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Published: August 8th 2012
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Disabled
Our poor disabled van. Today was a very interesting day. After another cold start, -4.4 degrees C according to the weather bureau, we set of on the final leg of our journey north. Once the sun came up, the day warmed up quickly. We were wearing short sleeves and had the air conditioner on not far into our journey.
We got lost in Toowoomba following the directions from our GPS. Eventually we gave up on Simon (he's a bit on the simple side) and found our own way.
All was progressing nicely until I heard a noise sounding like a bang followed by a tinkling sound. We were lucky that we were in a position that we could pull over safely and investigate. First Frank checked inside the van. All was well. An inspection underneath found disaster. On of the springs had broken through two leaves and a third leaf had been broken for a while. If you are going to have a malfunction, the best place to do it is on the outskirts of a little village with a twenty-four hour free camping area (with toilets) only one hundred metres away. Maidenwells is such a place. Frank unhitched the van, jacked it
Broken spring
This shows the damaged spring. up, took of the two wheels and removed the broken spring, while I researched where we could find a replacement. There is a lot to be said for mobile wireless internet and tablets with losing battery life. I rang a trailer supply place in Kingaroy who didn't have the right size we needed but thought we would get by with what they had. Forty minutes later we were looking at a trailer spring that was not going to be suitable without a lot of modifications. "Is there somewhere else in town who may be able to help" I asked. Maybe the caravan repairer? While the man went to look up the number, he also took another phone call and had a very lengthy chat. Honestly, these people are so casual and have absolutely no sense of urgency. Thank God for smart phones. While he was still looking, I had looked up the number and put Frank on the phone to talk to the repairman. We couldn't believe our luck. He had exactly what we needed and was in the area. He had ordered one from Melbourne for a customer and decided to get two to keep one as a spare.
Old and new
the new spring with the broken one. Our next surprise was the price. $88.00. We would have paid more without any argument. He was concerned that he had to charge us so much. What an honest man. A big thank you to Denis from Denis's Caravan Repairs in Kingaroy.
Frank has just finished putting it all back together and is doing another minor maintenance job and the job is done. the next thing is to get all the grease out of his hair that he accidently rubbed against.
It is five o'clock and the sun is going down and the currawongs are calling. We will stay here and free camp, have dinner at the pub down the road and head off for Hervey Bay in the morning.
As numerous people have said, it is not a Sady holiday without a few dramas. This is true, but the dramas cause a lot of anxiety.
Addit: We had dinner at the pub over the road. We both ordered mixed grills. I have never had such a huge meal presented to me. Sitting on a plate of chips was one steak, two fore-quarter chops, two sausages, two rashers of bacon, two fried eggs and two fried
Under repair
Frank replacing the spring. Lucky he is capable. tomatoes. Here we were worried that we had forgotten to buy dogfood. Frank reckons the doggie bag we bought home weighs about 500 gms.
All's well that ends well.
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