East Coast South to North

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Monday 18th July 2011 Archer River Roadhouse to Weipa

Archer River was a great stopping place and we set off with renewed energy after a good night’s sleep for Weipa (except for Phil, who had a puncture in his air mattress, since repaired with good old duct (just as good as gaffa) tape. Unfortunately, 25 kms down the road, Phil’s day got worse when a stone from a passing 4WD shattered the old safety glass windscreen of the 404. We spent morning tea break pushing out the little bits of glass, and Mike used his trusty Dustbuster (he came prepared!) to vacuum up what fell in the car. With Phil in the lead (so as not to eat too much dust) we went on to Weipa. In Weipa, Nigel and Phil went to the RACQ mechanic, who sent them to the Smash Repair shop. Smash Repairs tried several windscreens they had, but none would fit a 404 Peugeot! They went to the local cabinetmaker, who in one and a half hours made them a beautiful polycarbonate screen, which is quite strong, and sealed, the only downside being that you can’t use windscreen wipers on it as they would scratch. Luckily it doesn’t rain much up here at the moment. It’s good to see everyone else on the trip again, and once more be part of the big group. At 5:04 drinks we had a huge circle and lots of talk!

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Photos

Archer River
The dry side of the crossing

Archer River
The Wet Side

Blue 404 minus windscreen
It's on the road

Mine Truck Crossing at Weipa
Like a Railway Crossing but with a road and trucks!

Windscreen-less duo
Very dusty, but they made it