Gumtree BBQ

When settling in for a 3 month summer holiday away from home, there are a few essentials that it's hard to do without. As reported previously, within a couple of days of our arrival we found a great little car on Gumtree.com. The day after we bought it we replaced the tires, again via Gumtree.com. The other essential for our summer stay was a BBQ. The obvious place to find a deal - Gumtree.com!

The first one I found was free, and less than 2k away. The vendor warned me that the home was only accessible via a long and winding path with multiple steps, so I may need help with the recovery operation. I knew our Gumtree Honda Civic hatchback with its almost new Gumtree tires wouldn't accommodate a fully assembled Gumtree BBQ so I took a few tools, planning to disassemble if necessary.

At first glance the poor old BBQ was a sorry sight. I doubt it had ever been cleaned in its life, however it appeared to have sat idle for a year or two, so the heavy layer of old fat, BBQ sauce and rust had dehydrated into a a thick, unrecognizable, odourless crust. For years I've rescued abandoned BBQ's at the curbside (until father's day a few years ago when Josh and Aidan surprised me with a gleaming stainless steel beauty). The weakest link is always the gas burners, which in Canada are usually made of sheet metal.

On lifting the hood I discovered that this old Aussie BBQ sported 4 cast iron burners and the gas tank was at least half full! Deciding there was nothing a couple of hours of sweat equity couldn't fix, I grabbed my tools and set to work on the disassembly. Luckily there was an old dolly parked beside the house, and a recycle bin full of abandoned text books close by. I emptied the bin of books, filled it with the heavy cast iron grills and burners and made my way up the steep and winding pathway pulling the first load. It took 4 trips to get all the components loaded into the Honda.

I spent the afternoon scraping and scrubbing with a chisel, wire brush, stiff bristle brush and plenty of soapy boiling water. Mum sat with me to 'supervise' and we chatted while I worked, remembering my dad's penchant for recovering and renovating other people's junk. My first bicycle, our cement mixer, industrial work bench vice, crow bars and numerous other items were all rescued from the scrap metal heap at the foundry he managed. Working in the shade of the house away from the 35 degree heat, by late afternoon our latest Gumtree find was squeaky clean, reassembled and mounted in its new spot.