Sun, 09 Nov 2003

author Tim	location Hamburg, Deutschland
posted 18:09 CET 12/11/2003	section Europe2002/Europe/Netherlands/Netherlands 3 ( all photos )

Re-United with Rosie! ( No photos )
The first ones out of bed, we packed our gear and trudged to the nearest Metro station, using up some of our already-purchased Metro 'strips' in the process. Plus, it would have been quite a long walk to get there.
Emerging once again in Rotterdam Centraal, we had a quick look around the place but generally settled on two train tickets to Utrecht Centraal, electing to get there sooner rather than later to see our beloved bus.
As it happened, the train that we picked was an infamous "Stoptren", meaning it was an all-stations one, stopping at every little no-horse town along the way. No real matter, we weren't in that much of a rush and we both have books to read now, although the scenery is always interesting in the endless flat Dutch landscape.
It shuddered us into Utrecht, and we started to get our strange sense of deja vu - this is where our trip 'started' when we first picked up Rosie all those months ago. We half-remembered the way out of the station, and the GPS did the rest, and before long we were walking along the beautiful canal-lined street with windmills and fold-up bridges that leads to Krugerstraat, Donna's street. This walk was quite scary, ramming home the fact that we are really coming to the end of it all after so long.
We rounded the corner, and there our big bus was! The elation was pretty amazing, seeing her safely parked in a back street, not a scratch on her. Liz gave her a hug to say hello, and then we checked and noted that inside nothing was even slightly out of place. Amazing. The thing has been towed half-way across Europe and with no hassles at all. Such a relief!
The rest of the day was spent organising all of our belongings into various categories based on whether they are definitely coming back to Sydney with us, maybe, or were going straight to the bin. There were also plenty of clothes we put in bags to take to a nearby clothing bin.
It was so weird to be in the camper once again, and we both temporarily wanted to do it all again - driving over mountain passes, stopping wherever we wanted, camping when we felt like it and cooking whenever, wherever it took our fancy. But then reality hit us - running out of gas to cook with, the cold weather now with no working heater, and of course the fact that the engine is cracked somewhat in half combined to make us once again happy to be packing our things, heading for home.
After a while, Donna's mechanic came out and put a spare battery in Rosie, started her up and drove into Donna's driveway. We didn't think it would start at all, but it did, albeit with some truly horrible sounds to let us know all was not right. The mechanic's English isn't that good (although, as always I have to say far better than my Dutch), and we thought perhaps he wanted to work on it, but it turned out he just wanted us off the road, safely inside. That also meant that we could connect the electrical hook-up cable up, giving us light!
No need to find a supermarket, as we had so much food still left in the van. Starting on the long process of using up as much as possible, Liz cooked risotto and we got stuck into the Czech beers.
Just before the final scene in the DVD of Saving Private Ryan, the mobile started ringing. Very strange - it turned out to be Jono and Penny, back at Utrecht Centraal station! They were supposed to stay with a friend but she wasn't answering the phone, so they wandered if they could use our Lonely Planet to look for hostels.
I rugged up against the bitter cold, and walked up to the station. Seeing them in the third city around Europe was great fun, and we attempted to work out some accommodation for them. They tried once more and were able to get through to their friend, so madly we dashed around, found the bus stop to get there, dashed for the last bus stop and I waved them farewell, picking a meeting spot for the next morning.
I was just about to turn off the canal street into Krugerstraat when my mobile rang again! Apparently the bus had just gone back to the station and sat for ages, and they wouldn't make it to their friend's place in time. So, only remaining option was one we had discussed a little earlier - they came back to sleep with us in Rosie!
It was a bit cramped, but we made it work. After a bit of manouvering, all four of us fitted in - Liz and I in the bed (although the wrong way around as it was on a slope), and Jono and Penny on the floor. They had sleeping bags, but even in them and with beanies, scarves, jackets and gloves fully deployed they still felt the cold overnight.

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