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Wouldn’t be a trip without a breakdown!!

Posted by on September 19, 2013

Well well, wouldn’t be a road trip if something didn’t go wrong somewhere!! At least this time it wasn’t my car breaking down… share the love I say!

Anyhow, was a pretty good day driving. Pushed out of Pentland (and a very dodgy Caravan Park) about 9:30am. Just to be clear how dodgy this place was, when you went to the toilet you had to fight a swarm of mozzies, and when you flushed water leaked out everywhere on the floor!!!

LOL – still not the worst place I had stayed!

So it was a good day driving, very little roadworks and we are in the outback now so the traffic is so much less, and plenty of long stretches to overtake. Which is good because Queensland drivers still speed up as you try to overtake them!

The road wasn’t the best. I think the only way I can describe it is a roller coaster! The van got bounced around, as did the contents, and I think we have broken a couple of drawers as the van took a beating. Nothing that can’t be fixed though.

Was our hottest day yet yesterday as we watched the temperature rise to 38 degrees when we stopped in Richmond for lunch. Nice little park down by the lake, but after awhile Jess went white as a ghost and said she felt sick. I think it might have been heatstroke given she was running around after being in the nice air conditioned car. We cooled her off giving her plenty of water to drink, and she came good again once she was back in the cool car… meanwhile, the temperature outside continued to climb, topping 40 degrees!!! Wow haven’t seen that kind of temperature for a while.

Was even hot enough that we saw a whirly whirly on the side of the road. Not a bad size one either but it dissipated as we approached it. Lucky, we had heard stories from other caravaners about the whirly whirlies between Mount Isa and central where a whirly whirly had hit a van in tow, picked it up and smashed it on the side of the road. Apparently the local cop had told them they get about one a month!!! Will have to keep an eye out!

Anyway, stopped for fuel in Julia Creek. The prices were astronomical, so Mark said he would push on and get fuel in Conclurry having about double the fuel capacity in the Prado. While in the servo, I noticed they did coffee, so ordered a large latte for the road and we pushed off again. Latte was great, but about 20 mins later, I made the call to Mark up front “..err… can we make a toilet stop!”

Stopped at a rest area about 20kms out of Conclurry where we really felt the 40 degree heat, with a wind blowing through it felt like you were in a fan forced oven!! As we hit the road again, and looking at the time, we thought we had better ring ahead to Mount Isa and book a few sites. So, our travelling travel agent (AKA: Fiona) got to work finding and booked us two sites in Mount Isa. Done and done, now just an easy drive on a nice open country road and we would arrive in Mount Isa about 6pm.

The usual banter was going back and forth across the CB, and I had just made a comment about Mark’s performance in the bedroom (G rated of course… there are kids in the car) when he responded “I have no Power…”

“Exactly…” I said, “no no, I have no power…” Mark responded. Fi and I looked at each other… umm what does he mean??

Foot flat to the floor and the car was slowing down. We managed to pull into a truck stop, where Mark and I had a look under the bonnet as you do when you are broken down, hoping for some reason that just looking with no clue will start the car again!. LOL – just kidding, we do actually have some skill you know!

We quickly determined that the car was starved for fuel. “Probably the fuel filter” I said, “Sounds just like what happened to me on the Nullabour”.

Now for anyone that didn’t read the blog back in 2010, we spent a day travelling at a top speed of 40kph for 300 odd kilometres across the Nullabour. Turned out to be the fuel filter.

With no other option, and only about 5kms to Conclurry we tried to limp it into town… got about 100m and the Prado died. Right on a corner too with nowhere to pull over. We got on channel 40 and warned the approaching Road Trains (50m long trucks with 3 carriages in tow).

I quickly spun my car around as Kate pulled the kids out of the car and winched the Prado safely off the corner. Mark rang the RACQ who said they would be about an hour. So there we were, 6 kids, 2 adults and about a billion flys sitting on the side of the road in the heat watching the cars and trucks go by.

After about an hour and a half, we decided we had better find some accommodation for the night, so the Morton’s all climbed into the car and headed to Conclurry. The first caravan park we saw looked a little dodgy with two black brothers standing out the front. Fi quickly said “Keep going…” and after driving the length of the town we settled on the second caravan park which looked a little less dodgy!

I dumped the van, the kids and the wife as Fiona nervously said “Hurry back” and headed back out into the outback for the Waldrons. We winched Mark’s car forward enough to get my car in, and I did a second run into town with the Waldron’s and their van, leaving Mark all alone in the fading light.

Racing them into town, I dumped the second caravan in the park and headed out to keep Mark company. Was about the time I got back to him in the dark that the RACQ finally arrived. Now these guys (recent imports from the UK) were diesel mechanics used to working on trucks. They looked a little nervous as they saw Mark’s petrol Prado. With some assistance from Mark and I, they confirmed our diagnosis that the car was starved of fuel. One of the mechanics pulled the hose off the outlet of the fuel filter and there was plenty of fuel coming through. As he smelt his fuel soaked hands, his nose screwed up and he said to Mark and I “smell that”.

Didn’t smell like unleaded to me… more like Turpentine!!

That was when Billy (the boss) turned up. As they discussed towing and how they could do it given the angle on the side of the road, Mark made the comment “can’t you just get the tow truck in here and winch the car onto the flat?”

Billy responded “I know how to do my F**ken job!”. One of the mechanics nudged Mark “Shh… don’t tell Billy how to do things!!”

Billy was an interesting character and we quickly determined that you don’t tell Billy what to do!!! Billy returned to town for the tow truck as we were left chatting with the other two mechanics on the side of the road.

So, that’s how our story ends. Last we saw the Prado, it was on the back of a truck heading to town in the dark. Obviously we didn’t make Mount Isa, and so Conclurry (a little mining town in the middle of nowhere) is our new home until Billy can drain the tank. Hopefully that won’t take long, as there is absolutely nothing to do in this caravan park (or town probably), and the kids are already restless.

If all goes well, Mark and I will head to the depot around lunchtime, and the car will be ready to go. It will then be straight onto Mount Isa… even if we don’t leave here until 6pm!!!

Fingers crossed.

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