So..... the old Troopie and I had a big accident...... RHS peeled open by a Lcruiser tray travelling the opposite direction... both written off, but I bought
mine back and rebuilt it......... My advice..... don't.... it's too big a job.
Anyway, the last job before I got it back on the road was the wiring and windows back in place..... I had done everything else... now for the professionals and
THEN ON OUR BIG TRIP TO THE KIMBERLY VIA THE TANAMI, BACK AROUND DOWN THE MIDDLE AND
HOME..... 6 WEEKS OF ADVENTURE.
The problem with professionals, is that they aren't very interested in what you plan for and when. They fit things like this in between bigger jobs.... the old HJ47 was not ready...... they had promised..... but we had plans.. I had bookings. We were committed to the trip. [as it turned out... we should be committed for doing it... maybe]
To cut a short story long..... My wife and I and two teenagers headed off on the trip towing the off-road trailer with our 1984 Subaru.
Trailer loaded with canoe and bikes, and the Subie stacked high on the roofrack. Looked a bit like the Beverly Hillbillies.... if you are old enough to remember [I loved Ellie May Clampett.... hmmm maybe another 'l' word].
I found a full spare set of wheels for the Subie and carried them too.
The kids were a bit cramped..... in fact they travelled with their knees resting on the seats in front. Air con worked .....unless it was hot.
The
police at Kalkaringi said that we would probably get through even though the road hadn't been graded since the floods. [there's another story there!]
Anyway.... about half way to the WA border........ smoke!...... No.......... I mean SMOKE!
We leapt from the car and flipped the bonnet. The battery was going up with BIG FLAMES! .... and did I meantion SMOKE?
Daugher Cait ran screaming down the road, Jen grabbed the fire extinguisher and grappled with the little green thingy you need to pull out before you can use it.... I
PANICKED [I'm not good in emergencies]
Son Jim got the camera out and took some good photos.
Jen still struggling with the green thingy and me panicking...... but not so much that I couldn't remember two pieces of experience and information.
1. Jack Absolum always advised that you carry a couple of warm can of beer on the dash. Excellent fire extinguishers.
2. In the CFA I had been trained to use a Fog nozzle to put out electrical or oil fires if the appropriate extiguisher was not available.
I filled my mouth with spit and SPRAYED THE FLAMING BATTERY WITH ALL MY ORAL BODILY JUICES.
Fire out! :0}}
Daughter returned.
Son happy with 'cool' experience.
Battery had a hole big enough to put my fist through. I siloconed a rubber glove over it just in case we needed it.
Good news: Car did not burn.
Good news: Still got extinguisher for next time.
Good news: Spare battery in the trailer
Advice: Don't use metal battery clamps.... they can short if shaken loose on bulldust and corrugations in the outback.... you may die.
More Jack Absolum advice. When you have a big problem, put on the billy and think about it. We did. Meanwhile I fitted the spare battery.
Bad news. Battery dead.....
More bad news. Couldn't even push start it. IT WOULD NOT START! IT COULD NOT START! and we were getting HOT!!!!
We set up a shelter with a tarp between a few trees and had another cuppa.
Just settling in when help arrived.... a bludy big Road Train. I ran into the middle of the road and started waving my straw hat... I heard the air brakes start about a k from where we were.... and the big fuel carrier slowed and stopped beside us.
A nice bloke and his wife looked at the car and couldn't work out what to do...
He was delivering fuel to
the Granites Gold
Mine... so I asked him to phone out from there to notify the RACV to come and get us 200k from
Alice Springs.
We settled down to wait...... before long a very nice bloke from
Mount Doreen Station arrived with his tray back toyota..... he had heard that we were in trouble and drove the 100k to see if he could help!
He couldn't do much.... didn't have jumper leads... but I did.... and then I thought.... 'Why don't I use the old battery to jump start?".... and we did!
So we drove for the next few days jump starting from the old battery. At no stage did I think to just put it back into the vehicle!!!!
So off we went into the afternoon driving happily along....... until...................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... we realized that some man was at that moment driving from
Alice Springs to save us!!!!!
NO!~!!!!!!!!!!!
We drove as fast as we could safely do across the wash-outs and massive ditches and corrugations...... until we reached the Tanimi Gold
Mine.
Very large signs greeted us:
"NO ENTRY" "ENTRY FORBIDDEN" , "DO NOT GO HERE", "
MINE.. NO TRESPASSERS", "AUTHORIZED PERSONELL ONLY", "DANGER MINING OPERATIONS"..... and I forget the rest.
But we had to get to a phone to let the NT version of the RACV.... know that we had called them out and then left the scene..... oh dear.
I drove in through the GIAN EUCLIDS AND EARTH MOVING EQUIPMENT
In the equipment were GIANT AUTHORIZED BLOKES
..... who gave us giant grins and waves.
I walked into the site office......... there were three ladies [
young] at three desks. The nearest two were indigenious... the furthest of much paler complexion...
To my undying shame.... I ignored the nearest and went for the furthest receptionist/office staff and told the story.
To their credit the nearest two took over and called the road side assist people and didn't bat an eyelid that my assumptions were based on racial prejudice.... [I may have improved since then]
BTW. That burnt battery became the 'second battery' in the landcruiser and lasted for another 3 years.
and then there was the broken axle, Pools winning dope smoking pommy, crocodile in our pool and more..... we do have fun on our trips.
Cheers