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7月10日 Bush pubs and outback iconsThings have been quiet for a while as we have been preparing for our bush pubs and outback icons trip which commenced on 30 June.
To see our photos go to my Facebook photos
We were to meet the group at Nindigully pub near St George.
So on 28 June we left to go to somewhere near St George to camp - we planned to get to at least Goondawindi.
However the best laid plans of mice and men are often thrawted....
Leaving a little late on Saturday we headed off down the Centenary Highway at the back of Brisbane. Kermit objected strongly and stalled at every intersection unless John revved the engine really hard. Once through the traffic we went along fine and eventually made it to Goondawindi where we camped the night.
Next morning a young fellow asked could he take a photo - he was a mechanic so i asked would he adjust the idling for me which he did - the idling increased and we figured all would be well. The maintenance man at the caravan park said he would have a look for me if the other fellow couldnt fix it. After a run into town and a few hiccups he had a look and we headed off to Nindigully. However we still had problems with the idling.
At Nindigully Pub we met the group and said we would go into St George the next day to have the car seen to and would meet up with them in Hungerford in a couple of days. However Bob, the trip leader, would have none of that - he immediately stripped down the carby and did what he could but we needed a new gasket and there was none available at Nindigully. It was decided we should go into St George and meet with the group 2 days later in Hungerford.
John and I ordered one mixed grill for both of us because it contained 2 sausages, 2 steaks, 2 pieces of bacon, 2 chops, 2 eggs. Several others also shared - including Deb and Jim whose meal never eventuated. The cook must have been having a really bad day - there were 18 of us for dinner and the meals took about 1 1/2 hours to arrive. He then left and poor Deb and Jim had to go back to their tent at 9pm at night and cook bacon and eggs for tea.
Off we went at 6.30am the next day to St George and organised for Kermit to get a new carby kit - however the courier who was supposed to pick up the parts at Dalby forgot to get them and Repco lent us a car to drive 300k's to Dalby and 300 back to get the part.
While at St George we stayed at a pristine caravan park where the average age of the inmates was about 75 who would have major problems looking over the dashboard of their serious 4wds and the caravans gave our house some serious competition.
John will never complain about me taking my pushbike on holidays ever again as we had it to run around St George for the 2 days we were stuck there and I also went for a couple of lovely rides along the river.
After our run to Dalby the mechanics worked until 9pm fixing Kermit and we were able to head off to Hungerford at 8.30 the next day. However we used 1 whole tank of petrol covering 100k's so at Bollon we found a backyard mechanic who gave us a hand and adjusted the carby - petrol consumption improved to 250k's per tank but was well below what Kermit usually used. This meant we had to carry petrol along the whole trip.
We joined up with the group at Hungerford and I met Kerry Canning who I had gone to school with in 1968 to 1971 - we had a lovely evening and Kerry spoke to Bob and Marion, who ran the trip, about making her woolshed available for them in a trip next year.
Off we went to Tibaboora along the dog fence and station tracks and had dinner in the pub that evening. Next was Cameron's Corner, then Noccundra, Eromanga, Eulo and Thallon having dinner in the local pub each night. Each car had a UHF radio and we kept in contact warning about roos, emus, on-coming cars and other hazards as we went along.
On the roads between Tibaboora and Camerons Corner I managed to bend the tow bar and we didnt have to tow the trailer for a few days - Bob and Marion took it and we had a great time just driving Kermit. Once we arrived at Eulo Bob arranged for us to have the tow bar reinforced at Cunnamulla and we spent the morning there - meeting the group for morning tea and then catching up with them again at Thallon.
At Cunnamulla I didnt use the key to close the petrol cap and we were unable to open it further along the road - so we had to jemmy it off and destroy it to get more petrol in - nothing a bit of rag hanging out of the filling hole wouldnt fix till we got an emergency petrol cap. The lid came off and the locking mechanism is sitting in the petrol tank.
The morning temperatures were generally about 0 but at Eulo it was -2 at 6.45 and -4 at sunrise - the sun rises a lot later out west.
Thallon was -4 and we decided that one more morning of this was too much and we headed home - the trip leader had been ill and was prepared to continue but we all had had enough of the cold - driving in convoy on bitumen roads wasnt as much fun as outback.
Kermit's lack of seals means that there is red dirt in every imaginable crevice and crack. It is so fine that I imagine we will be cleaning it out for weeks. My jeans are so ingrained with dirt I dont imagine they will ever come clean. Every morning we had a photo taken outside the pub where we ate the night before - I have the same clothes on each day - I decided that I only wanted one set of clothes completely destroyed. John's beautiful warm Freightcorp jumper which I often use when we are on holidays is ingrained with about 2 kilos of dirt.
We had a wonderful time and the people were really great - as you find on trips like this there was lots of different personalities. Sometimes you wonder why people go on holidays. Once we got to know each other we got on very well - however there was one sour faced puss who was the most unpleasant person we have ever met - we ended up at the dinner table with her on the last nite and she sat with her back to us - was pretty hard to do but she managed - after eating our meal we left the table - we found the whole situation so ridiculous. She spent the whole trip pointing out how lacking in knowledge we were about camping and 4wd vehicles, how deficient Kermit was, how much trouble we were being because Kermit had a few problems, how inconsiderate we were. She was a real piece of work - in all our travels we have never come across anyone like her - no matter how pleasant we tried to be she cut us short, made spiteful remarks, dismissed our conversations and ridiculed us. After a couple of days we just decided to ignore her.
Bob and Marion who ran the trip were wonderfully professional, took all our problems in their stride and quickly resolved them. They reassured us that the problems we had were well within the normal problems they encountered on a trip and never batted an eyelid. Overall we would highly recommend taking your Toorak Tractor, Kenmore Commodore or North Shore shopping trolley on a trip like this. You are fully supported and guided through some of the most amazing places which you would never travel on your own. |
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