Me and My Wicked Van
Ahoy all!
Guess where I’m going? On a WICKED ROAD TRIP!! WHooOOoHoOooOoo!
Wicked Campers is sponsoring my month-long trip around Queensland (many Thanks!) by loaning me this decked-out 4WD van. Cool eh?
This is the first time I’ve ever driven in a Wicked Campervan and I was a little worried at first for a few reasons:
- Driving rules are backwards in Australia (drive on left).
- There’s this gear shift thing on the floor that I’ve never seen before and it has something to do with 4WD but nobody at the office has ever used it and the car manual is in Japanese.
- The biggest car I’ve ever driven is a Prius (not very big) so driving a big van is definitely new to me.
- Wicked Campers has an empty tank policy where you get the van without any gas, and you return it without any gas. I was worried I wouldn’t get to the gas station in time…
The Wicked Diesel Story
Because Wicked Campers has an empty tank policy, the first thing I had to do when I got the van was get to a gas station, and quick. Mark from the Wicked Campers depot gave me a map of how to get to the nearest gas station. I followed it, but missed the gas station the first time and had to do a large circle around trying to find it. I was really worried I’d run out of gas before I got there.
When I got to the station, I felt both relieved and really stupid because I couldn’t find a diesel pump! The sign said there was diesel available, so I was walking around the gas station trying to find a pump I could use. I finally went inside and asked the woman where the diesel pump was. She pointed to the pump right in front of my van. “Oi…” I thought. “I’m so glad my name is painted on the side of the van, just so everyone knows who the dummy is around here holding up the line because she can’t find the pump that’s right in front of her.” 
I walked back to the van and realized that I hadn’t seen it before because it was covered by a large sticker that said it couldn’t be used. Self-esteem recovered. I went back in and asked if they had any working diesel pumps. Nope. The woman had just asked the manager and apparently they had just installed the diesel and so the pumps weren’t working yet.
I eventually found a gas station that had diesel. It cost me over $60 just to fill the tank up 3/4 of the way, but I was glad to have finally succeeded in getting fueled up.
Next Stop
I’m leaving Brisbane a lot later than I had planned. The van wasn’t ready until 11am for pick-up and I left the depot around noon. By the time I got back to the apartment to finish packing, it was already past 1pm. Now it’s 3pm and I’m rushing out to try and avoid traffic. I’m probably going to be right in the middle of it.
Because I’m leaving so late, I’ll likely just drive to Mooloolaba for the night (possibly up to Noosa). I’ll update and respond to messages as soon as I get to another spot with a power point I can use.
Just remember that the driver’s side needs to be next to the middle line of the road and you’ll not have any trouble with driving on the left. I always use this rule when changing sides and it seems to work fine. Biggest problem is remembering which side the indicators and the windshield wipers are on — that’s the hard part.
Have a great trip.
Hahahaha You should’ve heard me swearing for the first hour because I kept turning the wipers on!
ANNY CHIH! YOU ARE AWESOME!
I can’t believe you’re driving a van and driving it backwards! Good luck lovely!
Beeee!
Ahh BEE!!! I wish you were here hun!! <3
Now I know why you wanted me to tag along — you needed a driver!!!
Hardee-har-har!
I’ll have you know I’m doing just fine driving in Australia *knock on wood*
Oh, and I can’t actually let anyone else drive the van under the terms of the insurance agreement.
Good Luck and Good Times to ya Anny!
Thanks William!
Hi Anny,
Received this e-mail from Kuranda Rail.
Will leave it with you to organise if you wish.
Liz and Alf.
Dear Liz & Alf,
Thankyou for your email. We would be happy to offer Anny our standard industry rate of 20%.
If you would like to make a reservation on the Kuranda Scenic Railway please advise us of the date and time and we will be able to do that for you. Our train departs Cairns station at 8.30am & 9.30am, departs Freshwater station at 8.50am & 9.50am and then returns from Kuranda at 2.00pm & 3.30pm.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Kind regards,
Jaelee Denman
Sales Executive
Kuranda Scenic Railway
KSRSales@qr.com.au
Thank you very much Alf & Liz for everything!
Holy CRAP, your name is on the side of the VAN! THAT is COMPLETELY awesome. I’ve never had my name painted on a van before! (Well, I did, but I don’t want to talk about that time.….. hahaha, Just Kidding!!) Reminder to take a million pictures of the van!
Oh, and the funny thing about the windshield wipers— SOME of those campervans you rent (maybe not Wicked but others) have them on the Correct side!
Seriously. Because they’re meant for the tourists who inevitably come from right driving countries.
And the parking at night thing, in some places it’s technically not allowed, but it’s almost completely tolerated. You have to remember a population the size of California’s is completely spread out on an entire continent, so even if they all decide to do illegal things it doesn’t make as much of an impact given the scale that they are spread out.
Yeah, no kiddin’ eh?? LOL
And yes, I’ve noticed that there aren’t very many cars or people around. It makes driving a lot easier