Thread: Outback QLD Part 1

Well despite Murphy and his law we finally departed in a westerly direction out of Brisbane at 10.45 on the Saturday morning, mind you this was after being hooked up with the trailer and house locked ready to go at 6.45 that morning. I started to think that this trip was never going to occur because almost every possible drama had occurred in the previous weeks to prevent us getting away.

First there was work who decided after talking about it for nearly 12 months to send me to the US for 3 and a bit weeks only returning 5 days before our departure, then there was Andrea's operation which was scheduled for the week before I left for the US and the uncertainty of how well and quickly she would recover, not to mention the medical bills that ate into the holiday funds. But it didn't end there, when I arrived back from the US I found the main battery was dead as the car had been idle for about 4 weeks, that’s ok I thought I'll just jump start it off the auxiliary battery but I couldn't get it to turn over???? Anyway being pushed for time I just put the main battery on charge overnight and forgot all about it (first mistake) then next last minute drama was with the breeder who had promised to baby-sit the dog, although she had about 3 months notice when we took the dog to her she wasn't sure if she could now mind it as she had 2 bitches with new litters and all the dogs were very testy so we waited patiently the first night to see if we had to totally change travel plans (national park visits, etc would have to be deleted) luckily after 2 days of snapping and fighting she thought it might be ok for the dog to stay but said she would call if not (didn't have the heart to say that once we were west of Toowoomba the phones probably wouldn't work anyway).

The final straw that almost broke the camels back happened just as I was doing a quick fluid check on the Saturday morning we were departing, I noticed that the Traxide SC40 was flashing, thinking straight away that the main battery problem I had happen early in the week and forgotten about was back to bite me. The dilemma was what action to take, should I head off anyway and hope it was just not charged enough during the week (didn’t really get used since the flat battery was recharged) or drop into a battery place in one of the towns to get it checked but I thought it safest to get it replaced before we left, so wait for the local battery world shop to open and with trailer in tow we pulled up to have him load test the battery, his answer was nah mate she's fine, my response was huh how can that be, then I thought back to the auxiliary battery being unable to jump start the car, a quick load test showed the 7 month old deep cycle auxiliary battery wasn't holding load, that’s ok I said it's still under warranty, but unfortunately Supercharge batteries weren’t open on Saturdays so back to Battery world for a replacement. Well they didn't have a deep cycle that capacity to fit the Discos battery tray, so I asked if he had a replacement cranking battery as mine was a few years old and would eventually need to be replaced and I would get the deep cycle replaced under warranty when we got back giving me two new batteries. To cut a long story short we eventually headed west over 4 hours after the original departure time.


Disappointed with the late departure and the busy Saturday morning shopping traffic the decision was made to drive as far as we could and just have a late quick overnight stop, as we were not sure how the Disco would travel with the trailer on we decided to just play our overnight destination by ear. With a few k's under the belt and all traveling better than anticipated we were soon at the foot of the Toowoomba range, and with the 300TDi on song an assault was made, this was going fantastic as I left 2 Cruiser 100 series towing vans behind and was maintaining a good 70-80kms on most parts of the climb, however about 2 thirds of the way up I noticed the temp gauge begin to climb as well as the car and decided to back off and just cruise the rest of the way up, and although it never got any hotter on the climb it was a smart decision as there was a boy in blue towards the top with his radar out and managed to nab the blue Monaro that passed me doing about 100 plus. This was the only time the temp gauged ever moved for the entire trip, despite dragging about a ton of camper trailer behind us all the way.

As daylight disappeared we pulled into the Major Mitchell Caravan Park at Mitchell only to be told they were full but if we wanted we could squeeze into the showground for $8 inc hot showers (although they are bore water and smell like your washing in the septic tank) when we got to the showground there was already a dozen or so camps set up but plenty of space for another 100 so we picked our spot and setup camp for the night, luckily if was just about dark and no one could see us trying to get the camper up for the first time. Surprisingly despite being dark it all came together easily and before long a beer or two was cracked and dinner on the stove and the realisation that despite Mr Murphy’s laws we were on the road at last.

Great stuff. Glad to know we're not the only ones to have troubles leading up to departure. Keep the tale and photos coming.
Perry