Back on the road

On Top Of Castle Hill Townsville

Well everything has worked out ok and we have reached the end of our caretaking and the owners are home recovering from colds and viruses that they managed to catch on their travels and trying to get things going again as the batteries in a couple of vehicles have died and all the stock have run out of feed, we were sad to leave as it was one of the most interesting jobs we have taken on plus we have gained some new skills. We left on Thurs 10th but we did not get far because we called in to see some people at Atherton who we had met in WA about 3yrs ago so we were invited to stay the night and we were made very welcome, they live near where I did the fun run previously and I had spotted a walking track to the top of the Mountain nearby which looked inviting so when I woke next morning I decided to tackle it, a 5k round trip but it was very challenging so my legs have been suffering for the last 3 days and to top it off we stayed at a popular tourist attraction called "Paronella Park" which has day and night guided tours so we did both, and there were lots of steps etc. We then stayed at Townsville where we toured Mt. Stuart, Castle Hill and the strand with lots more walking. After a very hot night we left Townsville and now we are at "Home Hill"  where we stayed on the way up here and Marion had got orders for her hose bags and she has just sold 6 at the happy hour get together, once again we were watching cane field burn offs which doesn't happen a lot these days, it is a lot cooler tonight with a nice breeze and tomorrow we move on to Airlie Beach (maybe) We are now at Airlie Beach after stopping at Bowen for lunch and the big surprise with all the towns up here is how well they have recovered from cyclone Yasi, Airlie Beach is just like a miniature Noosa.

Part of Mt Baldy Track Atherton

We left Airlie Beach as early as possible because it was hot and we travelled on to Mackay where we refuelled, then after about 15min driving the car started surging under load so we pulled up to check it out and have a bite to eat then continued on it went ok for a few ks then started surging again we did this stop, start until we reached our next destination of St.Lawrence then I pulled the fuel pump and filter out to check for water cleaned them out and hoped for the best the next day,

After catching up with some Hervey Bay friends here who are on the road like us we continued on our way to Yeppoon with our fingers crossed but we had no more problems until we arrived at Yeppon and I started unhitching the van, there was oil over everything, checking under the car the rear axle was leaking oil so that will be the next saga to work on tomorrow, well today I decided not to tackle this job myself so I called on the RACQ and we will be taking the car to them tomorrow for an assessment and hopefully not too expensive a repair. It seems that this was a problem with the early Pajero's so had to get a new (modified) drive flange and seal fitted which meant ordering the part from Sydney but as usual things don't go to plan and the wrong part was sent and we didn't get the car back until 4pm the day before we were leaving, we had to book for a full week but hopefully we will get some reimbursement from RACQ.

We managed to reach Hervey Bay without incident although we did get caught up in a funeral procession for about 10>15k, we think it was a member of a bikie group as the coffin was being carried on an old ute which was followed by a large group of bikes and huge number of cars, we all had to pull over to wait for a wide load to pass from the opposite direction then we pulled over when we could for lunch and waited for the traffic to clear, it took at least 15min for the end of the traffic line up, I know we have to pay respects but I am sure it would be unlawful on a major highway without police escorts.

We are now settled and getting prepared for the next stage of treatment for my medical problem and how long this takes will be anyones guess so until we are on the road again cheers for now. Photos