My Kimberly trip..sorry if its a long story

[Hymie]

Went on a 3 week Kimberly odessy with the family, headed off in early June.
Headed up from Melbourne throught Adelaide and up the guts to Alice, turned hard left and followed the Tanami, veered right to Kununurra, doubled back to the Gibb River Rd and had a ball. 20th of June, it **sses down rain, the Gibb is closed, Fitzroy Crossing is booked out so off to Kununurra again as the Tanami is closed as well. Get to Doon Doon. CRAAANGGGG goes the gearbox,*uck goes Daddy. Limped to Kununurra in 4th, (the only cog that don't grind, squeal or grate.) VKS737 notified of the need for a possible tow which thankfully wasn't needed. Thanks for being there though Perth base. Guess what, Kununurra's booked out as well, no room at any Caravan Parks. Mechanic scratches his nuts with a greasy screwdriver and says,"Well, I can possibly get you a changeover ex Brisbane in 2 weeks for $2800.00", planets shuddered and satelites stopped in their orbits. 2 WEEKS!!!!!!! What kind of 3rd world backward place is this? Am I lucky to get the only english speaking mechanic in that part of W.A? Have they hidden their stills and Banjo's for the tourist season? 2 WEEKS!!!!
Ring Autotrans, how much to haul said car from Kununurra to Darwin? $600 you say, pick up tomorrow and car will be in Darwin in 3 Days, cool lets do it says I. Ring my Local Motor wreckers, "An LT77 and Tranfer case you say, freighted to Darwin, yep we can do that for $1950 inc freight and GST. ****er, rip it out box it up and I'll take it.
"Kids, how would you like to fly from here to Darwin on a big plane?" "Cool Daddy, let's go."
Lob in Darwin, Togs on by the pool necking VB's, Autotrans ring, "Cars here, where would you like it delivered Sir?" I name a workshop, 2 days later TNT ring, "Gotta big heavy box here for you mate, where do ya want it dropped orf?" I name the same workshop and drag my self away from the pool bar full of French backpackers who know how to fill out a Bikini nicely and head off to see how it's all going at the workshop. Cars on the hoist, good. Old R@@ted T/case and box sitting there, good. TNT truck pulls up 5 Mins later and drops off a schmick looking box with 120000 K on it.
A day and a half later it's bye bye Darwin and $5000 lighter.
But I'm nowhere near Kununurra.:)
First time in 150000K the Disco has let me down:(
I really was a great trip, it's a matter of perspective I guess.
I cant thank VKS737 enough for the knowledge that with a short chat help was a hand.
Warragul Motor Wreckers for really delivering, same goes to TNT and Autotrans.

[Bytemrk]

Good to here it all turned out alright..... even if it cost you slightly more than budgeted...


Mark

[away]

Am I missing something here?

You got an untried second-hand gearbox from a wrecker when you could have got a recon unit with a warranty for just $800 more. Then you paid for car shipment that would have made the price pretty much the same as buying the recon box anyway. Then you added airfares and accommodation to this.

Why didn't you just hire a car, stay at Wyndham and have a bit of a look around while they fixed it at Kununurra? Seems like you didn't save much time in the end either.

A quick phone call to Perth might have seen a gearbox at Kununurra in 5 days - the highway would have been open again before the truck got that far. In fact, I think the road was only closed for about 12 hours...I may be wrong.

Seems to me that the shutters went up and rationality went out the window.

Oh well, the joys of travel I guess?

[tombraider]

Am I missing something here?

You got an untried second-hand gearbox from a wrecker when you could have got a recon unit with a warranty for just $800 more. Then you paid for car shipment that would have made the price pretty much the same as buying the recon box anyway. Then you added airfares and accommodation to this.

Why didn't you just hire a car, stay at Wyndham and have a bit of a look around while they fixed it at Kununurra? Seems like you didn't save much time in the end either.

A quick phone call to Perth might have seen a gearbox at Kununurra in 5 days - the highway would have been open again before the truck got that far. In fact, I think the road was only closed for about 12 hours...I may be wrong.

Seems to me that the shutters went up and rationality went out the window.

Oh well, the joys of travel I guess?

Glad someone else said it before me...

[Hymie]

[QUOTE=away;564446]Am I missing something here?

>You got an untried second-hand gearbox from a wrecker when you could >have got a recon unit with a warranty for just $800 more. Then you paid for >car shipment that would have made the price pretty much the same as >buying the recon box anyway. Then you added airfares and accommodation >to this.

Yes.I bought a gearbox from a wrecker, a reco one was 2 weeks away remember, according to the only Mechanic in Kunnunurra who would touch a Landrover. Sever was his name, at East Kimberley motors.
Accommodation in Wyndham, Kununurra, Doon Doon, Turkey Creek was all gone. All of the SADS, (See Australia Die Soon) brigade had snapped up every bed with a roof over it and parked their campers out front.
Every hire car in Kununurra was booked out and more were being trucked in to meet the shortfall, which is how I came to get a reasonable backload to Darwin

>A quick phone call to Perth might have seen a gearbox at Kununurra in 5 >days - the highway would have been open again before the truck got that >far. In fact, I think the road was only closed for about 12 hours...I may be >wrong.

