Australian Car Washes

My adventure started in June of 2005 when I found out that the Australian Carwash Association was planning a convention in July.  Having always wanted to visit Australia, I thought — “what a perfect time to go and kill two birds with one stone”.  I’m not much of a tourist, so I planned to spend most of my time checking out the Aussie carwash industry ... and get a feel for the country along the way.   I e-mailed the ACA and inquired as to the possibility of going to their convention. Fiona Tointon, their secretary was very helpful, and after conferring with the President Roy Schloss and the new president elect Greg Boston, I was invited to the convention and asked to speak.   I gratefully accepted their invitation.

During the April 2005 ICA convention in Vegas, I had met Peter Mueller and Matthew Reeves both with carwashes in Australia.  They had said that if I ever got over there to be sure and call them.  So I e-mailed Peter and he started to put together a carwash tour map of operations all over Australia.  I wasn’t able to get the $999 bargain with Quantas airlines, because I didn’t have enough time before I left.  And trying to coordinate the internal flights and hotels when I would get to Australia just wasn’t possible.  But Peter said not to worry and that they would take care of everything.   So I was confident that this trip was going to be perfect!

You Can Get There From Here ... Eventually

I left Washington state at 1:30 PM going through Salt Lake City, then to Los Angles.  There was a 3 hour layover there in LA, but New Zealand Airlines was having a work slowdown so we ended up leaving 4 hours later.  The flight is 12 hours long.  And along the way, they show you 4 movies, and a number of 30 minute TV sitcoms.  I’m happy to report that the food served was much better than what I’ve come to expect from an airline galley.

We arrived in Auckland, New Zealand one hour late, but luckily they held all the planes going to Australia, because the plane was full of people going on to Australia.  I guess I somehow fit the profile of what New Zelanders expect a terrorist to be because their customs officers pulled me out and thoroughly checked me out (just short of a body cavity search)  even though I had never left the quarantine area.
 
I finally arrived in Brisbane, Queensland at 9AM — late and more than  26 hours after leaving home.  But I found a warm “welcoming committee” in the person of  Dan Bain, a local operator, who was still waiting for me despite my late arrival.
 

Brisbane is on the East coast and has a population of about 1.5 million people. While the country of Australia is physically almost as large as the continental United States, it has a population total of about 25 million — which is about as many people as you’ll find in Southern California.   Australia consists of  6 states and most of the country is very sparsely populated — about 80% of Australians live on the Southeast and East Coasts in the states of  Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. 

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