Had a fantastic day yesterday in sunny Mildura.

Started the day off with a swim in the Caravan Park pool after breakfast. Was already well into the 30’s and we all needed a refreshing swim after such a hot night.

The girls took their masks and snorkels into the pool and did an awesome job of swimming right out across the deep end by themselves!! They really have come a long way on this holiday.

After our swim, it was off to Coles to restock the fridge. For some reason the shop was full of Christmas stuff… is it that time already?? We had planned to have a look around the town and maybe stop into one or two more shops, but our outing was cut short by the most common chant we have heard on this trip… “Need to go to the toilet!!!”. Weak bladder’d kids… surely they could have gone before we got in the car!!!

Oh well, we raced back to the van, then had a great lunch of fresh rolls, chicken, ham, strass, cheese, avocado, capsicum and cucumber. (see… we do eat properly sometimes!!)

The afternoon was spent visiting a gem stone shop. Now when Fi told me she wanted to visit a gem stone shop, I expected it would fill no more than 30 minutes (and that includes dragging Fi out kicking and screaming as she tries to buy too much jewelry…. a joke Fi… no really… was only being serious….) but not so at Woodsie’s Gem Stone shop….

We spent about 4 hours there!!

Was a great place with a huge collection of gem stones that they had made into various things, from jewelry to ornaments. Even the kids spent ages looking around the shop in awe. We then entered The Cave… a closed off section that had rocks and minerals from all over the globe. Was a great collection that even Grandfather would have been envious of. My favorites were the minerals that glowed under the fluro lights. Of course I also have fun scaring the kids by making my teeth glow!!

After the cave, we entered The Maze. Now I have done mazes before, but nothing like this one… This was a true maze… over grown with twists and turns, and one way doors that you had to go through. We well and truly lost ourselves in the maze for a good hour before giving up and taking the bail out gate. Zac and I went back in for one last go, but again found ourselves at the bail out gate. I think if we had gone one more time we would have made it, but it was very hot and we were very thirsty and it was a long way through from end to end. It was also getting late and the shop was going to close soon. There was a sign halfway through the maze that requested that you remove all watches and jewelry after 5:30pm, as the guard dogs choke on them!!!

Was a great maze, but then we had to get down to why Fi really wanted to come here… shopping!!

Zac chose a set of Ying-Yang balls (not sure why a 9 year old is so stressed he needs them…), Tara selected a fairy on a unicorn, Jess selected a black sheep (isn’t there a saying about that??), Fi selected a pair of earrings and I got a tribal necklace. What was surprising was that everything was very reasonably priced. I expected that in a shop like that everything would be expensive trying to catch the tourist dollars, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Woodsie’s was a great place and I can highly recommend it to anyone who may come up the is way.

On the way back to the van, we stopped by a huge playground called The Peoples Park for Play. This is one of the best parks i’ve seen, and the kids had a ball. I think we could have spent half a day just playing there…. if the kids had their way anyway!!

Ended the day with a huge cook up on the BBQ (yes Fi even made a salad!!) before Tara and Jess deceided they would camp out for the night…

Unfortunately for them, we had different ideas and it was kids to bed so we could relax and our night could begin. We were sitting outside doing the geeky iPad thing when the park owners wandered by walking the dog. They were very friendly and stopped for a chat, talking about all the trials and tribulations of running a caravan park. Was very interesting to listen to what they had to say.

All in all a great day in Mildura… let’s hope that Swan Hill is just as good today!

That’s right…we are home…. well on home turf anyway…hehe 😉

After another long day on the car we crossed the border back into Victoria. Now we have crossed both the WA and SA borders twice each in our travels, and it was pretty low key really. There was a sign that said welcome to SA, or welcome to WA. Not so when crossing into Victoria…

On the Victorian side of the border, there was about a kilometer of signs to welcome you…. “Speed camera used in Victoria”, “Speed limit in 100 unless specified”, “Fixed speed cameras used in Victoria” etc etc…

Welcome to the state where we will photograph and charge you if you let the speed limit slip even slightly… and no arguments about not knowing cause we warned you on the way in!!!! Hahah…. good to be home LOL.

