic to have received a second chance, we drove the car away. It was so easy, the gears slipped in with hardly any effort and the car drove smoothly and elegantly. Laura could really feel what the car was doing and it responded brilliantly. It felt wonderful that Laura could drive and she no longer felt useless. We drove to the K-Mart next, to buy all the other things we needed while things were on the up. But then we remembered the telephone, and thought we’d better do that first.

We parked along the tramline and caught the tram back into the centre. While we were there, we dropped in on Gail and told her the news, and went past the RAA, to switch the insurance to the new car. This was all done very easily and then we caught a bus to Payneham road, where the mobile phone repair centre was. A friendly lady at the reception told us that these phones were usually simply replaced, but as demand was high for them, there could be a two to three week wait. Deciding it would be better to wait until we were in Melbourne, we went back on the tram to our car.

After the slightly large detour, we made it to the K-mart, where we didn’t actually buy anything. Nothing was as cheap or as good as he had hoped, so we went to Coles to choose some cheap meals instead. Mark bought a little pizza, and Laura bought a lasagne-for-one, and we went home to cook and eat these gourmet delights. Exhausted from the exhausting day we did what we do best: went to the cinema. We drove in our nice new blue car to Marion shopping town, where we joined the masses in a cheap Tuesday night film. We bought two tickets to Dogma and ate 30c icecreams from Hungry Jacks while we waited. To our delight, it was in cinema 1, one of the four biggest at Marion. To make the evening even better, the film was brilliant: clever, witty, full of intrigue, suspense and brilliant humour from beginning to end. It was a great end to the day.

The next bad news, only nowhere as serious, was that the chip card for the phone was lost without trace. Without that, the phone would do nothing, so we would have to buy a replacement. Mark went to phone his Mum, while Laura e-mailed her parents with the news. We met up again, decided immediately to just buy a new phone, and to stay in Adelaide another day in order to be in reach during the operation. We went to the shops, but the excitement was gone, and we just bought what we needed while our thoughts were elsewhere. We bought a $20 wok, some other cooking things and then drove to Marion. There, we looked in the K-mart and the Bunnings warehouse, and came away with a coolbox, ice packs, a saucepan and two cheap folding chairs. We also bought a new phone so that we couldn’t fail to be contactable.

Driving back, we stopped in Glenelg to visit the Motel and show off the photos. We didn’t stay too long, and soon went to the supermarket to buy some stuff for dinner. We settled for our favourite: chilli con carne, it was exactly the kind of easy, hearty meal we needed. After dinner, we drove to Gail’s house to pick our things up, and she listened to our tales of woe with a mother’s sympathy. Having put our things into the back of our new car, we said a sad goodbye and waved until we were out of sight. We felt so lucky for the good friend we had found in Gail, and certainly sorry to have to say goodbye for good. Back at our tent we were in no mood for sorting our stuff out so settled down in the tent to read some Harry Potter to each other and try to relax. Eventually we fell asleep.

Driving on over the hills, we reached Murray Bridge (100km from Adelaide), where we made a brief stop to gather information about the countryside ahead. From here we would go south down the Coorong, a long area of coastline surrounded by wetlands and grasslands. It was meant to be a beautiful region, as it was full of scenic and nature reserves. As it turned out, we spent hours on long, straight roads with nothing to see but brown grass, and the occasional patch of murky brown water. There were no birds or other wildlife in sight, and the view was simply unchanging. We decided to stop for the night in Robe "a picturesque town with interesting history" near the southern end of the Coorong. On the outskirts of Robe were some more interesting land features: wide salt flats. Like large empty lakes, the salt flats were a mixture of bright white and light pink tints and sparkled quite beautifully in the sunshine.

Robe itself was a small country town with quite a pretty beach (finally some blue water), but we went straight to the campsite. It was another Big 4 park, but slightly less well-equipped than we were used to in West Beach. The kitchen was mouse-sized, one pair of hot plates and one sink, in a small cupboard-like room. we managed (just) to heat up some soup and make some pancakes as there was no one else trying to use the kitchen at the same time. Then it was back to Harry Potter and the fantasy world that came with it. An early night soon turned into a not-so-early night as the suspense in the book was too great for us to put it down. Eventually however, fatigue took over and we were deep in the land of sleep.

We bought some journey food, drinks and lots of grapes (only $2 a kilo) at the supermarket, before leaving the centre. Heading towards Hamilton and eventually the Grampians, we stopped at the Sinkhole Gardens for a little look. These gardens were developed by one man and his family over a hundred years ago and have been an attraction ever since. The large sinkhole goes roughly 30 m down into the limestone and is just over that in diameter. You walk down steps into the garden at the bottom with its flowers, grass, benches, barbeques and palm trees (which just manage to poke out of the top of the sinkhole). The sides of the hole are a mix between bare limestone walls and vast overhanging vines. It was certainly worth a visit.

