Finally Fixed

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The last few days have been lovely and relaxing. We’ve enjoyed the Apostle Birds each morning (and sometimes in the afternoon, too) and the whole parade of birds and animals. I got the washing done (but not the ironing as there’s no board)and got most of the backlog of my Blog from August up to date as well as doing the current ones.

We haven’t had telephone reception as there is no Optus but Barry bought $20 of data from United WiFi so we were able to email friends and family, especially Stacey, as it was her 30^th birthday on Wednesday. She’d had a big Sci-Fi themed party at a hired venue last weekend and we were able to also look at her Facebook photos, which was wonderful.

The showers at night have been interesting, with Cane Toads all over the area near the ablutions block. Barry even found one in his shower stall last night and picked it up in paper towel and tossed it in the bin (don’t know why he didn’t move to another one – hopeless character). I can’t imagine it stayed there long.

We also saw a very colourful iridescent blue/green wasp with all three segments of its body gleaming in the sun. I’ve never seen one like it before and it didn’t hang around for me to photograph – I’ll have to look it up.

The mechanic was successful in getting the parts for the suspension while he was in Darwin and even got better quality ones than those that had failed, which was good and made Barry happy. He came around at 8.30am with the truck lifter carried on the tines of a forklift. (I thought he was going to lift the van up on the forklift – but no – he just used it as a transporter for his tools). He had it all finished by 11am, although he hadn’t put grease into the nipples. He disappeared to do another job so Barry put on his orange paper overalls (from the Hard Times Mine Tour) and did it himself. It took him longer than he’d hoped as the rattle gun had done the nuts up so tight the grease wouldn’t go in. Barry had to work hard to back them off a bit. He finally got a little in and hopes more will work in as we drive.

I wasn’t allowed inside the van while it was being worked on, of course, so I took all my Blog stuff and the new notebook over to the undercover outdoor eating area and worked from the tables there. It was very hot, despite the shade and the fans. I was glad when I could get back to the air-conditioning in the van!



With everything fixed now we can move on tomorrow. I shall miss feeding my Apostle Birds.

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Photos

Wonderful Water Tanks
The water tanks at the Hi-way Inn were beautifully painted on all sides. What a lovely idea - so much better than bare concrete!

Fixing the Suspension
Barry "helping" the mechanic to fix the suspension on the van.

The Perfect Tool Carrier
The mechanic came from his workshop on a forklift truck to fix the van. He used it to carry his tools and the vehicle jack. Saves heavy lifting!

One Very Big Load
This flatbed truck stopped to fill up at the Hi-way Inn. It was carrying some sort of massive mining machine on the back. You see some strange loads going up the Stuart Highway!

Who's the Boss?
Two of the Apostle Birds that we regularly saw (and fed) decided to have a tussle for supremacy, watched by the rest of the family. They rolled on their backs and locked feet until one finally submitted. Then all was peaceful again.