Lil found out she was pregnant after we fixed up our Jackaroo 4wd so we needed to buy a bigger car....the search was on!
After much deliberation and comparing, reading and researching I decided on a few models and then was over ruled on a Landcruiser 105 series petrol.
Lil took the kids to Melbourne in April to pick up the new car and visited her family at the same time whilst I worked up on Dunbar .
So now we have the new car it's time to get it setup for our travels.
We added an Ironman full steel cage roofrack which also solved the dilemma of where to remount the spare wheel to stop it getting flogged under the car. The new racks come with a spare wheel mount on the roof which is very handy and saves us spending money on a rear bar.
We then invested in a rear storage system by 4wd Outback Interiors in Cairns. We got the full Monty too, drawers, fridge slide and cargo barrier with a divider and top shelf and it's brilliant! Money well spent and a fantastic fit.
Suspension was the next thing so we had it kitted out with the same setup as the Jackaroo had...Ironman springs and foam cell shocks with a new steering damper. At first it seemed fine but that wasn't going to last.........typical with us there is always something that was likely to go pear shaped. More on that later.
The season came to an end for us in November so we packed up our gear and got ready to head off back to Melbourne so Lil can give birth with her family around. She has done another great job this year with food but it would likely be her last as the cook as she won't be cooking next year. I have been offered to return and go mustering in 2014 which will give me some more experience and another string to my bow so we leave knowing we can return in April 2014 if we want.
With some money saved we look forward to some well earned holidays and some more travelling.
We left the station and headed for Cairns which would be our first stop on the way down.
We pulled up at a nice spot so we could get a picture of the new setup overlooking the gulf and noticed we had a problem.
Seems like the new suspension is not coping with the trailer !
Driving the car was becoming hard and the steering wander was really bad but we thought it's the dirt road.......but it wasn't.
On pushing through to Charters Towers we looked around for a reason and thought maybe we had overloaded the front of the camper trailer. We shifted some gear around and used our 40ltrs fuel and emptied our front water tank but it made no difference.
The steering was wandering all over the road, like travelling on wet tram tracks, so something was not right.
We arrived in Clermont at Theresa Creek Dam for a few nights and then it all went to hell. We set up and Lil headed into town to grab some groceries and she noticed the car was still handling badly and the rear was still sagging. On her return the fridge then died leaving us with a fridge full of food about to be wasted. We had dinner and went to bed and thought about what to do.
Next morning I headed into Emerald ( a larger town) and found a shop that serviced fridges. Unfortunately they didn't do our brand, Evakool, so I asked around. Finally I find a guy willing to help and after explaining the fridge does work but isn't cooling he reckons it's the compressor from all the bumping around on the dirt road.......bugger. Seems the Evakools don't have a swing-away compressor (effectively the compressor sits on suspension so it isn't constantly jarred) which would make them unsuitable for lots of time on the road. So after a chat it starts to become clear we need a new compressor which he can get but it will take up to a week and be almost half the price of the fridge and then he can fit it for a few hundred more....this is becoming a worthless exercise. I decide it's now time to upgrade the fridge as fixing the old one ( just out of warranty) is not worth it. I settle on a 60ltr Engel fridge from a local store and pay the money which makes me cringe, but feel pretty confident this will be a long-term purchase. So, new fridge and one problem is fixed! So far we have been really pleased with the Engel...keeps temperature beautifully and feels really well made with quality parts. Lil's not complaining about the extra space either!
Next was the suspension and after a call to the fitters in Cairns, I take it to the local Ironman dealer. After a chat to Kevin it turns out they fitted the wrong springs and that's why the arse is sagging, so new springs are ordered but it's going to take a few days.
That night we got rain........and let me tell you it was crazy rain...... 142mm in 4 hours and we saw it coming too......
We installed the fridge back at camp and it sucked some juice getting down to temp using the battery alone. Our solar panels recovered the loss the next day with the good sunshine and everything was starting to get back to normal.
We headed in to get the new springs fitted and they assured us it would solve all the issues but after a few hours on the road the steering was still a problem. After some research it seems a castor kit should have been fitted due to the new height in the car. This wasn't done or picked up by either of the Ironman dealers so we just had to put up with till we got to Melbourne where a visit to a proper suspension place would be on the cards.
We stopped for an overnighter at Injune caravan park and had an uneventful evening in what was effectively a mining camp. On packing up the next morning, the zipper on the camper trailer PVC cover decided to break.......so now it seems we have had our three bits of bad luck and surely nothing else can go wrong. We had to tie the cover down as best we could and hope it would hold till we got to Melbourne and it did. A quick stopover in Moree at the Gwydir caravan park and had a great evening swimming in the artesian pools there!
We knew that once we hit NSW the lure of Victoria would be hard to miss as we know it's only a (long) day's drive. We decided as we were driving through Parkes that we would just push on. We felt we'd had a pretty rough run and just wanted to be able to sort out the issues quickly. We arrived in a very cold and drizzly Melbourne about 130am.
Jay took the car to Ironman HQ the next day and they soon fixed the issue but at more expense, which I was unhappy about but what can you do?
A pretty eventful trip but a costly one. It's just the way it goes sometimes!
Now we are waiting on baby #3 and once arrived we will be off somewhere camping, hopefully without problems.
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