Same, Different #7

Yesterday I filled the gas tank on our Mazda Tribute.


(This picture has nothing to do whatsoever with this post; it's just a photo of the Mazda from a few weeks ago that I felt like including. )

This is the first time I've neeeded to buy gas in a month or more. Because we are still waiting for radiator repairs (needed because of my hitting a kangaroo), we only drive short distances and only when necessary.

Our first fill-up was our rental car (almost two months ago already!) at the delightful Outback resort of Glen Helen, west of town.





Glen Helen is in the same gorgeous part of the country where I saw the Dingo ...











I look forward to being able to go to places like this again once the radiator is repaired.

At Glen Helen, the gas pump was kept locked and the attendant had to do the pumping for us.




Although I thought self-service might not be available anywhere in the country, happily I learned that it is the normal way of things here in Alice Springs. My independent spirit always prefers to do things myself!

So here is one difference: no vapor recovery on the pumps; Ken says that since the population density is so low and the area so very large, it probably isn't seen as necessary for air pollution control.



When we bought the car we were told never to use Opal fuel, also what's referred to here as Low Aromatic fuel. This fuel is a response to a gas sniffing problem amongst some population segments.



As you can see from the pump, the station is a Shell station. There is also a Mobil in town. One of the amazing differences here is that you Pump First, then pay.

But the biggest difference is probably in the pricing. We are on the metric system and buy by the liter.



These 40 liters are just over 10.6 gallons.

One liter is .264 gallons so the price of 145 cents per liter is really about 553 Australian cents per gallon. After the current exchange rate of $.82, it works out to around US $ 4.50 per gallon.

At that price, maybe after the radiator is fixed (scheduled for the week of September 22) we should still only drive short distances and only when necessary.

Oh, but I do so want to get back out to the Outback!