One of our neighbours here has been waiting for 6 weeks for his part to come from Melbourne!
And the graffiti in the picnic shelter adds to this...
But of course it won't happen to us.
At least the RACQ has been faultless! We have our accommodation and camping fees paid until Monday morning so far. We have our vehicle back now (although it is in limp mode) so we can live in it again.
We have a lovelly shady site and have our friends Stuart and Nira nearby. We have also met an Austrian couple travelling with their 20 yr old son. They are heading for the Cape too! and then across to the Kimberly. So we are spending quite a lot of time in loud (Austrians!) conversation, which is very entertaining but quite exhausting. And we are invited to stay in their place in Vienna!
The Austrian's vehicles which are imported from Europe, are aluminium (because of the salt used on the roads over there) so they are not concerned about being stuck here for the wet and then needing to take the vehicles back by barge. The salt spray shouldn't worry them at all. They also comment that in Europe there are no animals jumping out onto the road to run into, nor birds nor crocodiles nor snakes nor trees..... I think they are commenting on the abundance of wildlife we have here... They also mention amazement that we cook and eat together in camp kitchens, talk to our fellow campers etc. in Europe they keep to themselves. Aussie, Auzzie, Auzzie!!,!,
And of course we require some wine to facilitate spending all this time here. The local bottle shop is only able to sell cask wine between 5 and 6 pm. And then only 2 casks per person or vehicle. And much as we'd love to have bottled wine, that is not practical on 4wd drive tracks. And most evenings we have missed the 6 pm cutoff.
So the other night we decided to walk (10mins says the poster) to the other bottle shop which doesn't close until 8 pm. Walking, we thought, we allow us to get 2 casks each, stocking up for the next remote leg of our trip. The walk took a lot more than 10 mins (or seems to in the heat), and when we got there he said he can't sell it to is without a vehicle! (Drive through = vehicle). We were just about to admit defeat when a taxi van pulled up, someone jumped out and declared that we were with them! We had never seen this fellow before but he evidently understood our dilemna. So we were sold 2 casks each and got a lift back to the caravan park as well! Work that one out!
The revellers in the taxi van had hired a house boat for a week to go fishing, but had caught not 1 fish. This was their last night in Wiepa and they were celebrating before flying home tomorrow.
Stuart and Joe have been working on the bent and twisted steps. They have hammered them out (during which process Stuart sustained a lump of steel to the face with laceration between the eyebrows and on the chin!) and fitted the top two stairs back onto the vehicle. They seem to work fairly well with only a bit of a twist at the end of their travel. The bottom step is missing a couple of bolts so will be fitted later. In the meantime the footstool still has a place.
5th. November
Still in Wiepa! We heard yesterday that the part is in Rockhampton! Apparently it has taken this long for Fuso to locate a part, but it has not yet been posted to us! And it appears that we will have to pay the postage.... Apparently warranty parts are usually sent by road transport. So for a difference of say $20 it would be quite alright to leave us hanging about in Wiepa for who knows how long! Not happy! Not impressed with Fuso!
RACQ on the other hand has not missed a beat. They have paid our accommodation without complaint and in a very efficient manner. We are back in the villas last night and tonight -because we were expecting to have to take the vehicle to the service centre at short notice. After tonight our RACQ membership entitlement for accommodation comes to an end.
The view is helping to relieve our boredom!
This lodge is designed for fishing parties. There is a chef's kitchen ( not for our use -we just get a room and acces to the verandah, laundry, and lounge area) and the chef cooks for them night and morning. The current group is catch and release fishermen and yesterday they caught a large barramundie, and a large marlin! They also saw another large marlin swim under their boat! They were quite hyped up lasts night!
All of our friends have left us and gone on to the tip. I wonder if we will ever catch up with them!
We'd 6th November
Today is the day!!,! (We hope). Hopefully the part will arrive on the afternoon plane, and we'll be off sometime tomorrow. We have now exhausted our accommodation subsidy from RACQ and we have to move out of this luxurious lodge back into the camping area and our Earthcruiser. Not that we mind that but we have enjoyed the airconditioning whilst the temp outside was 38 degrees! And we've been entertained by the antics of some blue winged cookaburras on the verandah rails. That blue really is "kingfisher blue" and shines in the sun. I thought I'd seen them before but I can see I'm mistaken. This is so much more blue than the common kookaburra!
We have also been entertained by a Jabiru who wades across our view, in the ocean, every morning. He also displays, spreading his wings and leaping up put of the water. There is no other bird around so we figure he is practising or just having joie-de-vivre moments.
We heard last night that Zef is going to join us after his exams. So we are now trying to work out where will be the most convenient place to pick him up. Options are Iron Range, Wiepa, and Bamaga. It will depend on when we actually get away from here.
Ummm, - no not today!
Thursday 7th November,
YES! Today our part arrived.! Just 10 days after the diagnosis was made...... So in the morning we are to take the truck to the service centre. It will only take half an hour and we should be on our way!
Yeeeeeha!
8th November-yes!!!!!! The car is fixed and we are on our way to Lockhardt river/Iron Range. Palm cockatoos here we come!
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