Anyway, as I was saying, we left Port Augusta bright and early (about 10am) and hit the road. First stop was for some real breakfast at the Scottish Hamburger joint we hadn’t seen for awhile… McDonalds… then it was a short 8 hour drive and 600 odd kms to Mildura.

We also stopped at an American Southern Style Chicken shop (KFC) in Renmark for dinner, so that is all of our missed take away food covered off in one day!!

Renmark was a lovely little town, and would certainly be somewhere worth a closer look when we have more time.

We arrived in Mildura just after 6pm, and took a drive through the town. Mildura is a big place, a lot bigger than I remember. Now I don’t know if Fi has been in country a little too long or not, but she was astounded at the size of the place!!! We grabbed some tourist brochures from the caravan park and will spend today exploring the town.

Will probably leave here Monday though, and head to Swan Hill. It is only a 2 hour drive (huh!! do that before breakfast!!!) and stay a night there after spending the day at the Pioneer Settlement. Will likely then head to Euchua and see where to from there. It is a scary thought that there is only 1 week to go…. so much to do and so little time.

Now I’ll bet ya that 11 years ago when Fi married me, she didn’t expect she would be spending her 11th wedding anniversary sitting in a caravan in Port Augusta, but that is where we found ourselves yesterday. At least the car drove well… hehe!!

We’ve done alright over this holiday… my birthday was spent bouncing down a dirt road from Norseman to Hyden, Fi’s birthday was spent broken down at the Nullabour Roadhouse, and our Wedding Anniversery was spent in Port Augusta… luckily we don’t put to much on ceremony, and are just happy to be together with our family!!!

Happy Anniversery Sweet Heart!!

Didn’t get up to too much yesterday, left Ceduna and drove to Port Augusta, only stopping to make toasted cheese sandwiches for breakfast on the side of the road, and a quick stop at the Big Galah in Kimba, Halfway (back) across Australia. At least it wasn’t bucketing down this time!!!

Arrived in Port Augusta around 3:30pm and while we could have kept driving, we decided to have an early day and stop. Zac and I watched The Phantom on my iPad, which was a most disappointing movie. Had some potential, but just when the movie seemed to be going somewhere, it ended and said “to be continued…” What the?? Sureley you have to have a big battle where the bady gets away or something if you are going to stop a movie halfway like that!!! It just sort of…. ended?? Felt more like the first episode of a TV show than a movie!!

Worst thing is now we have to get the sequel!!

Anyway, I think we will aim for Mildura today and then rest for a few days. It is supposed to get hot over the weekend, so that should at least be nice. Won’t be Coral Bay weather, but will be good after the low 20’s we have been experiencing… was a time when we thought low 20’s was good!!

I checked the weather and noticed a lot of flooding in and around Victoria, especially on the Murray, but seems that is much further east (up stream) so we should be ok…. see how we go. We haven’t even seen rain for about 4 weeks, so the thought of a flood is just foreign.

Will be good to be back on home turf (Victoria), but it is sad that the holiday is almost over… it is going to be hard returning to a normal life after this great adventure!!

Fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed today as we get on the road again and continue on our merry holiday. Let’s hope it really was the fuel filter and we are good to go…

I did take the car out for a spin yesterday, and all seemed ok, but we won’t know for sure until we drive a couple of Hundred clicks down the road.

Not sure how far we will get today. Will point towards Port Augusta, but if we make good time (and I can get the family out of bed…) then we may keep going and try to make up some lost time. Aim is to get to Mildura and stop for a couple of days.

Yesterday was a good catch up day. We cleaned the van (which was over due), put a couple of loads of washing through (which was way way over due) then headed to the shop to restock a few essentials like vegetables that couldn’t be brought across the border. We also grabed a rack of lamb which we did in the Cobb last night, and I think I am safe to say that we finally have cooking in that thing down pat…. was sensational!!

Was good to have a relaxing day, but now I am itching to get back on the road. We want to be home no later than a week from today, and we have pretty much lost 3 days due to car trouble, so we need to get a move on and cram as much as we can in between now and then.

