On the fly

Nic's boat - Battersea
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On arrival back to England, we were immediately shocked with the beaurocracy we faced with the authorities in regards to re-importing our van.  To draw a comparison, in Istanbul, when attempting to arrange a longer stay for our van than was permitted with our visa, we were required to meet with the leading vehicle authorities.  This process involved lengthy ritualistic tea drinking with a handsome professional woman, as well as polite conversation about personal health, families, and general life experiences. It was a very civilized method of establishing a relationship before getting down to business.  In England however, although we had organized everything that we had been informed to do before our arrival in Dover, when we met the DVLA authorities just, we were confronted by a spotty fat guy (who didn’t offer us tea or ask us about how health or any other politenesses), but instead took great delight in scolding us for having the van on the road illegally, elaborating on how we were definitely going to get caught by the police unless we could get our van off the road!  Think about that – get our giant BattleBus off the road.  A massive long-wheel base campervan – off the road!  We don't even have a home!  Irritated, we drove back to London (illegally) wondering what to do.  To cut a long story short, we managed, cunningly, to hide the van from all the police and parking attendants by waking up before they meticulously did their rounds, and within 10 days, we had sold the van to two fairies. 

sunset on the Thames
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Yep, seriously, two fairies!   They are members of an organization who meet up regularly in natural environments to celebrate nature, don large colourful wings, and dance about the place singing, well fairy songs I suppose.  They hope to drive the BattleBus through Europe on a similar mission to our intended one, busking en route, and to drive all the way to New Zealand.  They didn’t seem very mechanically minded however, and one of their primary questions was:  “So, is the van a boy or a girl.”  Almost offended, I responded hastily that the BattleBus is most certainly a male.  Needless to say, they were friendly honest people, and I’m glad the van has gone to good a home.  And good luck to em.

night on the boat
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We spent our two weeks in England primarily in London packing our belongings and catching up with friends.  We also made it up to Cheltenham to visit Amanda’s younger sister Heather and her partner, Andy (aka Randy).  We had a fantastic two weeks, bonding with people we hadn’t seen in a long time, re-kindling old ties and friendships, and realizing how special some of the people we know in London are to us.  Sad to leave them, but excited for the next chapter and to spend some time with Amanda's folks, we departed for our next destination – Melbourne, Australia.