Perth, ahh theres another story.
A mob who advertise as being a big Discovery parts source in Perth didn't have an LT77, but they had an R380 in stock. **** hot says I, I'll have one of those.
"Sorry mate, we don't have any conversion kits left for them and they don't make them any more."
"Conversion kit? For What?"
"To fit a 380 into a 77 transfer case."
"WTF!!!! They fit straight in don't they?"
"Oh No, they are totally different"

Nar, I spent 16 years in the Army and I know when I'm being *ucked around.
Irrational is living under a tarp on the side of the road while it's raining with a Mrs and 2 kids complaining.
As you said, the joys of travel....

[barryj]

Was there no spot in the local show grounds in Kunnunurra?

[Hymie]

Was there no spot in the local show grounds in Kunnunurra?

Didn't try there, Mrs wanted Shower.
Have to file the idea away for future emergency accommodation though.

[barryj]

Didn't try there, Mrs wanted Shower.
Have to file the idea away for future emergency accommodation though.

We stayed at the caravan park across the road from the show grounds. There were several campers there who seemed to have good facilities. What type of accommodation were you after?

Shame you had mechanical problems. I was concerned that if we broke down we would be on our own. We went in April\May a couple of years ago so accommodation was not an issue. It was just after a cyclone went over the top so the grey nomads were still on their southern migration.

[Hymie]

We stayed at the caravan park across the road from the show grounds. There were several campers there who seemed to have good facilities. What type of accommodation were you after?

Shame you had mechanical problems. I was concerned that if we broke down we would be on our own. We went in April\May a couple of years ago so accommodation was not an issue. It was just after a cyclone went over the top so the grey nomads were still on their southern migration.

We had a rooftop tent and were after a Cabin or even a ****ty motel room, we could have lived in the tent if we had to but even all of the unpowered camping sites were taken in the tows caravan parks as the tour buses had to pull their tours out of the Gibb River Road and had snaffled everything. Coming into town from Wyndham, every flat bit on the side of the road was full of Campervans and Caravans for around 5 kilometers out of town.
A bit hard to put the roof top up in the workshop:)

I accept mechanical problems as part of the journey and I am glad it rained, otherwise I would probably have hung a right at Halls Creek and headed to Alice via the Tanami. An enforced stay on the Tanami and a tow from Rabbit Flat would have made an interesting story too Iguess:(

My main gripe is the fact that for a car as, dare I say as common, as a Landrover, a gearbox replacement should take 2 weeks?
I bet I could get one quicker in Botswana!

[barryj]

We had a rooftop tent and were after a Cabin or even a ****ty motel room, we could have lived in the tent if we had to but even all of the unpowered camping sites were taken in the tows caravan parks as the tour buses had to pull their tours out of the Gibb River Road and had snaffled everything. Coming into town from Wyndham, every flat bit on the side of the road was full of Campervans and Caravans for around 5 kilometers out of town.
A bit hard to put the roof top up in the workshop:)

I accept mechanical problems as part of the journey and I am glad it rained, otherwise I would probably have hung a right at Halls Creek and headed to Alice via the Tanami. An enforced stay on the Tanami and a tow from Rabbit Flat would have made an interesting story too Iguess:(

My main gripe is the fact that for a car as, dare I say as common, as a Landrover, a gearbox replacement should take 2 weeks?
I bet I could get one quicker in Botswana!

Wow, what a tourist boom for the area.

I can see why toymotors are the preferred beast up there. I really felt out in the cold so to speak on our trip. Land Rovers were a rare sight all the way to Broome and back. I remember one Land Rover sign on a building in Broome and I should have taken a pic of it.

[Jerry 68]

Sorry about your bad luck.

I know first hand the problems you faced. The whole camping and accomodation was gridlocked due to the Gibb River Travellers taking up all available accomodation in both the West and East Kimberley.
The PCYC overflow park in Broome went from empty to over 200 people in 48hours due to the flooding on the GRR.

And I can imagine the problems with getting help with a Landie as I own one and if it isnt a cruiser then the so called mechanics just make derogatory remarks and tell you to buy a cruiser!!

I had two Grey Nomad friends of my parents on the front lawn for a few days as did quite a few others in Broome. We dont mind helping as we may need the same hospitality in their neck of the woods one day.

[Bigbjorn]

I can see why toymotors are the preferred beast up there. I really felt out in the cold so to speak on our trip. Land Rovers were a rare sight all the way to Broome and back. I remember one Land Rover sign on a building in Broome and I should have taken a pic of it.

