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| Josh had lots of fun taking photos. |
Just some good news. Our car is fixed and is back on the road. Aren't we celebrating!!!
Anyway, drama no. 3 coming up (see previous post for better understanding if haven't read). Everything was going fine, and we were all starting nice and brown, intending to stay here for a while till after Easter, and maybe even the ANZAC day weekend. The very next day the car disappeared into Exmouth. Joel, Chloe and I stayed out all day fishing, and that sunburn is still fading. We had such a bad one, as we all forgot sunscreen (we definitely suffered the consequences). We were sore for at least a week after that!!
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| The beach that we camped near. Not too bad a view....... |
Then Joel goes up to start the generator, and it didn't start after a lot of trying. Oh ooooh. After numerous tries, we figured our generator had finally bit the dust. Then we were in a predicament, with no generator and lots of food in the fridge, most likely to all be wasted. So dad, trusting to his bike, rode up to the visitor centre to get some ice. Then we discovered that the visitor centre had stopped selling ice, because the homestead 15km up the road sold it as well.
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| Um yeah, Joel was ousted from his kayak by Chloe, who took off. We were all secretly cheering. |
As Dad wondered what to do, the whole shop had an animated discussion about the ice, with the final conclusion being it would only be a 45 min ride up to the homestead, and Dad set off to get some ice to save our food.
The ride seemed to last forever.
Finally, a couple from Neds' Camp pulled up and asked what he was doing. They had heard the story about our car, and when we explained about the generator, they kindly offered to go get some ice. Dad gladly accepted, and arrived home sweaty and tired, just after the ice had gotten home with this kind couple.
Now here comes the twist!!
We were all playing monopoly outside when the ice was delivered. Joel, after musing for a minute, decided that it was time to try the generator again, remarking that it would be 'funny' if it started. He went up there and.......
It started!!
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| Joel in full possession of his kayak again, and heading home after a full day's fishing. That's what we did to entertain ourselves. A few fish to show for all our efforts. |
Dad arrived home after Joel had started the generator, and while he was glad that the generator was working again, it doesn't help that his now 1 hr ride was wasted.
The kind couple actually measured the distance from Neds to Yardie Creek homestead, and it was 16km. What a lovely ride!!
Thus began our dramas with the generator. Sometimes it would start, sometimes it wouldn't. We now had a broken-down car, a caravan with two wheels off while the wheel studs were fixed, and a temperamental generator.
Oh what a delightful trip to Exmouth!!
Eventually when our generator decided not to start, we were able to borrow a fellow camper's generator when he did not need it, as he had solar. What a relief.
Joel was forbidden to touch it........
So drama no.3 down pat, now drama no.4 (yes, this is all extremely true, not a fictional drama series)
When we got the car towed into town, we all hoped it would be a quick (and cheap, oh please cheap!!) fix. But the two of the three mechanics in town refused to touch Transits, and the last mechanic that would have worked on Transits, had no proper workshop and was not taking big jobs.
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| It was absolute torture to stay at Neds. Right on the beach, a snorkeling spot nearby, friendly people, and great sunsets. The worst kind of torture............. |
Oh great................
So it was eventually decided to get the car down to Carnarvon, where they could hopefully fix it.
After researching a bit on Murphy and his law, I have decided that Murphy's law is really coming in to play here (ever heard it? Anything that can go wrong will go wrong)
Anyway, after Dad had called NRMA Premium Care (if you travel, Premium Care is an extremely good idea!) another problem was thrown in the mix.
We had previously believed that we were entitled $3000 from NRMA for each separate incident, but apparently the policy was $3000 per year. If you didn't know, our car broke down in Kununurra, requiring an engine replacement. We pay from November to November in NRMA, and thus the Kununurra incident was covered in this financial year. With all the hire cars, towing costs, and accommodation costs, it was now obvious that we would only be covered for the tow down to Carnarvon, and only just.
What a great phone call.
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| What about the sunsets?? |
So the original plan was to get the car towed down to Carnarvon, with the Exmouth towing truck doing the honours while towing the caravan behind. The rest of us would catch the bus. However, that was quite an expensive plan, so Dad went looking for another.
He had picked up a bus brochure (Integrity Bus Lines to be exact) and under freight it said it could take anything up to a small car. Deciding there wasn't much to lose, he rang them up and found the 'perfect' plan!
They could take the Transit down on one day, and then take the caravan down another day. This all summed up to $1000 dollars, $2000 dollars cheaper than the previous plan.
The only problem was that they had to organise tow trucks to the pick up point, and off the bus to wherever it needed to go. We thought that would be fine, and rang NRMA to tell them of this alternative plan.
But it all fell flat...........
Some people weren't very cooperative, and we could now not do that great plan. Back to square 1.
So the third and final plan (actually this time) was that simply the Carnarvon tow truck would drive up with a 5-seater hire car, and pick up the Transit and caravan and then drive them back down again. The boys would go in the cab with the driver, and we would follow on behind in the hire car.
Much simpler, but a bit more expensive.
Now hold onto your seats for drama no.5 coming up next, personally my favourite of all the dramas (not everybody else's but)!!
See you next time.
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