Morning all
This is the lead up and travel report from
Melbourne to the KI
campsite.
Your wouldn’t believe the issues/events that befell my good self to the aforementioned
campsite and back to
Melbourne again - trip from hell.
Background:
I had a CT built for me in
Sydney at the beginning of 06 which was a disaster in more ways than one. (Will be the subject of another post)
Took me months to find someone in
Melbourne competent and willing to have a go at fixing up which I did just prior to the KI trip and he only had enough time to to alter fix the very urgent things that needed doing so that I got it back with 4 days to get it in some sort of order (from brand new) before heading off.
Also No 1 daughter due to have first baby and SWMBO in a right royal hormonal tizz.
Events:
Work like a ‘bass-turd’ to wee hours of ea night/morning and manage to obtain, fit and cable/wire up two deep cycle batteries in front tool/battery box, so that they charge from thew vehicle and supply the new fridge.
Install the new fridge slide and find out (at 2.00am)that ‘Mr Constructor’ from
Sydney has ‘missed by 5mm on the rear door and the mother f****** fridge lid can’t be opened properly. If I had hair it would be laying on the garage floor.
I had contracted cellulitis ( Streptococcus infection) in the right knee a few days previously and the Dr wants to put me in Hospital. – NO! way José’ as I have forked out $500 in ferry fees up front.
No. 1 daughter who is a specialist nurse at
Monash med centre, who has been harassing me about the knee on the phone (how serious it can get) rings up on Wednesday afternoon and get in first with blast about her being Ms Medical ‘stalker’ and to leave me alone – when she informs me that for the past x number of hours she has been in labour and just had a son. (Doh!)
Sooooooo! Everything hits pandemonium gear between SWMBO, No2 daughter and other prick relos to see who can get to the hospital first to see and hold said grandson first.
Seconds, minutes, hours ticking by whilst this goes on.
Finish all I can do at 4.—am Friday morning and go to sleep.
Get up and start packing by 11.00am and finally get away at 4.00pm
Melbourne time.
Exactly 10hours later than planned. Supposed to have met up with Roachie in some Nat
Park opposite
Kangaroo Island about this time.
Obviously not going to happen so I make the first of many phone calls.
Wave good bye to SWMBO ( nothing is going to get her move away from that new baby) and swing out onto the
Monash freeway.
Hmmmmm! Feels as if those electric trailer brakes are on – nup! Weren’t before, couldn’t be now.
Get down to Warrigal road and the Freeway is a standstill ‘car
park’. Dial up UHF 40 and it is fairly humming – big prang on Westgate Bridge has brought the whole system to a standstill at peak hour on a Friday afternoon/evening. (second phone call to Roachie)
Half hour later manage to get off it and by this time the electric brake situation was starting to heat up metaphorically at this point in time. Chit! Was that smoke coming out of that drivers side wheel. Nup! Couldn’t be as I am only creeping along and when I engage the clutch it is still rolling under its own momentum.
Finally two hours after leaving home I am in the centre of
Melbourne where I can stop and check this b l o o d y trailer wheel.
Get out and the smell of burning brakes/metal was wafting everywhere.
End up using the Hi-lift jack in extreme anger and back the brakes off as the drivers side hub in red hot and the other one is warm. (Roachie Phone call)
Head off again and finally get onto the Tullamarine Freeway – No worries now 100Kph from here on. Yeah! Right, the new Essendon Airport interchange currently being constructed has the peak hour outbound traffic down to 20kph and backed up to Moonee Valley race track. (Roachie Phone call)
Will it never end.
I finally get out of the city and to Ballan (just prior to
Ballarat) at 8.00pm – yes, 4 hours later. Should only take 1hr at worst. Pull into the big BP MacDonnells servo and check that drivers side CT wheel hub.
Holeeeeeeeee! Chit batman it sizzle by fingertip the same way that a hot iron does.
Other side was warm but OK.
By this time I am thinking I am going to have to pull the hub off and have a look. No problems, Hi-Lift again, wheel off, now for that bearing cap.
Try as I did I couldn’t get that sucker off – all of a sudden long forgotten school science comes back to me – HOT THINGS EXPAND d**head. So 10 x 500ml bottles of
water later after much boiling off and steam I can actually put my hand on the hub and the cap comes off.
All looked OK. Oodles of grease etc. Hmmmm I’ll just undo
the nut and see what I can see. Where is that 12in shifter – yep! Still sitting on
the bench where I put it to make sure I packed it.
However I had a piece of copper ‘bus-bar’ which I used as a drift and backed
the nut off one crenulated sector. Also pulled the electric brake fuse.
All back together, clean up, have Macca’s for late tea and get going. (Roachie update phone call and last one)
From there to
Tailem Bend no more problems (but many checks of hub which was now running freezing cold). Refuel, cross river on ferry and head off to
Cape Jervis Ferry Station. Arr 5.00pm and crawl in the back and go to sleep.(15 & ½ hours of torture)
Meet the YP 4WD club crew , board ferry and travel to
Kangaroo Island without incident.
By this time the crook leg has blown up further despite me gobbling the prescribed super antibiotics every 6 hours on the hour. (didn’t look pretty)
The Doctor actually came ‘unglued’ when he found out I was driving to SA and not flying like he thought I was. (Ah!
Well chit happens I suppose)
We all meet up on KI and convoy to the
camp site when the disasters start again.
I go to open the roof top tent on the CT and discover that the ‘plicks’ who removed it some time ago for something or other had put it on back to front. 2 and ½ hrs later with the help of Mr & Mrs Muddy Doe I turned it 180Deg’s, re-aligned it and re-fixed it to the trailer.
Getting dark must set up that power pack battery with the aux lights. Yep! You guessed it, still sitting home where I put it to make sure I didn’t forget it. Pesty came helped out there with another versa light with a long extended cable on it.
All I can say is, thank the lord I had the Troopy with me as it has had 6 years of ‘shake downs’ and ended up being thew ‘electronics’ centre/platform fore me.
Later on I went to take the TREG hitch off , and found out I needed a 12in shifter and we now know where that was. Hendy from Kadina came up trumps with the required item.
All helpers were Toyota owner drivers which saved me from being at the mercy of athe Nissan brigade.
Had a great week ( separate post)
On the way home stopped at Nhill to refuel and get a drink out of the Troopy’s fridge.
Nearly to Horsham and think I’ll have tea soon and as it was getting dark I flicked on the lights.
Hell! What’s that thing stuck out to the passenger side of the vehicle – took awhile but finally identified as the small swing out jerry can holder on the Kaymar rear bar.
Nearly to Pimpinio , so I continue and stop there and get out to see what awaits me.
The rear Anderson plug for the trailer power terminates on that swing out holder and yes it had disconnected from the trailer with the result being that the trailer Anderson plug terminal looked like it had been held on a grinder until only a fraction of the power cable pin was left and everything else had disappeared.
Taped it up and headed for home and arrived without any further ado.