Wydon Crafts

TUESDAY 16 DECEMBER

 

Paul removed the gearbox and arranged for a local firm to fix it.   Jeff and I borrowed the car again and returned to the Resort so that I could use the Internet access I had bought on Sunday.

 

By the time we returned to Motor Express the gearbox was back and ready to be put back – Betty G was up on blocks with her rear in the air.   As it was a bit of a task raising and lowering her (using next-door’s forklift) it was decided to leave her like that and we carefully got into bed that night for our second night in the workshop.   Actually the angle wasn’t too great and I managed not to fall out of bed.

 

WEDNESDAY 17 DECEMBER – FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER

 

The gearbox was replaced and Paul took Betty G out for a test drive.   As he returned we could see clouds of steam accompanying a mixture of oil and water rushing out from underneath – all I could think of was “there goes our $10,000 dollars pouring on the ground”.   My heart sank “What now”???   Nothing to do with the gearbox – it was coming from the engine.   Expressions of dismay could be heard all around the workshop – with a few choice words included therein.   Jeff phoned Geoff at Denham to see if he had any ideas and he suggested that it might be the oil cooler, as he hadn’t checked it!!!!    Jeff and Paul tracked the part down and found that one was available in Darwin for around $1000 and would take a couple of days to transport down to Perth.   They took the oil cooler out and found that it was actually in good condition – in fact they took in to the local Toyota workshop and the engineer there said that it was one of the better ones he’d seen and didn’t need replacing.   Then they took it to a radiator repair shop to be tested – clean bill of health there too.

 

Now the boys just had to work through a process of elimination, testing things as they went.   They put everything back together and put some water in the radiator – it promptly poured out again – back to the drawing board.   They finally found that it was ‘No 3 core plug on the engine block’ (not the new head) that had just popped out.   No need for a replacement – just check them all and pop the bluddy thing back in.   Paul again took Betty G for a test drive

 

In the meantime Paul’s wife Tara had insisted that the workshop was not the place for us to be kipping and had put us up at their place.   So I spent this couple of days in the very good company of Tara, their little boy, Jayden, and Pat, a family friend visiting from England.   We swam in their pool on Thursday and went out for a drive to Joondalup Lake and the seaside suburb of Hillaries on Friday while the boys were slogging away in the workshop.

 

When they and Paul’s other son Brad, who was visiting for a few days, arrived late Friday afternoon with big grins on their faces I knew that all was well and that we’d soon be on our way again.   That evening we went to their club at Burns Beach and had quite a bit to drink in celebration.   We met and several of their friends and got invited to a BBQ the following evening – unfortunately we had to decline as we needed to get on the road again and Paul had put such an effort into making Betty G better as quickly as he could, it wouldn’t have been right to delay our departure as much as we would have loved to stay.   When we returned to the house, all a little worse for wear, apart from Tara who’s taken Pat to the airport for her return flight to the UK, one of their friends had taped a large notice to their garage door, which read:-

 

BED AND BREAKFAST

UK VISITORS WELCOME

PLEASE SEE PAUL OR TARA*!!!

 

Cheeky lot!!!

 

We can never thank this family and their friends enough for their kindness over the past few days – Paul for all the time and effort he has put into getting us back on the road, Tara for sharing their home with us, and Paul’s friends in the small group of workshops within the Industrial area – they all chipped in with help here and advice there - a great bunch of lads.  Poms Mark and Brian;  Jon, the Dutchman next door with the forklift, and the rest of the blokes.   A real big THANKYOU from a pair of very grateful grey nomads.  Every time Jeff mentioned paying anybody all he got was “No worries, mate”, “She’s right”, Swings and roundabouts”, “Maybe later”.   Of course, we got a bill from Paul, but even that was generous considering all the work he did, although Jeff did help him a fair bit.   We cannot believe the kindness and generosity being shown to us – complete strangers.

 

SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER

 

After giving Betty G a bit of a clean-up we set off for Kalgoorlie..

 

We haven’t had a chance to see much of Perth – never mind, we’ll be back in 3 or 4 years time and will spend a month touring the southern part of WA in a rented campervan, of course calling in on our new friends – You have been warned, Tara and Paul!!!!   

 

We stopped briefly at Northam where it rained very heavily whilst we were shopping.   Of course all the windows were open so stuff got wet!!!   Never mind – we’s on the road agin, so nothing matters LOL.    We got as far as Southern Cross and stayed at a nice little Caravan Park right by the main highway.

