14^TH LEG

A little late (5:45 instead of 5am) we set off from Noble Park back into Melbourne and towards thee Westgate Bridge. Starting off so early was certainly worthwhile and the traffic was relatively quiet and we made good time as we entered the city boundaries. A last glimpse of a very beautiful part of Australia and we were off and approaching the Westgate bridge. It is enormous. It loomed before us with such presence that I felt totally overwhelmed. We started the long climb to the top slowly, hugging the far left of the lane while trucks and cars zoomed past. And then Tom felt that we might have a flat tyre. Could you believe it? We pulled over to the hard shoulder and I was assigned the job of checking the tyres. I climbed out, knees shaking and looked at all the wheels. All were okay so I climbed back into the car and off we set again. It was one of the scariest things we have done but by the same token it was the most awe-inspiring experience. Nevertheless I was extremely glad to get back off it and get on our way.

As we turned left onto the highway we had the most wonderful feeling of being on our way home. With everything that has happened, home is looking pretty good just now.

The day was very hazy and thick with smoke. Tom complained that the smoke was irritating his eyes and it was only later that we heard that the bush fires had flared up again that very day.

The car was running very slowly again and we felt that it may only be running on three cylinders. Tom decided to try a ‘quick fix’. He unscrewed the carburetor bowl and poured some oil into it. As it burnt it produced billows of grey smoke but miraculously it did the trick and we were back on all four. He has had to perform the same trick on a number of occasions and so it is obvious, even to me, that we must fix the problem properly when we reach Adelaide tomorrow.

The rest of the run to Stawell was fairly uneventful (although we did go through another speed check and we still could not make it register!!) and we arrived at Stawell and at the home of Delwyn and Ian Rickards at quite a reasonable hour. On arriving Ian noticed that our tyre was flat so it was changed and the men went off to fix the problem whilst Delwyn, her daughter Jodie and her grandson Tommy got to know each other. We had a lovely evening and finally went to bed quite late indeed.

Morning came and we set off for a photo shoot at the Eiffel tower. Stawell has it’s own version of the tower at Casper’s which is a world of miniatures and children’s playground. Photo shoot over and we were off to Patchewolock and anotheeer very important photo shoot.

One the way however we had yet another flat tyre. What to do? No jack. A passing truck with Jed and Mick stopped to lend a hand and the tyre was quickly changed. Thanks and we were off. When we reached Hopetoun Rob from the BP fixed the tyre for nothing but he warned us that the tyre had small fragments of steel protruding from the rubber and that was ripping the inner tube. We decided that we would replace it ASAP but we had to reach a suitable place to do so. Thanking him for his trouble we were off again. This time we reached Patchy and started out towards the home of Sue O’Sullivaan and Adrian Meehan. They had promised to help us with a really special photo shoot.

The road out to the property was gravel and had some really wicked corrugations, which rattled poor old Matilda’s already fragile bones. Just before we arrived however there was another problem, sand. Matilda became bogged and so I climbed out and pushed her up the hill.

We met Adrian and Sue and then went outside for our special shot. I entitle this shot as Mattilda meets a camel and if you look at the latest photos you will see Rufus (amply assisted by Adrian) pulling Matilda. We were thrilled that our friend Clancy (alias Mark Grigg) had been able to arrange it and very grateful to Sue and Adrian for all of their work, which made it happen.

More thanks to our new friends and we drove off to a neighboring farm (a mere 25kms of gravel away) to meet Paul and Jenny Grigg, Clancy’s brother and sister in law, to have tea and stay the night.

Now being farmers Paul is having his busiest period of the year with shearing and so we were hoping to cause as little interruption as we could. Now I ask you, does that sound like us? Not likely. And so the saga begins.

We left Sue and Adrian’s house full of good spirits and Matilda made it through the soft sand without the need for me to push her so I was feeling pretty chipper. Out the drive and a couple of kilometers down the dirt road full of corrugations when suddenly Tom pulls the car over and sure enough we had a flat tyre. No jack so what to do? Tom goes bush and brings back some logs of wood and manages to jack the car up and change the tyre. We vow to buy a jack when we purchase thee new tyre and very gingerly we set off.

About 4-5 kilometers down the road we pass a farmhouse and decided to ring our hosts for the evening so they know why we are so late. How lucky was that!!!! As about 10 kilometers further, but still 5-6 kilometers from our destination there was an almighty bang and our patched tyre blew.

Now we were really stranded. Two flat tyres, no jack and in the middle of nowhere. I did what every good camper should do in such an emergency; I pulled out the chairs and made myself comfortable. (Actually first of all I collected a pile of rocks for Tom to use as a wheel stand and unloaded the car but why spoil the story with such details). Meanwhile Tom started getting the car ready to remove thee tyres to take for possible mending.

Luckily for us Paul and Jenny became concerned and sent their son Tim to look for us. We jacked the car up and left her whilst we set off for a lovely meal and a good rest. We had a lovely evening with Paul and Jenny and Tom and Paul discussed our problem trying to find a solution. Finally we went off to bed for the night.

Next morning we awoke to find that Paul had been up at the crack of dawn and had taken the best of the inner tubes, put a new valve stem in it, patched it, put it in the best tyre and put the whole lot on the best wheel. Brilliant! Waving our thanks we were able to set off again and drive on towards Adelaide. We decided to go the longer way and avoid most of the corrugations. We were not able to avoid thee gravel altogether though and had about 20 15 kilometres of it before we got back on bitumen. We were very nervous I can tell you. We did notice that just after we hit the bitumen Paul drove past on his way to his days shearing and I strongly suspect that he timed his depature to make sure that we were safely back on the good road before he out of reach.

All of this had delayed us so much that we decided we would not make Adelaide in a day and so at the first opportunity we rang Nell and Bruce, our friends in Adelaide to tell them of our problems A good job we did too because the car ran very slow and it was 8pm before we limped into Tailem Bend to find a motel for the night. And so I say good night and go to bed. I’ll write again in Adelaide.

NEXT