After 3 months we rejoined EC22 in Rotterdam Netherlands. During that time she
spent 1 month in Montevideo, 1 month on the ship, and one month in storage
in Rotterdam. She was shipped in a container with a vehicle owned by a Dutch couple returning from South America. The shipping went smoothly but the
container was chosen for a Customs scan. Obviously all was good - just cost us
another €120.
We arrived in Rotterdam at at 8pm on the 11th on a fast (300km/hr) train from Paris. We caught a taxi in the last of the daylight to our hotel where we had single beds - seems the norm here.
About 10am the next day we rocked up to the shipping agents (Hemetex) office where Ralf drove us to EC22. She looked OK and started straight away.
We paid for the
month of open air storage €1.5 per day, and headed back to the
hotel for our luggage.
The Netherlands, at
least where we have been, is amazing for it’s water, bicycle paths,
green grass and motorways. Bicycles often have
right of way and have their own traffic lights and lane at round-a-bouts, where vehicle traffic gives way.
Some places are 11m
below sea level. Hence the water in the waterways gets pumped to
higher levels eventually reaching levels above sea level enabling it
to flow out to sea. This originally was one of the jobs of the
traditional windmills.
We felt we were
getting to know the road system and which lanes we needed to be in.
The to-do list was slowly whittled down but some days it seemed that more jobs were added than removed.
When we took the exhaust off to take the auxiliary fuel tank out we
found that one support had ripped out of the pipe leaving a hole.
Another job. The stove was fixed
with a new glow plug. And the errors cleared from the log in the
heater. However 3 days later when we went to use them neither would
start - so booked in for additional attention a few days later.
We have not managed
to catch up with Julie and Alex who shared the container with us.
They are too busy buying houses and prepare for the birth of their
first, due any day now.
The weather had been
kind to us - but once we have obtained parts needing installation it
has turned windy and wet
The follow-up visit to Dusch
Automotive for the Webasto had us thinking…. The Hoses were full of
air!!! Once that had cleared they ran well. Again that night they had air in the hoses! What had changed? Ahhh... finally the penny dropped. When we took the auxiliary diesel tank out we taped up the end of the hoses so dirt did not get in..... Yes we taped up the breather for the diesel tank and when we ran the engine the vacuum sucked the diesel out of the heater and cooker!!!. Problem solved.
We took them up on
that. We ended up spending 10 nights parked on their porch with wake
up calls from Puk the pet duck every morning. An amazing family:
Henriette the mum found out at 30 that she had ADHD. All her 4
children do as well. The adult children all have work and/or study,
are interesting, well meaning and taught us a heap. They were very
open (and self aware) of the challenges they had, the medication they
took, and what life was like when they didn’t.
Outside work slowed a little during a few days of
drizzle. With the help of Miloa, the
eldest daughter, we managed to get an appointment to have our tic
encephalitis shots. We drove to the appointment in a shared office
building and had our shots. I also had tetanus as by my medical
book I had not receive it in 2017 when we were at the travel Doc in
Australia. These shots cost us €170. In Australia it was going to be
AU$250 each. So half price here.
During our stay I
cooked pancakes for breakfast, honey chilli chicken wings and Osso Bucco. John cooked a two curry meal. The family also owns
and runs a restaurant and Henk cooks most weekends. The family is always
busy which was great to see.
Finally we managed to reinstall the auxiliary fuel tank. This meant the removal the exhaust system and the drive shaft again.... Needed to make a few adjustments to the new brackets so john cycled to Henk's workshop made them and came back, we nearly had it fitted in one day but still had two hoses to deal with…
Our last day (saturday)
with Henk and family was a little more relaxed. When finished putting the
hoses on the auxiliary diesel tank, we sat in the sun and had a
sandwich and glass of wine for lunch. Had a quiet evening with
Annabel and Miloa.
We have driven over
1000k’s just running around organizing repairs and trying to buy parts.
Just a few of our jobs.....
Have made and replaced auxiliary diesel tank brackets, mend exhaust, weld aluminum roof rack, replace bellows and covering, buy and replace roof rubber, mend canvas house stiffening straps, find buy and replace reversing camera monitor (and later the camera) repair windscreen chip, replace bolts under passenger seat, have new maps made for the outside and stick them on, get stove working, take heater out and file melted dust off fan, have Tic encephalitis jabs, find an install heating for diesel filter (not achieved), fit clothes ringer bought from Australia, replace house batteries, install disk station behind fridge, install mobile phone amplifier, fix fridge hinge and shelves, find hot tap blockage, repair rubbish bag, replace stove annulus, repair driving lights, refit toilet and inside lights with parts bought in Aus, etc.
Have made and replaced auxiliary diesel tank brackets, mend exhaust, weld aluminum roof rack, replace bellows and covering, buy and replace roof rubber, mend canvas house stiffening straps, find buy and replace reversing camera monitor (and later the camera) repair windscreen chip, replace bolts under passenger seat, have new maps made for the outside and stick them on, get stove working, take heater out and file melted dust off fan, have Tic encephalitis jabs, find an install heating for diesel filter (not achieved), fit clothes ringer bought from Australia, replace house batteries, install disk station behind fridge, install mobile phone amplifier, fix fridge hinge and shelves, find hot tap blockage, repair rubbish bag, replace stove annulus, repair driving lights, refit toilet and inside lights with parts bought in Aus, etc.