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After doing some Toyota fault finding and web forum searching, radiator flushing and "a lot" of crawling around, under and everywhere else we packed up and headed toward Albany, but alas that heat gauge began to rise again. After a couple of middle of no where emergency stops we were able to slowly roll into Albany and in particular to the Middleton Beach Caravan Park.
Odyssey Issue No. – Car overheating
Matt knuckled down to contacting mechanics whilst the girls and I were keen to explore what activities the park had to offer on another wet and rainy day.
What we found were:
· Pool
· Heated spa
· Games room
· Camp kitchen with flat screen TV
We were certainly impressed by the facilities and of course the girls were straight off to the pool and spa.
As the rain and wind continued, the poor Prado was driven off to the mechanics and we are left to await the bad news. Yup, as unfortunately Matt’s diagnosis is correct and the head is cracked and needs to be replaced. Just a minor $4000 job, not quite in the trip budget! However, on
the positive side we are so grateful that we were able to get to a town with a mechanic and the replacement parts, much preferable to being stuck out in the bush.
We all loaded into our little courtesy car and headed out to Albany’s Whaleworld Museum. The tour took us through the history of whaling in Albany, as we walked through the old factory site and explored the old whaling ship. This experience was educational but also so sad at the same time to know how many whales were captured and killed here. All in all, it was a good learning experience and so amazing to see huge whale skeletons to help us gauge just how big these amazing creatures really are.
The rain continued to fall but we spent our days visiting the farmers markets, the book store, relaxing in the spa and hanging out in the games room. The girls learnt some new skills, how to play pool, table tennis, air hockey and pin ball.
Sunday was Mother’s Day and after breakfast in Jayco Bed and a quiet morning in the van, still raining, we headed out for a drive to Ironwood winery and
enjoyed some wine tasting and lunch. As evening fell, we had dinner in the camp kitchen by the potbelly stove and lined up to watch TV for the first time in over a month, Kianna’s favourite ”The Voice”.
Still another day before the car will be ready so we head out to explore Albany’s Blowhole’s and Nature’s Bridge. Amazingly the rain did stop for a bit so we popped on the wetties and went for a paddle at Middleton Beach, out to jump off the jetty and swim to the pontoon.
Tuesday morning, five days after our arrival, the mechanics call and Prado is fixed and ready for us. Yeah, we do the car swap, pay the mega bucks and then we are on the road again.
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