 

I called Marion to let her know that we were at last on our way, and she said that there were already in Ceduna – on t’other side of the Nullabor.   I guess, thinking that we were well and trooly stuck in Perth, they had decided to press on to their Christmas site in Adelaide – they have more of a schedule to keep to than we do.

 

SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER

 

Refuelled at Southern Cross and on the road again by 8:30am – quite an overcast and cool(ish) day – much better for travelling.   Pulled into Kalgoorlie with plenty of time to do a little sightseeing before heading for the Top Tourist Caravan Park in Boulder which is almost a suburb of Kalgoorlie.   We went up to the Mt Charlotte Lookout overlooking the town and then on to the Super Pit Lookout.   Well – “Super” was a bit of an understatement to say the least.   Wot a bluddy great ‘ole in the ground!!!    Got some great pics.

Nice campsite complete with pool, so a refreshing dip after a busy day was most welcome.

 

MONDAY 22 DECEMBER

 

Left the site at 9, went into town to visit the Super Pit Shop.   Jeff bought a great DVD about the mining operation and the history of the area.    We finally set off at about 11 heading for Norseman before starting out on the Nullabor Plain.

 

We had lunch at a BP station in Norseman where I met a lady who said that 2 days ago they were in Sydney, left the WA/SA Border this morning!!!!    They must’ve been going some – towing a caravan too.

 

The next roadhouse was Balladine, but we carried on to Caiguna, travelling along the longest straight stretch of road in Oz 149Km     But Jeff had to go and spoil it by pulling into a parking area for a pee!!   Men!!!!   Caiguna was a bit basic, but the amenities were clean, which is most important.

 

TUESDAY 23 DECEMBER

 

The Nullabor was actually a wee bit disappointing.   We were expecting it to be desert like, but apparently due to some unseasonal rainfall it was all rather lush – lots of different greens in the shrubs and trees.   There were even a few flowers along the roadside.    Some parts were as expected, broad open spaces of grass and scrub but not much.  Lunch was at Eucla, 12Km from the WA/SA border where we thought there was a quarantine station to stop people taking fruit, veges and plants either way.   In fact the SA into WA quarantine station was at the border, but the WA into SA one was actually about 400Km away in Ceduna!!!    We could have had some fresh veges with our dinner instead of stuffing them the night before and carrots and cucumber at lunchtime!!!  Flippin’ ‘eck, we could have saved our digestion.

 

We stayed overnight at Nundroo Roadhouse which was very basic, to say the least.   In our Lonely Planet book on Australia (published Nov 2007), the Roadhouse is mentioned as having the amenities renovated – guess wot, they’re still being renovated.   In fact it doesn’t look as if any work has been done on them at all.   However, what made up for all of this was that we met up with two lovely couples who had met on the road, like ya do, and then bumped into each other now and again.   They were very welcoming and we had a drink with them after dinner.

 

CHRISTMAS EVE

 

Up early and off to Ceduna to shop for Christmas dinner.   Our intention was to head on down to Streaky Bay, but as there is only one Caravan Park there, and it is apparently a popular holiday area, I was a bit doubtful that we would have anywhere to stay.   Ceduna has 3 or 4 Parks and there was a Top Tourist site right near the sea, close to where we had parked Betty G to go shopping.   I thought I’d just check to see if a/ they had space, and b/ how much.    Well…. The price was just $2 more than Nundroo!!!!   This was with our Top Tourist membership discount (we joined back in October), and yes, there was plenty of room.   Whilst I was back in Betty G, making up my mind and wondering if I could persuade Jeff that we’d be better off here, who should go rolling into the Park but the two caravans belonging to Leo & Diann and Graeme & Val from yesterday evening.   Jeff was at the travel agent, booking our passage on the ferry over to Tasmania at the end of January.   We’re going for the Wooden Boat Show, but there is also a meeting up of CMCA (Caravan & Motorhome Club of Australia) a few days before, so we thought that we’d incorporate that in our visit.

 

Anyway Jeff agreed that it would be best to stay for a few nights here and we duly booked in – I was even more relieved when we found out that the Streaky Bay site was indeed full.

 

We joined our new friends for drinks and nibbles at beer o’clock, and were invited to have Christmas dinner with them all – nice or wot!!!   We sadly had to decline as we had already bought two socking great T-Bone steaks, well over an inch thick.

