Death of the Bearded Lady

Live and learn……..and try to enjoy the bumps along the way.

Well, we had our first major setback of the trip. The Bearded Lady has had her last journey. You get what you paid for and we apparently paid for a certified piece of crap. Probably not our best decision of the trip. Oh well, you learn from your mistakes and this was a big one. After the first time she broke down we spent $800 to get her up and running. We still needed to get the speedometer fixed in order for it to pass it’s warrant of fitness (WOF). It’s like a state inspection back home. This morning Andy and myself went to Taupo to get it fixed and have the WOF done. After $300 we had a speedometer but it didn’t pass the WOF because we need a new muffler and a front tire. We decided to head back to Rotorua and have the work done there. We drive the hour back to Rotorua and four blocks away from our hostel she started to make a lot of noise. The ole’ Bearded Lady coughed and sputtered and then smoke began coming out of our seats and pouring out of the back. That was all she wrote. Roadside assistance came out and she was in fact dead. The engine was blown and the cam belt was useless too. Way to go us. She’s now headed to a scrap yard for her final resting place. It was going to cost almost double what we paid for it just to have it running again. We figured it’s not worth the nightmares ahead so we decided to put this one in the “shit happens” column and move on. Luckily, we are in Rotorua picking feijoas and we’ll be here for a few more weeks. I guess we’ll be regrouping and planning our next move from here.

Life goes on…

Ryan