Below are a few of the happy snaps from Fi’s Birthday….

And here is the indicater that we were all party’d out….

Finally because you have all been such loyal readers of my ramblings each day… here is where the magic is created…. (LOL)…

Well we are back in bussiness… and the problem was…..

…the fuel filter!!! Must have been that crappy little BP we had yo stop at on the way to Norseman. I knew the place looked dodgy!!

Thank god it was that simple. I just took it for a burl up the highway for about 5km and it never drove better. Finger crossed it will be fine when we get back on the road with the caravan.

So, given we have already paid for the second night, we may as well stay here and have a catch up day. Do some washing, get some groceries etc and get back on the road tomorrow. Sorry Jude, but we won’t make it Port Augusta today.

The kids were devastated when they finally dragged themselves out of bed this morning. Zac didn’t believe me and had to run down the road to see for his own eyes. We told him it won’t be long and we will see you again soon.

At the moment I am just happy we don’t have to try to arrange an alternative trip home, and looks like we will continue onto Mildura tomorrow.

🙂 😀

Well we finally made it to Ceduna. It was only a short 300km from the Nullabour Roadhouse….. but at a top speed of 60km it took us all day!!!

We crawled into Ceduna at about 4pm yesterday and headed straight to the Nissan dealer to get the car checked out. The first response we got was… “we are fully booked until next Tuesday…”

After a bit if begging and pleading, they agreed to at least have a look at the car and see what was wrong. Now the great thing about modern cars is they are all run by a computer chip, so the mechanic only has to hook up a device and the computer will tell you exactly what is wrong with the car. So the mechanic hooked up the computer and……. Nothing!

Isn’t technology great!!!

We went for a test drive and I showed him what the problem was, the car couldn’t get over 2000 RPM when driving. He checked a few of the basics (Oil, air filter, air sensor, plugs and pipes etc) before discovering that the Turbo was leaking exhaust. Problem was he couldn’t tell where from, and would have to remove a lot of the engine to diagnose further. Of course after driving all day at 60km the car was a little hot last night.

So, I am returning to the dealer this morning to see what can be done. He explained that they are unlikely to have a spare turbo sitting on the shelf and it takes 3 business days to order parts, so even if it is a small job, it will be next Tuesday before they can do anything anyway!!

He agreed that it would have to be a warranty job, and we will have to speak to Nissan in the morning to see what they can do. He suggested they may agree to relocate us back to Melbourne and have it serviced by a local dealer, but we will just have to wait and see what they say.

So, it is looking like this might be the end of a great holiday.

Also today, we will farewell our traveling companions the Bates Family. We have already held them up an extra day as they very kindly stayed with us to make sure we made it off the Nullabour (which was very much appreciated).

It will be sad to see them go, and I think the kids will really miss them as it has been great traveling together and we have really all had a ball. I guess we will see them soon enough back home, and it will possibly be sooner than later!!

So, Ceduna is now where we call home until we can figure out what will happen with the car. I am pretty sure that Custom Fleet would provide a rental car to get us home, but how do I find a rental that will tow the van with the correct plugs and electric brakes etc?? I guess if worse comes to worse then we will have to use the RV Total Care to get the van home again, but we can cross that bridge when we get there.

Fingers crossed….

Wasn’t all bad news yesterday though, we booked into the caravan park near the Nissan Dealer, and Judith, Andrew and the kids joined us for a great pub meal to celebrate Fi’s Birthday. We had a great meal after so many days stuck in the outback, and managed to well and truly drown our sorrows about the car. A good end to a long slow day!!!

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 🙁

Well we are again in Eucla, and I forgot the roosters like to have everyone up at the crack of dawn here!!! Just had a look outside, and the park is empty, looks like everyone got on the road early today.

We didn’t catch up with Andrew and Judith last night, and can only assume that they must have either free camped or pulled into one of the road house caravan parks for the night.

Zac was most distressed, and sat staring out the window until well after it was dark waiting for his friends to pull in. Oh well, we might catch them in Ceduna tonight. If you read this Judith then we will be staying in the Big 4 in Ceduna.

