Rectifying The Damage Trip - January 2017

In September 2016 I reversed our caravan into the corner of our house, I must have reversed it a hundred times in the previous 9 years but this one time it bit me on the ass. After the customary cursing and self humiliation I calmed down and accepted what had happened and what needed to be done to fix it. The house was the simple part, a call to RACWA whom we are insured with and within a few days I had an assessor out to look at the damage, another couple of weeks went by and it was all repaired, no fuss, no pain just an excess payment on our insurance policy.

The caravan is not so simple, because of the extent of damage done I did not feel confident in having any caravan repairer do the repairs, I have heard of to many horror stories and we wanted the best repair job possible. Now our van is a Bushtracker made in Queensland which meant me taking the van over to get repaired which is 5000klms away from where we live, way over on the opposite side of Australia. I'm always up for a drive so the distance wouldn't bother me but for it to fit in with our other plans for the forth coming year it meant booking it in for January, and January is usually very hot and windy.

Because of the nature of the trip Vickie choose to stay home and have more grand daughter time with our girls plus the damage to the van meant it did not have a hot water system which also meant no non-potable water could be carried because the pump system involves filling the HWS tank which was damaged. So a drive to Bushtracker was to be a solo trip and one in hot weather, I left on Friday the 13th which I hoped was not an omen, my 1st night I stopped approximately 70k east of Norseman, the temperature was quite pleasant and I got a reasonable nights sleep even though my lower back and left leg was spasming from the seating position which I had trouble getting comfortable. 

Up and on the road the next day was one of buffeting head and side winds, I had recently had a torque converter lock up kit fitted to my Landcruiser 200 series and I'm very glad I did, the characteristics of the automatic was completely changed with the gearbox now holding its gear without a continual unlock and locking and kicking back a gear. Economy even with the gusty winds was a very reasonable 21Lph, my 2nd night was spent along the Great Australian Bight not far from the Nullabour Roadhouse. The winds right next to the coast threatened to just about roll me over but I had a great night getting lulled to sleep with the van rocking. 

After a walk around the cliff face and a few photos I was back on the road, we always stop for fuel at Penong and a cup of tea at the Cemetery, many years ago we went by as the funeral of a local was being conducted, we found out it was a fella by the name is Sid Maine Brook and since then we've always stopped and boiled the kettle and said hello. This time I found Sid had company with I presume his wife buried beside him.

 Because of the time difference I had a few hours up my sleeve so I made the call to some friends who live in Streaky Bay to see if they were around, as luck had it they were so it was a detour down to Streaky to catch up with Lloyd and Heather who are also BushTracker owners. Lloyd now has an Iveco Daily as their tow vehicle and what a monster truck it is, no expense spared here this truck had it all. Lloyd excelled on the BBQ also and cooked a superb roast leg of lamb, a few beers and long chat and the night passed far to quickly. The next morning we went to their daughters cafe for breakfast and said our farewell. 

Back on the road and the temperature was soaring, forecast for 48 degree my cars outside temp reading was showing 45! Apart from stopping for fuel and getting something to eat and drink I just kept on driving, when I did stop around 8pm it was still light because of the daylight saving, the flies were annoying and the mozzies even worse. Temperature in the van was 41 degree at 10pm and after a uncomfortable sweaty night it was still 39 degrees in the early morning. At 4.30am (7am WA time) I was back on the road with the air conditioning blasting. Driving up through Broken Hill, Willcania, Cobar is a fairly uninteresting drive, lots of wide open space with very little to attract the eyes. 

My 4th night was spent at a free camp in the town of .......... it was BLOODY Hot ! I couldn't even cool down with a cold shower so it was another uncomfortable night sleep. I was heading for Kenilworth, no particular reason except for basing myself for a few days before taking the van in. Plus I knew Kenilworth had 240v power and toilets and shower facilities, and I needed all three. Coming in the way i did involved passing Blackbutt .. now Blackbutt has a bakery and not just any bakery but one of the best in Australia!  They must have known I was coming because I had the V.I.P parking directly out the front, unfortunately most of the pies had been sold but I did manage to buy a 'Jacks Ribs' Pie which is smoked ribs with the meat pulled off and placed in a pie, it was simply delicious, a blue ribbon winner in my opinion, I wish they had more than one, they didn't so I had to settle for four other variety's and a Beesting Cake just to finish it off ... No I did not eat five pies, just the one, the others were for future meals, which is probably surprising for those that know me. 