 

CHRISTMAS DAY dawned rather grey, but warm and we lazed around.   We had our Christmas din at around 2pm and later joined the others for dessert – plum pudding with brandy custard and

trifle, both homemade by Diann.   Talk about yummy – we then stayed chatting with them until the evening.   The sun had appeared during the day and went down in a beautiful sunset over the sea.

 

BOXING DAY was another grey day and we had a bit of a thunderstorm in the morning.   Leo came over and invited us to join them for dinner – this time we accepted.   Graeme and Val left this morning as they have family to meet up with further into South Australia.    Leo and Diann will be heading in the same direction as us, down and round the Eyre Peninsular, but I think they’ll be leaving a day or two after us – we leave tomorrow.

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Another boring week of Jeff fishing successfully for squid and getting very fit cycling up and down the hills of Denham.   (This town must be the only place in Oz where you have to actually pedal downhill because the prevailing wind is so powerful – according to a police speed checker halfway up this particular rather steep hill Jeff was doing 38Kph on ‘is bike!!!!!??.)   All I was doing was pyroing, swimming, reading and WALKING up and down that hill to and from the library and the Internet office.

 

TUESDAY 9 DECEMBER

 

AT LAST!!!!!    We have departed Denham!!!!!   At 11:20 precisely Betty G and her intrepid occupants left this delightful little coastal town – which actually seemed to shed a tear as we drove down the road – only the second lot of rain since we arrived in Denham and the 3^rd lot since arriving in Oz at the end of August.

 

Stopped for lunch at the Overlander Roadhouse just after we joined the main highway.   Not particularly impressed, especially when, within a few Ks we passed the Billabong Roadhouse – now that looked really nice compared with the scruffy appearance of Overlander.

 

When we got into Geraldton we went straight round to Fishermans Wharf to find Jerry Davey, a friend of Geoff the diesel mechanic, to pick up the replacement water hose.   Jerry had a bit of a workload so Jeff fitted it hisself the following morning at the Big 4 Camp Site.

 

WEDNESDAY 10 DECEMBER

 

After having another wander around Fishermans Wharf, we did some proper shopping in Geraldton.   Bought some Chrissy lights for Betty G and finally got my glasses fixed.   It must be over a month ago that I noticed that one of the side pieces was a bit wonky and the screw had come loose – no rood comments, perlease!!   So that I could still wear ‘em I’d wrapped a wee bit of sticky tape around the hinge.   Unfortunately the towns we’ve recently stayed in haven’t been big enough to have an optician.   So I was pleased to find Just Specs and trotted in to see what they could do for me.   The young lady fixed them at no charge and I trotted happily on me way.   It wasn’t until I took them off that night that I noticed a deep scratch just to one side of the bi-focal part of the lens.   No flippin’ wonder she didn’t charge me.   Luckily it’s not in my field of vision – I guess if it had been I would have noticed when she returned them to me.

 

We headed down to Greenough (pronounced Grennoff) after a brief stop for KFC.   I’d spotted an ad for the Greenough River Caravan Park at Cape Burney.    It was only 10Km south of Geraldton so we got there pretty quickly, checked in and got ourselves sorted.   We then went for a walk along the river towards the sea.   It’s a very strange river mouth.   There’s wide sand-bar going right the way across which has only been breached 3 times in the last 5 years.   It’s a lovely place, just a few houses plus the Caravan Park.   We liked it so much that we decided to stay another night.

 

THURSDAY 11 DECEMBER

 

The pitch that we were in was already booked so we moved just a short distance away.   And would you believe it, the people who moved in had been in Denham and Jeff had met them whilst fishing.   They were two couple who had met on the road and were now travelling together.    We had a drink with them in the evening after our swim – they were all really great company.

 

FRIDAY 12 DECEMBER

 

On our way down to Cervantes we stopped off at the old town of Greenough just down the road and visited the Museum which was in a big old farmhouse which had been handed down through several generations of the same family – fascinating display of rural Australian history.   Also called in at the Hampton Inn which also doubles as a bookshop – some old and rare books, too.   Spent an hour or so browsing and chatting to the owner – didn’t see anything we wanted though.

 

Arrived at Cervantes and booked in to the Pinnacles Caravan Park, then went to visit the Pinnacles National Park.   It’s an area of several hectares of limestone columns, many only a couple of feet high but some reaching 10 or 12 feet.   We could actually take Betty G on the drive-through, which was on compacted sand – a great experience – Jeff wanted to go through again, but we were both getting hungry and thirsty, so we returned to Cervantes and took advantage of a special offer handed out at the caravan park – a crayfish dinner for two for $55, a saving of $20!!   We had a couple of beers in the bar beforehand and discovered a very nice beer called Pure Blonde – really yummy.   All in all it was a lovely end to a great day.