Leaving Mt Gambier behind, we also left South Australia behind as we drove through Hamilton, up to Hall’s Gap in the heart of the Grampians. On the way there, we already caught a glimpse of the beauty of the Grampians. High hills (or low mountains), covered in dense, lush green vegetation with the occasional bare grey rock face jutting out from the top. Hall’s Gap was a quaint little tourist town and we joined it in the middle of a jazz festival. We drove straight to the Big 4 campsite, only a few kilometres from the town centre and decided to stay for 2 nights. This would give us one full day to explore the Grampians as well as enjoying the holiday park’s facilities (swimming pool and tennis courts). Once the tent was up, we changed quickly and went to play a little tennis before cooking. The ball and racket hire was only $2 (with a $10 refundable deposit) and as the park was quiet and we had no competition for the court, we could basically play for as long as it was light enough to see the tennis balls.

After playing for more than an hour, we returned the equipment and Mark went for a quick swim while Laura sat on the edge of the pool. We then returned to the tent to retrieve the cooking utensils and went to the kitchen, where we made pepper steaks and potatoes. Around us, groups of backpackers, obviously together on a tour, were preparing to eat spaghetti or Mexican, and the air was filled with delicious smells (both from our food and theirs). Back in the tent, we read some more of the precious Harry Potter book, and had nearly finished it when we gave up and went to sleep. But not before going out to brush our teeth and finding guess what on the camp field? Two kangaroos!

As it grew later and cooler, we decided to go and search for some food. Tonight, part of the jazz festival would be in the holiday park itself, and as it was also to be catered, the kitchens were a little full. So when we got to town, we bought some disgustingly fattening chips, and some low-fat milk, eating them at a picnic table in a little park. As dusk drew in , kangaroos appeared here too, and soon there were six or seven of them munching the grass just across the field from us. They were perfectly happy to keep eating as they were watched, photographed and even disturbed by a curious little girl. When she ran towards them, they simply took one or two hops away and resumed their munching.

Back at the campsite, the jazz was in full swing, so we retired the TV room, where we watched a little of Nicholas Nickleby, and wrote some diary. When we thought the jazz evening must be nearly over, we brushed our teeth and went to our tent to shout Harry Potter over the music. It did soon finish though, and we were surprisingly tired after our day of leisure, so we took the peaceful silence as a chance for a good night’s sleep.

Once we had washed up, showered and dressed (and read just a little more Potter), we headed out into the mountains. On the road out from Halls gap towards Horsham, there would be plenty to see. After we had climbed a long hill with the car, we found a turning off to the first lookout: a perfect view over the end of the Grampians and Halls Gap itself. To the right were still a few mountains and a large blue lake, directly below was Halls Gap where we spotted our campsite and could clearly make out the tennis courts: what lay to the left, and beyond, was an endless stretch of flat yellow-brown land. The contrast of the dark green vegetation on the hills, the cold grey rock, blue sky and yellow fields was gorgeous, just the sort of picture you’d love to paint (if you could paint).

The next stop along the road for us was McKenzie falls. The largest waterfall in Victoria, these could be reached via a very easy concrete track and stairs from the carpark. We walked down and sat to admire the falls from the bottom, on the edge of the deep, cool pool. They were not the largest we had seen, but certainly were spectacular. We watched as a few others swam out to sit beneath them, and when they returned, we went in. Careful not to slip on the wet rocks, we walked slowly into the chilly water and then plunged in further as we swam out to the base of the falls. Sitting on a low ledge with the water cascading over our heads and backs was very invigorating. It was also however very cold, so we soon returned to the shore and sat on the hot rocks in the sun to dry.

Having had a very romantic dip under the waterfall (all be it with many onlookers), we got back in the car and drove back towards Halls Gap. There was one more stop that we had saved for the return journey: Reeds Lookout. Another high viewpoint, this time looking back over the Grampians themselves allowed us to admire the rugged hilltops and the deep valleys. In Halls Gap, we went first to our campsite to relax for a while, and then to town to buy some food. We planned to make chicken tonight, so we needed some chicken. As simple a task as it was, buying chicken proved impossible as the only supermarket had sold out of it.

So, on to the takeaway, as there was very little in the supermarket at all. We ordered a pizza and sat down to wait. The pizza maker put handfuls of cheese and ham onto it, and then some tasty salami, as we watched with our mouths watering. When it was ready, we drove the pizza back to the camp kitchen, where we ate it with the sparkling wine we’d bought earlier in the week. Then we had a huge piece of our Valentine’s chocolate cake! Lastly on Valentine’s day, we returned to the adventures of Harry Potter, before falling asleep, while the kangaroos munched in the field around us.