WHACKY WHEELS
Her father, Neville, passed away recently; but Hendrieka Pelser from Marble Hall in Limpopo is trying to keep his camping dreams alive.
My dad’s biggest wish was to be able to retire with a caravan. Unfortunately, after a three-year battle, cancer took him from us in January this year, and he was unable to achieve his goal. When we checked his Internet browsing history after he died, our hearts were really broken. He spent his last days online researching family vacation destinations, motorhomes and caravans. The dream. I decided to search for a caravan for our little family, so that my husband Abram and I could get away with our two children Abram Jr (1) and Corinne (3) to honour my dad’s last wishes. Unfortunately, after doing some research, I realised that because I obtained my driver’s license two months after the legislation changed in 1998, I wouldn’t be able to tow a big enough caravan, because I don’t have an EB license. After searching high and low, we managed to find a 1995 Mitsubishi L300 fitted with a Mazda 2,5-litre turbodiesel engine with just 104 000 km on the clock. I could see it hadn’t been used in a while, and found out that the previous owner hadn’t used it in the two years before he himself died of cancer. After some negotiation, I became its new owner. The previous owner had removed the beds above and behind the driver, and we would need to have those back to sleep all four of us comfortably; but otherwise there’s a porta potty, large fridge, microwave and even a small TV. Unfortunately, she needs quite a lot of TLC. The rubbers and locks need to be replaced, and some extra love from a caravan builder will be needed to get her back in tip-top shape. The motor isn’t 100 %, mechanically, but my husband believes he can salvage it. We’d like to know if there’s anyone out there who can help us achieve my dad’s dream, because our aim is to go camping with the L300 to Bela-Bela. Our budget is about R25 000 for some restoration work. Hopefully, we can do it for my dad – and even make it into go! Drive & Camp’s ‘My Wheels’ section when it’s done.