Revisits
Norseman.
While I had been in Norseman before this is all new for Carol (as is this whole trip up to Broken Hill) staying in the same park as on the outward-bound trip. This time I would visit the Museum and other heritage places including the Heritage trail which follows the Old Coach Road (I started this trail when I was here before but at that time did not think it went far, though I did notice it went much further when I was on my way to Esperance) This time we followed it all the way to the old Dundas Town Site finding it interesting (I can recommend it to all).
Eucla
An interesting stop taking Carol to the Old Telegraph Station but it was still early and not much else to see, not worth our staying longer than this and a top-up of fuel.
Head of the Bight
After taking time to visit all the lookouts along the way, we arrived too late to visit the Head of the Bight Centre but late enough to stop for the night at the FREE CAMP right at the gate so we would be one of the first in the morning to drive the rest of the way, there are signs to warn of Dingos during the night and to keep any dogs inside your van (we do this anyway so all good), and yes we heard them howling during the night (MM slept through all of this with no reaction) and even though we heard the dingoes we can recommend the campsite to stay before or after your visit you will not be alone but there is plenty of room.
And an unfortunate extended stay in Ceduna.
What was planned as a one-night stay in Penong giving us time to see Lake MacDonnell and Port LeHunte without the van in tow, all good and Carol did enjoy that trip, however later when I went to drive to the service station to fill up, I noticed some problems with the brake system warning lights galore, what went wrong, No brake fluid in the master cylinder!!! WHY! A leak of course, a quick inspection only 3 brake callipers in place, one of the rear callipers was not in place and it was missing the pads and piston among other things.
What to do now, from a past meeting I knew one of the other guests on the park was a mechanic and with his help we rigged the car so that I could drive it the last 75km to Ceduna where there was a Toyota Dealer, who I rang and explained the situation, and that it was urgent, so that they could order ALL the parts needed to fix the car, they did suggest that they should see the car before they ordered parts not easy as I was still 75km away, I did take the car and the bits of the calliper I had to them so we could confirm ALL the NEEDED PARTS were ordered, I was assured they were and would be here on Monday (this being Friday), when Monday arrived the service department tried to say Toyota did not send the complete kit, and now they had to order more and they would not be here till Wednesday, Tuesday being ANZAC Day, Wednesday arrived, NO PARTS the excuse was Yesterday was a public holiday so no road freight (why was it not sent by air?), Thursday the missing parts arrived and the car was back on the road by 2:30pm, (I did enquire earlier to confirm we would have the car that day so I could pack up the van ready to be hooked up. (To the dealers credit they did give us a loan car on Monday for us to use.)
We were all hooked up by 3:00pm and on our way five days late, that night we were in Kimba Looking at the Big Galah, and not looking forward to the next two long days so that we would be home by Sunday ready for Carol’s appointment with END of Month for our major client.
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