The kindness of strangers

I set off early this morning. I had the whole journey planned - through Melbourne, into Geelong to pick up The Great Ocean Road from Torquay to Port Campbell. Easy! I had my "eskie" packed with enough food and wine for far more than just me (my mother taught me well!!), the car full of fuel and Haribo on the front seat... all set.

The route is beautiful. There are so many lovely bays. I stopped off and paddled in the sea, and sunk my feet into the beautiful white(ish) warm sands but the water was still freezing.
As I continued down the road, I came across this light house at Split Point. This stretch of coastline is incredibly dangerous. It is scattered with ship wrecks all the way from Torquay right the way along the coast. Subsequently there are quite a few light houses. I continued on and walked up to Erskine falls - amazing waterfalls in the heart of the Otway Ranges.
As I was nearly at my first destination for the evening, I had lights flashing on the dash. I have hired a car from a well known company in Australia and I am very unhappy. I collected it on Saturday.... It should be fine we would think? As I limped into the garage, I called the hire company without any answer and so, I popped the hood, laid under the car to check the leaking fluid was just water from the air conditioning unit and then checked the oil - there is not a drop of oil in the engine, and there has been no leak... Now, I thought the car was noisy, but given my car back home is a very silent BMW, I expected a Hyundai Getz to feel a little less smooth and a little more noisy when driven. Turns out, a lack of oil in the engine doesn't help keep the noise levels down inside. Whilst in the garage a kind gentleman asked if I was OK. I must have appeared a little harassed! 3 litres of oil later and a top of of the water, I was back on the road. It's surprisingly quiet now! Though, I have no doubt irreparable damage has been done to the engine. I just need it to get me through the 4 day tour I have planned!