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Published: August 29th 2010
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So Wednesday morning came and we were keen to be on our way but the car was still at the garage. The water pump was fitted but there was still a problem and the mechanic diagnosed that there was now an issue with the starter motor. He thought we might eventually need a new one but we needed to be in a bigger town to give us a chance of getting one swiftly. We were well past Wagga Wagga, the nearest big town, so we decided that, once he got the car started, we would try and make our way towards Warwick. Eventually the car was started (I think the mechanic was as pleased to see the back of us as we were to be on our way!) so we loaded up our bags again and set off.
The car went really well (not including a tea break stop in Forbes when it wouldn’t start again without the help of the good old RACV!) and we were relieved when we made it as far as Dubbo where we had planned to stop for the night. We stayed at the ‘Shearing Shed’ which, in spite of the great name, was a
run of the mill motel. But Dubbo is a very impressive, modern city which we liked a lot and which gave us a good chance of finding a starter motor. After settling in we had a short stroll and found an Indian Takeaway/café and enjoyed a pretty good meal there. We knew the car wouldn’t start the next morning so we were beginning to plan ahead - we desperately wanted to get to David’s by Friday before he set off for Tanzania on Saturday.
As we feared, the car was completely dead when Graham tried it on Thursday morning so the RACV (NSW equivalent) were called and they soon arrived. They too said that the starter motor was the problem and by now it was so big a problem that they couldn’t start the car at all!! It would have to go to the garage on a truck - poor PIE. How sad that PIE was to suffer the same ignominious fate as Sweetie (the caravan) had done with Sarah and Darryl. Oh well, c’est la vie!! Within half an hour PIE was being transported to the garage, with Daphne and I cadging a lift in the truck -
Graham had gone on ahead with the “call out” mechanic. Whilst the garage staff were deciding what to do we spent an hour or so looking around the new and impressive shopping mall which was a few minutes walk away.
We eventually wandered back but they were still trying to get a replacement starter motor. An official one would need to be shipped from Sydney, would take ages to arrive and would cost a small fortune. The alternative was to let them “ring round” to see if they could locate a match locally, but they couldn’t say how long this would take. So we made the decision to hire a car, get to Warwick and sort PIE out later. Naively we thought we might get there that night but we set off quite late and it really is not advisable to drive at dusk or in the dark in country areas in Aus because that’s when kangaroos are most active (and the excess insurance on the hire car was really excessive). The hire car arrived and with it came the rain making driving a little more tricky. Graham drove further than he really felt comfortable with in the dark
to enable us to get to Moree. Upon our arrival we tried a couple of motels but they were full and I was gleefully told that we’d be lucky to find a room because the ‘Variety Bashers’ were in town. There were "NO VACANCY" signs everywhere but fortunately it was third or fourth time lucky even though there were Bashers’ here as well. Just as we had checked in a loud and colourful firework display started so we wandered towards where we thought it was coming from and had a good view. If we had got there earlier we could have gone to a free concert that featured John Williamson, a very famous Aussie singer. Coincidently, we had been listening to CDs by John that our table tennis pal, Steve Charlwood, had given us back in the UK - good one Steve! John was part of the Bashers who were making their way to Byron Bay from Sydney via inland towns raising millions of dollars for under privileged children. The cars/trucks/buses they travel in have to be manufactured in or before 1974 but they need to be reliable (!), able to go on dirt roads and they are usually brightly
painted. There were about 130 of these vehicles and more than 300 people to be found beds in Moree - no wonder we struggled to find somewhere!
But we slept well and continued our journey on Friday morning, stopping for a break in Goondiwindi - another very pleasant country town. We finally arrived at David’s house (the end of the rainbow!) at about 1pm - we were really pleased to be there and to see David - it was good to be back. David has a very comfortable house on the leafy slopes overlooking the town although quite a few new houses have been built in the area since we were last there. Although it gets cold at night the days at the moment are beautiful so we set off to walk into town and enjoy some fresh air after being stuck in the car for so long.
It was great to catch up with David and we spent the evening chatting about our adventures and his impending trip to Africa and enjoying the turkey lasagne he had made for us.
We know we’ll enjoy our stay in Warwick.
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Darryl and Sarah
Wallaby Wanderers
Lots of variety!
Oh no, poor you ... poor PIE! Fingers crossed all is well when you pick her up again. Great that you encountered the Variety Bashers. We met them (complete with Leo Sayer!) at Lawn Hill last year and then again in Alice Springs and then again at Uluru! They're mad but lovely. Hope you weren't staying too close to them or you would have experienced the 5.30am air horn to set them all off in the morning!! Lots of love to you both and Daph x x x x