…Continued

11^th July  – 12th July 2024

Eleven kilometres out of Tamworth we heard an unnervingly loud BANG! from under the bonnet. we quickly pulled off the road and popped the hood.

After a while he had limited success, so we decided to try to limp the 11 kms back into Tamworth to see our friends at JT Fossey. Alas, as soon as Peter applied pressure to the accelerator…BANG! Off it popped again.

We called JT Fossey and told them what had happened, and they immediately offered assistance. Within twenty minutes a technician arrived and discovered that the clamp meant to hold the hose in place had either dropped off when the hose popped, or hadn’t been fitted in the first place. The young bloke didn’t have a spare but knew where he could get one; he hopped back into his car and headed into town.

Peter and I settled down in the van and made ourselves a cuppa, but we hardly had time to drink it before Jay returned, spare part in hand and with a bit of brute force got the hose back in place and tightly secured.

We’ve visited a lot of Ford dealerships over our four years on the road, (yes, come August it will have been four years,) but this was the first satisfactory outcome we have experienced. Even with the minor stuff up, they fixed us up quickly and without question. Maybe the ‘thank you slab’ Peter dropped off at the workshop after their earlier work had something to do with that.

Anyway, we finished our cuppa, got ourselves stowed away and back on route to Lake Keepit ready for a few relaxing days by the water.

They say things come in threes; Lake Keepit was our third. We were following the route laid out by WikiCamps. From our direction it led us around the north side of the lake. At first, the road was good, after awhile it turned into a dirt road, which was mentioned on WikiCamps so we kept going. Then the road turned into two tyre tracks with grass between. It was wet and slick, but manageable. Then the tyre tracks became less distinct, and wetter but with a Ford Ranger in 4WD it was still ok, although getting questionable.

Then we got to the bog and the questioned was answered.

It may not look that bad, but the water was a good metre and a half into the grass on either side of the track, and it was very slippery. Just a couple of weeks earlier you might recall we lost traction in a similar bog without the van and Peter had to dig us out!

While Peter assessed the situation, I sloshed my way through the water and checked out the road around the corner. There were two gates, one marked, KEEP OUT, the other was the track to the camp area. This was that track.

So, question answered, we were going back. However, this led to another problem. There was nowhere to turn around. Peter had found a potential area three-hundred metres behind us to get off the track and do a three-point turn but…we had to get back there first.

I’m not if you can imagine what happens when you push a three-tonne van backwards over slippery ground so let me tell you: The van just goes where it wants to, assuming you can get enough traction on the car wheels to get the six-tonne rig moving at all. We struggled to keep the van out of the much wetter, much boggier gutter at the edge of the road by adopting the, one step forward two steps back system.

Adding to the difficulty were the bends in the track, so it took some time. Well, we got there in the end.

Now, there was one more little complication that made this task extra difficult, but I’ll have to flash back briefly so we won’t appear complete idiots. Years ago, we discovered that the handbrake on the caravan was useless for forward motion, but good at stopping the van moving backwards. It was also very difficult to release, often resulting in skinned knuckles and strained fingers. As a result, we stopped using the hand brake and relied solely on the chocks. Never had a problem.

Unfortunately, Gary our tow truck driver, was unaware of this and he very kindly put the handbrake on for us when he dropped us off at Tamworth. You can see where this is going can’t you. 😉

We arrived at our turn around point and got out of Big Ears to check the ground and plot our course. It was then that Peter exclaimed, “Ookaaay! This wouldn’t have helped.” I followed his line of sight and saw that the handbrake was on.

Actually we handled the whole experience well. Maybe we’re getting a bit too relaxed, but it didn’t bother us at all. Back onto the bitumen we discussed Plan B.

As far as this lake is concerned…the locals could Keep it!

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!