I gently guided my car up the ramp and onto the boat, waving a thank you to the hi-vis-clad boat worker who guided me the last few metres. He nodded gruffly back, before switching his attention to keeping the car immediately behind me from accelerating into my bumper.
With a sigh, I turned my engine off, feeling the car rumble to a final stop underneath me – it almost sounded like it was sighing itself.
I jumped at a tap on my window – hi-vis guy was back, gesturing for me to leave the car.
‘Sorry lady,’ his muffled voice came through, ‘but you can’t hang around here for too long.’
I flashed him a thumbs up, quickly gathering my things and stepping out of the car.
‘Sorry,’ I echoed back to him, but he quickly shook his head.
‘No worries, you’re not in trouble,’ he laughed. ‘Although, if I may – are you travelling to find a decent mechanic in the Hobart area to fix your car?’
I frowned. ‘What?’
‘Your car,’ he repeated. ‘It was making a weird noise, I noticed.’
‘What kind of weird noise?’
‘Uh,’ he said, frowning as he thought of the noise. He eventually settled on a pantomime of him wheezing and spluttering, throwing in the occasional grinding sound. It was oddly compelling.
‘Something like that,’ he said, to let me know that he’d finished.
‘How did I not notice anything that bad?’ I asked, running my hands anxiously through my hair and glancing back at my innocent-looking car, shining with the sea spray coming over the side of the ferry. ‘Can you recommend anybody for me to take it to?’
‘I used to know an affordable, local auto electrician near Hobart,’ he frowned, scratching his stubbly chin as he cast his mind back. ‘Wait, no – he was a butcher. I’m always getting those two confused.’
‘Right,’ I said, fighting to keep my eyebrow from lifting sceptically.
‘Anyway,’ the man said, scribbling something on a piece of paper. ‘His name is Derek. Check him out while you’re in town.’
‘The auto electrician?’
‘Derek? No, he’s a butcher. Keep up, lady.’