Perhaps over thirty years neglect by the manufacturer of product support, of dealers appointed by quality, and of enforcement of dealership standards may have something to do with this?

[Michael2]

In Kununurra the Land Rover agent was (not sure if it still is) the Caterpillar Agent. He stocked consumables (filters etc). The Toyota Dealership also only stocked consumables. Even though it was common for Toyota Troopies to break their diff housings, the Toyota dealer always flew one in overnight instead of keeping a couple in stock.

It doesn't really matter what you drive, anything major is going to get freighted in. The Toyota dealer would just as easily order in Land Rover parts as Toyota parts.

The best thing when travelling is to have a ready list of suppliers, if you break down, it's just a matter of a couple of phone calls and the item can get freighted up. If it's too heavy to post, see if a local workshop can order it in from your source, using their freight account.

The only items that have ever brought me unstuck in the bush have been a Marks 4WD gearbox and parabolic springs (I'd imported from the UK), so there was no way to get parts.

Another thing to do is go to an internet cafe' (or library) and log onto www.aulro.com and post a HELP notice. If you can't, call someone at home and get them to log in and post it for you. You'd be surprised how many members are out there, or where they may have contacts.

[weeds]

Am I missing something here?

You got an untried second-hand gearbox from a wrecker when you could have got a recon unit with a warranty for just $800 more. Then you paid for car shipment that would have made the price pretty much the same as buying the recon box anyway. Then you added airfares and accommodation to this.

Why didn't you just hire a car, stay at Wyndham and have a bit of a look around while they fixed it at Kununurra? Seems like you didn't save much time in the end either.

A quick phone call to Perth might have seen a gearbox at Kununurra in 5 days - the highway would have been open again before the truck got that far. In fact, I think the road was only closed for about 12 hours...I may be wrong.

Seems to me that the shutters went up and rationality went out the window.

Oh well, the joys of travel I guess?

geez you guys are tough, sometimes in a crisis one does not think straight

my parents bustered a spring on there camper trailer 70km out of birdsville, with no mechanical knowledge at all they forked out nearlly $1000 to have two leaf springs fitted, i couldn't believe what i was hearing but he was happy as he was back on the road in two days

good points out of the experience

RACQ ULTRA pickup the recovery and accomodation
trailer insurance picked up most of the repairs including a damaged rim
trailer manufacturer chipped in a few dollars

[mns488]

geez you guys are tough, sometimes in a crisis one does not think straight


I agree, i remember when we broke our gearbox out in the danggali park (S/A), we used the HF and called for help at which a guy with a trailor came and got us and gave us a choice: either be towed to broken hill or renmark.

We chose broken hill as it was going our direction.

Problem was it was a public holiday in NSW whereas it wasn't in renmark S/A. The next day was the weekend...:(

But you play the cards your dealt the best way you can, and we bought a box from S/A and had it couried to our motel and we were sitting at the mechanics on monday morning with a broken car and new gearbox ready to go in.

Back on the road in 4 days... :)

[Hymie]

geez you guys are tough, sometimes in a crisis one does not think straight

my parents bustered a spring on there camper trailer 70km out of birdsville, with no mechanical knowledge at all they forked out nearlly $1000 to have two leaf springs fitted, i couldn't believe what i was hearing but he was happy as he was back on the road in two days

good points out of the experience

RACQ ULTRA pickup the recovery and accomodation
trailer insurance picked up most of the repairs including a damaged rim
trailer manufacturer chipped in a few dollars


Err, thanks I think Weeds, nice to get some RAEME support without an EMEFIX.

[weeds]

Err, thanks I think Weeds, nice to get some RAEME support without an EMEFIX.

No worries.......you better by a goffa when you next pass my GMV

[Hymie]

No worries.......you better by a goffa when you next pass my GMV

As an ex 226, the currency of the realm is usually a slab;)

[GregTD5]

I thought some of you guys were a bit harsh on your comments there. Sounds like it worked out well at the end the end of the day.
No where to stay in Kununurra, as well as a 2 week wait. Kids get a flight to Darwin and old man gets to look at backpackers, whilst drinking beer. Now thats priceless!!
After some of those responses, I guess Hymie and a few others will now be reluctant to post their experiences for the rest of the forum.

Greg

[barryj]

I guess after all has been said and done a suggestion is that we all should consider posting a thread on this site before we set off for a long trip. This way willing and able members could be available to assist those who might come to grief.

Another option would be to make sure we have auto club cover that covers us for emergency breakdown. At least this way the passengers and vehicle would be transported to our home base where we could get the vehicle repaired by someone we trust.

In the case of this thread, all went well in the end although the vehicle is now fitted with second hand parts and may fail again.

Bottom line ..... holidays is (sic) holidays no matter what happens.

As they say .... a bad day on holidays is better than a good day at work (or was it fishing?)