Adelaide & Halls Gap 2016

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Day 1 (26/8/2016)

Got up at 3:45am, departed home at 4:20am. Left early to avoid any potential traffic & get a good head start. Got near Ballarat to rain & heavy fog that reduced visibility to about 200m. Slowed down to suit the conditions until we passed out the other side of Ballarat where the fog vanished. It was like travelling through some sort of strange time warp on a distant planet. No wonder they say Ballarat is another world!

Arrived at Ararat at 8:20 am, stopping for breakfast & to have a break to read the paper. Resumed travel, arriving at Horsham at 9:25am. Filled up with diesel @ $1.18.9, having travelled 344km @ 8.9L/100km. Fill up took 46.9L.

Back on the road again, taking our time & monitoring the new Diesel Engine Scanner from Berrima Diesel. Constantly getting a readout on coolant temperature & manifold pressures as well as battery voltage. A very useful gadget allows you to keep an eye on your vehicle to ensure that all is going well.

Arrived at Keith at 11.35am SA time to stop for lunch. Enjoying the leg stretch & break from constant concentration on the road. Since things were going well, we rang ahead to see if we could get an extra night in Adelaide by going straight through. After getting the green light we set off again.

We arrived in Adelaide at 4:20pm. A quick setup of the annexe & out with the deck chairs for a couple of well earned drinks.

Total time on the road was 11 hours, having travelled 778km.

Grabbed some fish for dinner before falling into bed & a decent nights sleep.





Day 2 (27/8/2016)

Woke up to freezing cold at about 3am, putting the heater on for the rest of the morning until we got up around 8:30am. Had some toast for breakfast, finding a hair in one piece. Gross! Put the hair in a clip lock bag to take back with the bread for a refund later. Good quality food standards, not!!!

Checked under the bonnet all the cars fluids after the long trip. Then it was off to Harbour Town at West Beach, with Deb bagging a couple of $1 bargain clothing items. I have no idea how she keeps finding these bloody bargains! Did a bit of grocery shopping & returned the bread plus hair. Got a punnet of strawberries for free, plus the refund for the bread along with many apologies.

Had a quick bite for lunch before heading out to Greenwith to purchase a set of 17” rims for the Nissan Pathfinder. Encountered some massive roadworks on the way, along with a plethora of woeful Adelaide drivers. Never seen so many idiots in such a short period of time. One guy doing 20kmh in a 60 zone in front, another a taxi overtaking me on a domestic street at about 70% over the speed limit. Several more crossing 3 lanes at a time without looking; worst drivers I have encountered at once.

Met a nice guy called Jason & bought the rims. Should give the Pathfinder an even better ride when the time comes to change tyres. On the way back called into Allingtons looking for a hat as my old ones have had it. Never seen so many Akubras in one store before. Ended up buying a different brand as I could not bring myself to part with $140 odd for an Akubra. Deb got a nice pink shirt of decent quality for a really good price, so very happy with the day’s purchases!

Back to the van to properly secure the rims in the back of the car with some ratchet straps from Bunnings while Deb put on some Tandoori chicken nibblies. While they were cooking I whacked on some pasta & after much snaffling down these tasty morsels & quaffing some drinks we settled down to a bit of internet. WRONG!!! Telstra Broadband modem not working. Seems the SIM card has crapped itself, so off to a Telstra shop tomorrow morning before the big family lunch.

Time for a hot cuppa & another good nights sleep!



Day 3 (28/8/2016)

Got up to a beautiful morning & walk on the path alongside the beach before going to Telstra at West Lakes to get the broadband modem sorted out. Waited 30 minutes to see someone despite being the first person in line waiting for the next available salesperson. After several clueless looks at the screen, the salesman rang the call centre who proceeded to make excuses & several offers that were not acceptable. I advised them that I put 16GB of credit on for 2 years & had used 1GB & expected 15GB for 2 years as what I was entitled to. (They had offered 10GB for 1 year, then 10GB for 2 years before finally relenting & giving me 16GB for 2 years). That all up was 1 hour of our time we will never get back.

From there we went to Deb’s Aunties 70^th birthday party at the Alberton Hotel. All her cousins & rellies were there, with much reminiscing over old photos & a few drinks with plenty of good food. The looks of surprise when we walked in were the reason why we kept it quiet that we were attending. Nothing like the effect of shock followed by a smile on someones face when you turn up unannounced. Back to Aunty Maureens house for a cuppa & more food (if we could fit it in & more chat), before retreating back to the caravan.

A very enjoyable day indeed with Deb & I both tuckered out. Tonight we will be planning the rest of the week in Adelaide as we catch up with several friends & family.

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