No car!

Our car started to behave really badly about five weeks ago,and so we took it off to the mechanic, where we were told the head gasgit was most likely gone,and it would cost $800 or so to fix.
well,we were in a bit of a conundrum,as we kind of needed the car, but we couldn't drive it as itwas, and we didn't really want to spend $800 on it as the car wasn't actually worth it, so we decided to take a step back and think about it.
The first fortnight went okay. Ninja School sort of didn't happen on the week nights as Newborough and Moe were too far to walk (lol) and they places of  practice weren't near the train station,so they just didn't go. Saturday sessions happened as they were in Morwell,and within easy reach.
Swimming happened as it was not a whole lot farther to walk than Ninja School.
Grocery shopping proved more challenging,as we get a whole lotta food every fortnight,but Dassah and I walked into town, went to Mannies, NQR and the pet shop,and caught a taxi home,then walked back into Aldi,filled a trolely and caught a taxi home (learning two things in the process,ONE! Taxi drivers like you to have your shopping in in BAGS, not neatly stacked in a trolley, and TWO! It costs the same amount to catch a taxi either in town to home,or from Aldi to home, Aldi being a good ten minutes closer to home).
In the second  fortnight I got the  bright idea of asking the owner about the van that was for sale on the side of the road opposite Mid Valley.
The van in question was a Chrystler Jeep, and they had it marked as $5500 without a roadworthy,with 12 months rego. I wanted to give them the cheeky offer of $2000 cash with no rego. Michael wasn't sure, but we had nothing to lose,so we packed all our spare money into my bag,and off we went.
We had timed our trip so that we were actually on our way to collect the car from the mechanics and give him our final say on whether to get it fixed or not.
It turned out that where the car was parked was not at the owners,but at the owners friends house, and, instead of turning us down flat,the guy called the owners and haggled for us!
An hour later we were the proud owners of a year 2000 Chrystler Jeep for $2300, and were still trying to puck our jaws off the ground!
All I can say is God is indeed good!
So we picked up our wagon,and left the van at the mechanics instead for a road worthy. The quote came back as $1800, but do not panic! We have a friend who helped us fix most of what was on the list for nothing,so the road worthy ended up costing us around $600.
Mind you this all took another fortnight,as we also had to get tires and a wheel alignment, and that took time as we had to book it in,also  waiting for the mechanic to have time to fix the other stuff, and waiting for out appointment at Vic Roads to do the rego.
I had one more walking shopping day in this time, and I have to say,I am glad I do not have to do this regularly, as I get SO tired!! But Dassah was a trooper, and she  helped me both days. I couldn't have done it without her!
In the mean time we also managed to sell our station wagon to our friend, who knew what was wrong with it, and gave us $400 for it, which helped us out with the expenses with the van.
On the day of rego,Michael took the van into Vic Roads safe in the knowledge that we had enough money to fix the car as we had asked how much we would need over the phone when we made the appointment. After they had passed the van,and he was standing at the desk waiting to pay,he was told that he was $100 short!!!! Turns out the lady over the phone had completely neglected to mention third party insurance.
We were about to lose our on $35 and have to wait an untold amount of time for our next appointment when our friend, Simon,came through and  lent us the money. Thank God for you,Simon!
So now we are the proud owners and drivers of a 2000 Chrystler jeep.Our very first van.The newest vehicle we have ever driven. With so many buttons and levers I am still learning them all!