Finally at Kenilworth I connected to power and rolled out the awning, poured myself a ice cold bourbon and coke and relaxed. The next four days I spent  driving to Noosaville looking for accomodation, driving to Eumundi markets and driving to Mapleton, Montville and Malaney, anywhere to enjoy the ice cold car air conditioning. I have found accomodation at Noosaville, a lovely unit part of the Noosa Sun complex. It's directly opposite the Noosa river and the yacht club, it is very comfortable and lacks for nothing. I have visited the Noosa National Park which is just stunning. 

I was impressed with the lock up torque converter, I was finally able to tow in S5 and achieve quite good economy with figures ranging from mid 17's to 19's litres per hundred with speeds around 95-100kph. 

I have dropped the van off at Bushtracker, it appears it may take longer than expected due to the work required. It's of no real concern, I'm comfortable and Vickie will fly over end of next week to join me. 

Some Ningaloo photo's

South Lefroy Bay

That rough head is me 

Just Chilling 

Vickie was lucky enough to win the raffle at the fundraiser for the Cancer Council Big Morning Tea 

Ash, Trev and Opie the wonder dog

Ningaloo time again

Every year we make the trip up to Exmouth way to camp at one of our favourite places in Australia, South Lefroy Bay, in the Ningaloo Homestead Pastoral Station. We have been doing this for over twenty years, yes we have missed going some years but for the majority it's been our annual sojourn.

This year was going to different to the previous, we were going by ourselves and no one was coming up or dropping in, usually we have Dave & Jo Billy and some of their family along with some friends or family of our own, That was the deal anyway but Dave had to undergo a gall bladder operation and was hoping to come up after the op, we were very pleasantly surprised to hear our nephew Trev and his girl friend Ashlee would be coming up about a week later than us and bringing his tinny.

We recently had the passing of Vickie's father and funeral to deal with, he was nearly 91 years of age and thankfully did not have to suffer and passed on after a short stay in hospital. Just the impact of that had our minds elsewhere and as we packed up the van we were battling to remember what to take. My back has deteriorated more and a few weeks back I went into hospital and under went some spinal injections to attempt to freeze off some nerves to alleviate some pain, it helped but wasn't as successful as a previous time.

With the van & car ready to go we left home around mid morning, we were stopping at our good mates Geoff & Vickie's home in Geraldton for a couple of nights, we rocked in around 4pm and the next two days were spent catching up and reliving our UK-Europe trip we did with them in 2014. Such great people and easy to get along with,

We left Geraldton and stopped that night at Minilya free camp, it was fairly busy by the time we got in but we found a spot that wasn't to close to anyone else, a couple of drinks and it was an early night to rest my body.

The following morning it was an easy few hours drive into the Ningaloo Homestead where we caught up with Phil the manager and then onto our camp site at Sth Lefroy Bay.

We have been coming up for so many years that Vickie remarked it doesn't feel like we have left, I guess it can feel like that but it's a nice familiar feeling, not a Groundhog Day feeling. We set our camp up which for us doesn't take long compared to some other campers, we just peg some double shade cloth down on the sand, roll out the awning, fit a couple of shade walls and break out the chairs and tables. Off with the kayaks and set up the fishing rods and were set to go, just in time for our 1st sunset drinks.

Camp NIKNOFF

OPIE THE TANGLEY DOPIE DOG

VICKIE, ASHLEE & TREV

We caught up with our regular Ning mates who have been up at Ning for more than a month or two already and were there for another three months, we honestly love the place but know we couldn't plant our backsides anywhere for that length of time.

The weather was mostly windy the 1st week, and we only got out with the Hobie's a few times, we caught the usual Charlie Court (chinaman cod) and I also caught some nice fat threadfin salmon off the beach one morning. The day's ticked over and a week later Trev & Ash arrived, this year they had a companion Opey their golden retriever, dopey or tangles as he should be called is around 9months old and very playful and very well behaved most of the time. Trev and I wasted no time in getting his tinny into the water, I had bought up my old sounder which we fitted to the boat and this year we hoped to get onto some decent fish.

MICK & 2 SIZE SPANGLED EMPEROR

GUITAR FISH

TREV, BIG YETI, BIG TOE

NEVER GET TIRED OF SUNSETS

Well that didn't quite work that way, but we did catch enough each day to have a meal each and keep some for the freezer, we were also lucky to catch quite a few squid this year with some a monster
size. You will have to trust me on that as my camera was playing up and I didn't think to use my phone to verify my statement.

We received word that Dave & Jo would not be coming up, the operation was a success but Dave was in to much pain to consider the trip. Sad for them as they were both looking forward to it very much.