 

SATURDAY 13 DECEMBER

 

Carried on down to Perth through rolling hills – makes a change after weeks of almost completely flat countryside.   Ran into a few locusts which spread themselves on our windscreen – yuck.    We’d arranged to meet up with Marion and Terry at the Karrinyup Waters Resort and booked in, managing to find a spot fairly close to them.   It was great to see them again – we’ve made some good friends there.   It was pretty hot so we all headed for the pool.   Oh my – what a lovely pool it is – a big hot spa too – what luxury!!!

 

SUNDAY 14 DECEMBER

 

After a stroll around the Resort’s lakes, most of the afternoon was spent in the pool and spa, followed by a shower and then drinkies and nibbles with Marion and Terry.    Oh what a busy day.   Actually we should have spent it sightseeing in Perth itself in view of what followed!!!!

 

MONDAY 15 DECEMBER

 

After a bit of phoning around Jeff found a mechanic who could fit Betty G in for the 1000K check on her re-built engine – Paul of Motor Express in Wangara.   We left her there and headed for a nearby shopping centre.   When we had finished, Jeff walked back the 4Ks to the workshop while I stayed with the shopping, reading.   No sense in carrying it all back was there!!!   As I sat people watching as well, who should come strolling past but Carola and Rolf, our German friends from various campsites along the way.    We had a brief chat before they had to return to their nearby campsite – they’re having problems with the brakes on their motorhome.  

 

About half an hour later Jeff appeared with Betty G.   We loaded up and called in at the Centre’s gas station to fuel up for the next leg of our journey, to Kalgoorlie in a couple of days time.   As we drove away, Jeff glanced back and spotted a large, fresh patch of oil right where we had stood.    So we headed straight back to Motor Express.   By the time we got there oil was just pouring out.   Paul had a look and said that it wasn’t anything to do with the engine; the oil was coming out of the gearbox!!!    We wuzn’t going anywhere today.

 

Jeff borrowed Paul’s car and went back to the Resort to pick up our tables and chairs that we had left at our site, and to tell the staff that we wouldn’t be back, and why.   They kindly reimbursed one night’s fee as we had just booked another 2 nights on our way out this morning.   We stayed overnight in our little bus in the workshop.

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MONDAY 1 DECEMBER

 

Well the news is a little better today, although those two engines turned out to be unsuitable, so Geoff has decided to just go ahead and work with what he’s got.   Betty’s engine has been hauled out and inspected.   The head has a dirty great split in it and one of the pistons has seen better days.   The crankshaft is OK and Geoff and his team will all be working on her for the rest of the week.   Hopefully we can be on our way at the weekend.

 

Unfortunately this now makes us likely to be about three weeks behind schedule – not that there was much of one, but it looks as if the country south of Perth with have to wait for another trip.   We’ll head straight across from Perth to Kalgoorlie and then down to Norseman and across the Nullabor.   We had hoped to be in Adelaide for Christmas but that’s looking less and less likely.   We’d already decided to give Coober Pedy a miss, but even so I think we’ll be cutting it a bit fine.   The important thing is that we get over to Tasmania at the end of January for the Wooden Boat Show – Jeff’s really looking forward to that and to catching up with a some knotty friends as well as an old school friend who got in touch via the Internet a few months ago.

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THURSDAY 27 to SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER

 

Still here, going slightly stir-crazy.   Jeff’s been fishing nearly every day and caught several sqid, so quite frequently it’s been calamari for tea – yum.    I’ve been able to take out temporary membership of the small library in town, so have had plenty to read.   I’ve also been doing a bit of pyrography.   Still haven’t found any suitable wood for carving, though.   It’s all too hard for whittling.   The pool here is very nice and so we’ve been going for a swim every couple of days, especially as the weather has been so kind to us.   All around Oz there has been rain and hail and all sorts of nasty weather, but here in the Shark Bay area we’ve had glorious sunshine nearly all the time.   The wind has still been blowing well, but it dows help to keep the temperature bearable.

 

Betty G Update. At one stage Geoff thought he would have to ship an engine all the way from Sydney (!!!!) but that one wasn’t suitable.   Now he has his sights on two engines in Denham that he thinks he could use to make one good one.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

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