Lachlan, Simon and Shane in Dornstat.
Day 13
Today I woke up after a really great sleep in.
I went down to breakfast just before they started pack everything away and got some food for everyone and put it on the table before it was all taken.
There is some sort of maze festival called Labyrinth happening in the corn fields around the hotel, so it was quite busy there.
Lachlan, Shane and I had a nice breakfast and Lachlan took Simon a pretzel.
I went to the van and cleaned the whole thing out. It was filthy after yesterday’s events.
After I’d removed all of the rubbish and cleaned down all the alcohol stained surfaces and checked the coolant level. It was the lowest it’s been so far. I filled it up and the warning light is now staying on. Worrying.
We were totally out of coolant so before we went to the festival we had to buy some more. We went to a Bauhaus and found some coolant for future fillings.
After we got some food and the coolant we drove to the festival.
I went the wrong way because the worksheet had the wrong address but then we followed the signs to the festival and found it quite easily.
We arrived way to early to the festival and sat around eating food for many hours as well as talking to a German bus driver called Eddie from Red Car bus company.
We played some basketball in the parking lot and then ate some food for dinner.
There was an amazing dune buggy at the festival and I asked the man driving it if I could have a go. To my surprise he said I could. Tom and I drove it around the car park for a while and it was very fun.
I spoke to our stage manager and he said the festival, Obstwiesenfestival, had been running for 26 years. It’s a totally free festival to enter and camping costs €10 while parking costs €3!
The guys played their show and the tent was mostly full and had a great mosh pit happening. People seemed to really enjoy the show.
We loaded out very quickly and started driving to Cologne to stay in the same ibis budget we stayed in the first night in continental Europe.
Tom drove and Simon, Shane and I rested in the back.
We arrived at the ibis budget at 2:30am and Simon and I went to the self check in to begin the process. We entered the reservation code and it didn’t work. We tried several more times, figuring we were tired and were probably just doing something wrong.
Shane, Lachlan and Tom arrived and to our dismay Shane had accidentally made the hotel reservation for the right date, but for the following month. Shane very quickly (surprisingly so) found a new hotel only 5 minutes away and we drove there to park and check in.
There was no parks so we parked on the grass. The check in process was so incredibly slow and painful. The receptionist said we had to move our van so Tom and I went back to it and Tom drove it very far across some grass which was very funny.
We parked in a hardware store car park and walked back to the hotel. The check in was still happening. Very disturbing. We eventually got to our rooms at around 3:30 and Lachlan and I shared a bed and went to sleep.
Shane in the crowd, Amsterdam.
Day 14
This morning Lachlan and I woke up in our shared bed and I got up and fetched the van.
I cleaned it out and checked the coolant. The leak is definitely getting worse. I topped it up and pulled up to the hotel to pick everyone up.
We went to Edenka for breakfast and snacks before we started our drive to Amsterdam. The drive to Amsterdam was pretty short and uneventful with only one stop at a fuel station for exactly €100 worth of diesel and €5.50 for sanifare snacks.
When we arrived in Amsterdam we picked up the These New South Whales gentlemen from their hotel and drove to the venue.
We arrived at the venue, called Bitterzoet right on time for load in and set up quickly before I moved the van to a car park. I was absolutely amazed I found a car park close to the venue and took it, even though it resulted in a €49 parking ticket.
I took apart Shane’s bass head and reseated the valves that had come loose from the constant bouncing journey in the back of the van.
After soundcheck Lachlan and I had a beautiful gnocchi al ragu before going for a walk around Amsterdam to see the sites.
We were walking over a bridge when we heard some really loud engine noises, screaming and bashing of something. A speed boat with suited hooligans appeared in a canal with a man holding a bright red flare zooming at top speed down a canal. Chasing along side the canal was a golf buggy with around 10 other suited hooligans on board, trailed by people running, three mopeds and one motorbike. It felt like a crazy scene from a Jason Bourne film, but I think in reality it was some sort of bucks party or possibly a fraternity type thing. Regardless it was very uncouth.
Hooligans in the canal.
We walked back to the venue and got ready for the show.
The show was good, had a good turn out and was really fun.
I went and got the van, my map said if I went forwards it would take me 15 minutes to get to the venue which was only 100m away, so instead I just reversed all the way down a one way street and it took only 40 nerve racking seconds. We loaded out and Lachlan, Tom, Tom’s partner Eva and I drove to our hotel and checked in. I put all the These New South Whales bags in the baggage storage for them, and took Shane and Simon’s bags up in to their rooms. I had a shower and was in bed before midnight. Very pleased.
Day 15
Today I woke up pretty late in a very dark hotel room in Amsterdam west. Lachlan and I packed up our stuff and went down to the van for Burger King breakfast - I elected to have nothing.
I went and packed the van for our drive to Paris. 4.5 hours.
We noticed the tyres looked a little low so figured we best check them at a service centre. The radiator still seemed to have coolant though upon my visual inspection so that was a positive at least. We drove to a petrol station and then to a Media Markt to try and buy a PlayStation controller and a HDMI cable. The whole ordeal took one whole hour I’ll never get back of my life.
We stopped at a BP for lunch and Lachlan got me a nice ham sandwich.
A girls car had broken down so we pushed it out of the way for her over to a car park while I steered. It wouldn’t even start with a roll start so something definitely was wrong. I hope she is ok.
We kept driving and about 1 hour out of Paris an abrupt warning on the dashboard saying “check coolant immediately” came up. I pulled over and Tom popped the bonnet. The radiator cap was no where to be seen. Very concerning. Using our combined 9 person intelligence we used a lid from a Pringle can and gaffers tape to make a temporary cap. Tom affixed it very professionally with delicate gaffers tape and impressive attention to detail. We continued driving and got to Paris safely - Pringle can lid intact.
A fusion of Australian and German engineering.
We checked in before going in to the city for dinner.
We went to Montmartre and saw the cathedral and looked in some souvenir shops. Shane bought some shirts and an oven mitt.
After very, very much deliberation we finally settled on a wonderful French restaurant called Le Poulbot and had beautiful buttery cheese, meat, bread, vegetables and steaks for dinner as well as a delicious wine.
After dinner we wandered around for a while before ending up at Moulin Rouge. After that Shane, Lachlan and I went back to the hotel and went to bed.
I lay there thinking about how our van is literally held together with gaffers tape and a Pringle can and wondered if it was a metaphor for my life.
Lachlan, Will, Tom and Shane at Moulin Rouge.