Well the good news is today we found our traveling buddies… was purely by chance but…. now we are stuck!
We left Eucla this morning and were very happy to report that the car was working well. Straight up to 110km and cruising. Problem was, it was about 200km to the Nullabour roadhouse and we only had fuel for 199km!!! no stress though, I had a 20L Jerry can that would give us an extra 100km. So about 80km away from the roadhouse to the tune of “I need to got to the toilet…” we pulled over and topped up the tank… was about then that trouble started…
We knew something was wrong straight away when the car cut out at 70km. Felt very slow after doing 110km. We pushed on, not having much choice, but wasn’t long before we couldn’t get above 60km.
Now I thought I would pull over and unhook the van, but didn’t seem to make much difference, so we rehooked and headed slowly to the roadhouse…. at 60kms….
Was a crawl for the last 50km into the roadhouse, but we made it and topped up the tank. Now I said to Fi that the car normally runs better once it has cooled, so we pulled over and popped the bonnet so it could cool while Fi went back to the roadhouse to see what sort of a Birthday lunch we could rustle up for her in the middle of nowhere…. was then that I saw a familiar looking caravan pulling into the road house…
It was the Bates Family 🙂
Some very excited kids lept out of each car and bolted to each other, with some very relieved parents close behind. So, while we had thought that they must be in front of us, it turns out we must have passed them on the road somewhere, and we had arrived at the campsite about 10 minutes before them. Also thinking we were behind them, they had spent ages waiting for us at the campsite worrying that our car had broken down (or worse) and as it finally started to get dark they had headed into Mundrabilla (about 60kms before Eucla) and spent the night at the roadhouse caravan park.
In the morning, they stopped by the Eucla Police Station just to check there hadn’t been any accidents, and again must have missed us by minutes…. Was only because the car was playing up that we managed to reunite, or else we would have again missed them at the Nullabour roadhouse. Is funny now, but we have all learnt an invaluable lesson about better plans when traveling the Nullabour!!!
We had lunch at the roadhouse together to celebrate Fi’s birthday, and then hit the road again…. or at least tried to, the car wouldn’t do more than 40kms, so we turned around and headed back.
I made a call to the custom fleet emergency breakdown line and they said they would arrange the RAA (like the RACV) to come and see us. As it turns out the guy was based at the Roadhouse, so it didn’t take long.
He had a look at the car, but was as stumped as we are. He did say he could tow us the 150kms to the next town who was the closest mechanic, but it was going to cost about $800, and another $800 for the caravan!!! His advice was to stay the night here and try again in the morning to drive it, if the car drives better when cool.
We were stuck!
So, we booked into the Nullabour Roadhouse and setup camp for the night. Andrew and I poured over the car to see if there was something obvious, but have come to the conclusion that it is something to do with the computer. Engine is running fine, it is just cutting out at speed. The plan now is to let it cool over night, and then try to drive to Ceduna. The car runs well in the morning until the first stop which is when we usually run into trouble.
Will see how we go, if it is traveling well, we will try for Ceduna where there is a Nissan Dealer, and if not…. we will crawl down the road at 40kms to Naddoo and see the outback mechanic there.
As you kwow with me I don’t do things the easy way, and if I am going to breakdown, it is going to be in the middle of the Nullabour…. luckily it was at the Roadhouse, and luckily the Bates caught up with us (the kids don’t care now!!). Also, I am lucky enough to have another stubby holder to add to my collection… it says… “I broke down at the Nullabour Roadhouse”!!!
Hope you had a great birthday in the middle of nowhere Fi…. hehe…. sorry 🙁
