Sunday 6 April 2008

A not-so-cheap day out

DW's brother and his wife flew across from Perth to spend a weekend in Sydney and catch a show, so while they were here we arranged to meet them in town. We managed to find free street parking near the railway station and were planning to catch the train in to town. However the trains weren't running on the northern line (due to track maintenance) and we ended up travelling on the express bus that the railway provided. The train fares for the family only cost $10 for a round trip, and we had some fast food for lunch before meeting the relatives. After a pleasant Sydney afternoon wandering around Hyde Park, the Botanical Gardens and through the grounds of Government House we headed back past the Opera House and returned to the train station to catch the bus home. The afternoon provided plenty of time for DW to chat with her brother and the kids enjoyed running around the various parks and gardens.

The day had been very pleasant and low-cost -- up until the time we got back to our car. At that point I found that the car wouldn't start and the battery was practically dead. I phoned for my Dad to meet us and attempt to jump start our car, but we still couldn't get my car started so I had to phone the NRMA (AA) to come and replace the battery. The new battery cost $175, but at least it has a three year warranty. Since I'm planning on selling our car and replacing it with a newer, second-hand AWD (perhaps a Subaru Forrester) in two or three years time, this will hopefully be the last battery I have to buy for this vehicle.

Copyright Enough Wealth 2007

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