Of course something had to go wrong. I have to get on the plane stressed， tired and emotional， that's just the way things were planned for me.

　　1. Brazil

　　My Brazilian visa arrived on Wednesday， 5 days before departure. On closer inspection they had made a typo. Instead of my passport number starting with an L， it was with a K. When I rang the Consulate I the woman told me that she would check her files and if there was a problem she would call me back and then she hung up. I wasn't convinced that she knew a） my name b） my phone number c） what my query was even about and d） that I lived 850km away and was leaving in 3 working days！！！

　　After tearing my hair out and getting all het up over lunch I called back at 1：10pm. It was engaged. This continued for another 45 minutes before I tried calling another number at the embassy and was told that the consular section closes at 1pm （their website had said 3pm）。 The only advice the girl could give me was to post it back or call back the next day.

　　After some quick research on the net for flights from Mildura to Melbourne to Canberra and the costs， Mum said she would drive with me to Canberra to get it fixed. We were in the ute by 3：30pm and on our way to our Nation's capital.

　　We stopped at Yass （45 mins out of Canberra） at 11：10pm and then got going early in the morning so that we would be at the embassy as soon as they opened. As we were about half an hour early we went on a bit of tour around the embassies. They were very interesting and we liked trying to guess which country it belonged to before reading the signs. Driving past the massive US Embassy with a big tall fence， guard boxes， Federal Police cars out the front and coppers patrolling the footpaths around the compound， we knew it would take something special to get in there.

　　We parked in front of the Brazilian Embassy and watched the Ambassador raise the flag. Then we waited until precisely 9 am before getting out of the ute and heading up the drive. There was a car behind us and as soon as we got out of the ute， a woman jumped out and bolted up to the doors so she could beat us. I don't think that the pushy cow knew that we had driven 850km for the privilege of being first through the doors.

　　The Ambassador greeted us and the pushy cow got served first as she butted in. The Consular woman came out and air kissed the pushy cow， apparently they were friends， and took her visa application and payment （$25 less if you apply in person）。 It was then my turn and the woman remembered me from the phone call and asked why I didn't just post it. I showed her the mistake on my visa and she said “No problem， I'll fix it， it will only be 5 minutes”。

　　Within about 3 minutes she was back with my passport and smiled at me and wished me a good trip. On closer inspection in the ute I discovered that she had somehow erased the K and typed an L over the top. You can still see the imprint and a faint black mark where the K was. If I had have known it was going to be so flaming simple I would have forged it myself and saved Mum and I a 1，700km trip for 3 measly minutes.

　　2. The Bank

　　My ATM card expires in May so before New Year I ordered a new card from the Red Cliffs branch of my bank. They were very friendly and were interested in my travel plans. I changed my address and ordered the new card to arrive before I left. That afternoon I even got a call at home to say that they had some American dollars if I wanted to buy them － I thought it was great service.

　　By Friday my new card still hadn't arrived so while in Mildura I checked at the bank there what the problem was and discovered that a new card had never been ordered and that it takes a minimum of 10 working days to get a new one. Perfect. I came out of the bank on the verge of tears and very angry which I took out on Mum and Kate when I was explaining the story， much to the enjoyment of some deros who were hanging out in the mall. Mum now has it in her head that she will come and deliver my card to me in person in Peru. I don't think Canberra was quite far enough for her……

　　3. The Music

　　Kate spent 6 hours saving songs to the computer so that I could make some mix CD's to travel with instead of having to pick just a few to take with me. As soon as she had saved the last one the hard drive died. After a week of resuscitation at the computer guru's （it was a work computer with the entire watering program for the property on it） it came back， only to find that it won't open the program we saved the files in － no burning for us.

　　WHAT I LEARNED

　　I don't like it when things that are supposedly in my control get stuffed up by other people's mistakes.

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