Zulu & FC_Drivers boys own adventure

[zulu]

Well, Ted & Rhonda were passing through Port Augusta the other day and guess what they saw



Yep, it's on the way home, thanks you 2 for spotting it and giving it and the driver the once over to make sure it was ok

then this morning I got a phone call to say it was not far away! and there they are, great to have them back



The head came off, after a bit WD40 and some pulling in the form of an engine lifter as the head gasket had sort of cemented the head and block together, there was clear evidence of the head gasket having blown, and the bores all look ok with no visible cracks in the head, so heres hoping



I took this pic while waiting for a lift at Border Village, this birdbath is for the enjoyment of CROWS ONLY, just before I got the camera out there was no standing room left around the edge

cheers, Gary

[Maco]

Hi Gary,

Great news they are both home safe & sound with you, hope they travelled o'k & with no damage.

If you need a hand with the repairs please let me know.

John

[RET]

Pleased to hear the Boonah Ambulance is home at last. The prognosis sounds hopeful, so with any luck she'll be back on the road shortly.

cheers
RET

[FE_UTE]

Good to hear they are home safe and sound....could have been a lot worse ...maybe a roo or two, that would have been tough

Cheers
Gary

[graham_fuller]

Hi Gary,
Glad to hear the Ambo is back where it belongs.
Cheers,
Graham

[fe-ambo]

Great to hear the ambo is home safely and nothing too serious wrong with it.

Cheers
Paul

[Dave Lakin (Davo Lako)]

Phew Gary , what an epic saga !!!

Sure we are all pleased all's well ... PS was good to meet in Perth ...I did catch up with "fink" too

Cheers , Dave .

[FC_Driver]

This ends this "Boys own Adventure"......What next?......MMmmmm
With the car and van home safe and sound we can now relax...
That was some trip.....!!
Bruce

[Gertie]

The sister caravan is at Kalgoorlie at present and heading for Balledonia tomorrow. All well so far.

[zulu]

Hi Geoff n Margaret

Don't forget the short drive to the Super Pit on the way out of town if you haven't already done it, you can take the van up with you no worries

It's well worth it

Cheers, Gary

[FC_Driver]

The sister vans at Perth.........

[Gertie]

Thanks Gary been there and are now in Nullarbor Roadhouse caravan park. Gertie is humming along with a daily dose of half cup of oil. 1200 ks in the last 2 days.

[Hewart]

Just reading about the trip... Wow, sounds like you boys sure had an adventure to remember!!

Glad to hear everyone & everything is back and in relative good nick!

Loved the pics along the way and am looking forward to hearing more about the Nats one day!! ;)

Cheers, Les...

[ardiesse]

Stirling and I are back in Sydney, as of 5 pm this afternoon.  What an adventure.

We took the long way home - Perth to Mullewa; then to Murchison Roadhouse and Wooleen Station (of recent Australian Story fame); a radio telescope site, where I was pretty much turned away from my own workplace; Yalgoo; ~30 km of bush-bashing to find an orbicular granite quarry (ask Stirling); Mt Magnet, Sandstone, Leinster, Leonora, and Kalgoorlie, where we dropped my uncle off to catch the train back to Perth.

That was just the first part. Ha.  We turned up at Leinster at lunchtime on a Sunday very low on fuel, only to find that the town had essentially shut for the day.  The "emergency contact" number at the fuel station didn't answer, the shops were closed, the caravan park had no on-site accommodation, and the office was in the (closed) supermarket.  The police station was only manned during office hours.  The only open business was the nursery, so we talked to the owner to see what options were available.  A young couple was there, and we got talking cars, and they had an HR Premier, and they said we could siphon as much fuel out of the HR as we needed to get us down the road to Leonora.  So they invited us around to theirs, cut up the garden hose, gave us coffee while I got petrol-mouth, and finally refused payment for their fuel.  What heroes.

The 400 or so km of dirt around the Murchison district left us with two slowly leaking rear tyres.  I could just keep up with the leaks by pumping up the tyres every time we stopped.  At Leonora Caravan Park I repaired one of the punctures, while the other one (scratches head) sealed itself up.  That was more than a week ago now.

Seventy km out of Kalgoorlie the speedo seized up solid and sheared the cable off inside the driven gear.

Oh, and I had to do the "hand over the air intake" trick a couple of times to clear some crap out of the main jet.

I think Geoff and Margaret saw us at Kalgoorlie on the 24th.  At Kalgoorlie Railway Station carpark I did a lube service.  Good thing that.  I'd pumped all the gearbox oil out through the rear extension housing, where most of it ended up on the muffler.  Wondered why the car smelt of gear oil after driving for a while . . .

Kalgoorlie to Madura to Streaky Bay (oysters!) and down into the Eyre Peninsula to call in on the panelbeater at Cummins, then Cowell, where we took the SeaSA ferry across Spencer Gulf to Wallaroo.  I can't recommend the ferry highly enough.  From Wallaroo to Gawler, stopping to fix the exhaust (loose flange nuts).  At Gawler we called in on Phil Ivanov at the wrecking yard and saw his Red Dog FC, and "Phil's Corner" of the yard with all things '56 - '62.  Phil had a speedo cable. Yippee!

Gawler to Adelaide and then Robe, Mt Gambier, Warrnambool, the Great Ocean Road (with a night at the stunningly pretty Apollo Bay), Torquay and Geelong.  And here we flirted with the dark side.  Yes, that's right, we visited the Ford Discovery Centre.  I'd recommend it to anyone, even diehard Holden nuts.

And from there it was just a trip around the Western Orbital, onto the Hume, and a day and a half home.  We had a small "Route 66" moment, where we took the old road from Gunning through Cullerin and Breadalbane.  Strewth.  The Hume Highway in the '60s and '70s must have been lethal.  And yet you'd still drive Sydney-Melbourne in a day, on a narrow, twisty strip with drum brakes and crossply tyres, because that's what you did.

The car just went.  The cylinder head gave us no trouble, apart from having to tip a pint of water into the radiator every couple of days.

Rob

[FC_Driver]

Hi Rob and Stirling
Great to hear you are both home safe and sound. Thanks again to both of you for organizing a great trip.
We have great memories that will last forever. Now whats the plan for Hobart  ;D
Bruce

[zulu]

Wow, I wish we had had the time, not to mention a working vehicle, to have tagged along with you two on the homeward journey.

Good to hear you have made it back after all of the adventure, and it's encouraging to know that there are still people out there with hearts as big as the outback they live in to help out now and then

As Bruce has mentioned, Deb and I also look forward to Tasmania, with possibly a few of your detours thrown in for good measure

Cheers, Gary

[jack_fc]

Hey Rob and Stirling,

Good to see you made it home safely  :)

cheers

"the bloke on the pushbike in Port Fairy"

[weddo]

Great to hear you have arrived home safetly and have had an EPIC journey, well done guys. We look forward to catching up in Tassie


regards

The Weddo's

Bill & Judi

[Gertie]

 Glad to hear that Rob and Stirling made it back. We were in Kalgoorlie on 24th and ended up in the Bert st Boulder caravan park but did not see Rob and Stirling. A very interesting trip with a good result.
We attempted to text and call R and S on several occasions without success and are now in Renmark on the home leg (saturday) I hope. Gertie still likes her cup of Penrite once every day or so and I have just done a grease job on her in the caravan park. 

Roll on Tassie.