It is only a 5 hour drive from here, so as long as the car doesn’t play up too much we should make it ok. It is very strange, we sat on 110kms all day yesterday except for about the last 100km when the car just couldn’t get over 100kms. It is almost like the transmission is getting too hot after a day of driving, and just can’t get the power to go faster. I think we should be ok and I’ll see how it is after it has cooled over night.

Anyway, we are leaving the west this morning, heading back across the border about 18km from here. I think we have used all our produce this time, so hopefully we don’t lose anything.

Been a while since I have uploaded some photos, so I’ll do a quick update now…

Here is another photo of the trees that grow sideways just south of Geraldton due to the constant strong winds that blow through there. They really are amazing.

A couple of photos of the fire place at the homestead we stayed at yesterday in the Fraser Ranges. The fireplace was made out of what looks like an tyre rim off and old Mining truck. Wish I had one of those in the backyard!!

Finally, as you travel along the Eyre Highway, there are all these trees that have stuff hanging on them. Could be anything from Hats to thongs, bras or underwear!! Only got a couple of photos yesterday, but will see if we can get some more today…

Now before I sign off, there is just one final thing I have to say….

Happy Birthday Fi 🙂

So it is a another late blog today (Sorry Mum but don’t stress…), and you might have to get used to that for a few days as we head into the remote Nullabour again.

The kids had a wonderful surprise yesterday as we again met up with the Bates Family in Norseman. Everyone was excited to see friends again, and we had a great  time catching up and swapping travel stories over brunch in little cafe in Norseman.

We have decided to travel together across the Nullabour, not necessarily in convoy, but will agree where we will pull in for the night and meet there. The topic of free camping came up, and let’s say that while Andrew and I are keen to give it a go, our partners are not so keen on the prospect of a long drop toilet and no shower. We did agree that we would at least stop and have a look.

So, about midday with a full belly, full tank of juice, swapped a gas bottle and an empty toilet, we hit the road, agreeing to meet at the Fraser Range Caravan park about 100kms out of Norseman.

Now we expected nothing more than a campsite, but as it turns out there is a caravan park on a sheep station, and at $25 a night for a powered site, it was a lot better than sone of the places we had stayed, so we decided to have an early stop and stay here for the night.

We setup camp and got down to some serious relaxing, spending the afternoon sitting, drinking and chatting over a cheese platter. Then Andrew and I cooked up a storm on the BBQ which we then ate around the camp fire (oh yea… and you can have a fire here!!)

We were joined at the fire by an old couple who were on their way home to Perth, and they told us they had free camped for the last three nights. They have told us of a great spot not far from Eucla, that we might check out tonight, so there is a chance we may not have reception again and it will be a late blog again tomorrow.

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Ok, a late addition to today’s blog seeing as I wrote it this morning and haven’t been able to post it due to lack of Internet on the Nullabour.

We arrived at the campsite we discussed to review late in the day, but there was no sign of the Bates Family. We had a look around bat as we couldn’t find them and assumed they were well ahead of us, we continued on to plan B… Eucla.

We have just arrived, and there is no sign of them!!! Hope they aren’t at the campsite waiting for us!!!

We have had some car trouble the last few days, with the car losing power late in the day, and we limped into Eucla. Hopefully all is ok, as I don’t like our chances of finding somewhere to get it fixed before Adelaide… see how we go tomorrow.

Well after a long day of driving, we finally made it to Norseman about 6pm last night. Has been just under a month since we were last here.

We went pretty hard yesterday, driving for about 7 hours with only a short stop over in Kalgoorlie for some supplies to get us home. We are well stocked at the moment, with very little room in the fridge or cupboard.

Not sure how far we will go today, as the Bates Family are heading here from Esperence this morning, so we will catch up with them for a coffee before hitting the road. Will be good to catch up with them again. The kids don’t know yet, so will be funny to see their reactions…

I think we will only travel about 100kms or so to the Fraser Ranges Caravan park and stay another night before starting across the Nullabour again.