MONITOR LIZARD

HIGH TIDE

The weeks slipped by, we got into a routine of driving down to shark alley and doing some beach fishing, I had a huge run and fight on my hands for a while before finally getting it in close enough only to see a huge turtle caught on my hook, Trev got it in close enough to release the hook in its flipper and it swam away probably wondering what the heck had happened. Another time I had a large frame on a large hook in close to shore and it was taken by a good solid sized shark of around eight foot, a large guitar fish or shovel nose ray took my bait another time and took some effort to get in so it could be released. Vickie also caught some good size golden trevally.

OH DEAR ..... 

Trev and I did some night fishing but the tides were against us and neither of us could be bothered fishing around midnight or later when the tide came in.

We did one trip into Exmouth after four weeks and a few drives to go beach combing but mostly we just hung around fishing, swimming or reading. Our mates Glenn & Karen who stayed with us last year drove across from Tom Price for a long weekend but would you believe it rained just about the whole time they were there, Glenn, Vickie & Trev played cards with Glenn coming out the big winner, it was lovely to catch up again, this time they had sold and changed cars and they had a nice 200 series Landcruiser, so Glenn and I were able to compare and talk about all things Cruisers.

MICK & KAREN, IT WAS COLD AND WET BUT BETTER THAN PLAYING CARDS

YACHT MOORED OUT FRONT OF CAMP

MOUSE PLAGUE APPARENTLY, BUT WE ONLY SAW ONE

Of course after they left the rain stopped,  it was still windy and Vickie started talking about flying home early which was always on the cards, what we were not expecting was Ashlee's uncle to be in hospital with terminal cancer and Ash being told his life expectancy was not long, so with that very sad news both girls flew home and were picked up at the airport by Ashlee's parents. It was just as well they left when they did because after Ash and her parents visiting Uncle Kev straight from the airport he passed away that night.

With Trev and I left to our own devices we were thinking we would be fishing as much as we could, but with the death of Ash's uncle Trevor started thinking he should be home for the funeral and support Ashlee and her family. We had one last night where Trev went to Coral Bay to visit some mates and I went over to my camp neighbour along with about twenty other campers and helped him celebrate his birthday with a karaoke night, it was all good fun but I told others I had to leave because of my bad singing.

MOST NIGHTS WE HAD A FIRE

The day suffering a bit I started to pack up our camp, the next day we both left Ningaloo, we stayed the night at Edegee free camp and next morning Trev headed straight for home and I went down to Geraldton where I stayed another two nights out with Geoff  and Vickie at their daughters block.

GEOFF & VICKIE's DAUGHTERS BLOCK

Friday I arrived home, the sun was shining, no wind but it does get chilly late afternoon.

Melbourne - Adelaide - Home

Bloody GPS maps!

I had our escape from the ferry terminal all worked out, our vehicles GPS had different idea's. Unbeknown to me at the time the settings on the GPS excluded motorways, so instead of getting onto the West Gate Bridge and heading towards Ballarat, the bitch who lives in our maps directed us a different route. Eventually we got to Bacchus Marsh and onto the Western freeway, we probably wasted an hour of our time but we did get to see an area we wouldn't have.

We stopped for the night at a free camp just before Ararat, the same place we stayed at on the way over. Next day we did a shop in town before heading further west. Instead of getting into Erin's home late in the evening we chose to stay along the Murray at Mannum. We have stayed here a few times in the past but now they are charging a fee to stay, we did not have $10 in coins to insert in the fee machine but we stopped anyway, prepared to explain to the ranger if one turned up but no one did.

Ferry at Mannum SA

The next morning we drove the scenic route through the Adelaide hills instead of the motorway, arriving at our daughters around midday. We were excited to see Oakley & Tate, Oakley is 23 months old and a real live wire, Tate was just a week old when we last saw him and he had changed a lot in the four months we had been away. Our daughter has her hands full with two boys, we would love it if they lived closer to us. Our time there wasn't all fun, my body was racked in pain, all my joints were hurting, I was getting stabbing pain in my back with any movement and I was feeling down having to deal with the pain and lack of mobility, then my stomach started to twist itself inside out, both Vickie and I had come down with a gastro bug, it was my turn 1st but by morning I was feeling a bit better, enough to take the car to CMI Toyota for its 20,000 klm service. It was Vickies turn to be ill that night, it affected her worse, we had also heard that Vickies elderly father was not well with failing kidneys so Vick changed her mind about flying home, instead she would drive home with me.

Oakley trying his hardest to wet Pop Pop

Tate, little chubby cheeks. He spends his time smiling or playing with his rattles.

I had planned on calling in on friends at Ardrossan and Streaky Bay but we decided to not stop and just get home as quickly as reasonably possible. Sorry Jar and Pam Lloyd and Heather.  

We are home now, the outlook for Vickie's dad is not good, but he has lived a ripe age of 91, it's time for us to stay home and be there for him when his time comes.