Trouble at Mill !!

Mon 2 April – We left the camp and shopped at Coles before heading up the Oxley Highway.
 It was a steady climb up the windy road into the mountains. We stopped for lunch at Stockman Creek and continued on to Tia Falls at the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. The 7km road into the Falls was very dusty.

We had a beautiful camp site in the bush very much like a US state park with a camp fire and table. We followed a track to the views of the Falls and the Gorge. What a site! The falls were huge and the gorge a real surprise.
 We even had a family of wallabies visit us. It was much cooler as we were at an elevation of about 1100m.

Tues 3 April – We walked down to the Tia River with more great views of the falls. Then things went downhill!!! The motor would not start - exactly the same feel as our problems at “The Pub With No Beer”. No cellphone coverage so we walked back up the road to the nearest farm. Don the farmer was a great help phoning the local garage, “Mountain Motors” about 40kms up the road at the small town of Walcha. Gary, the mechanic arrived from the garage and we tried all the tricks that had worked in the past but with no luck. Eventually we had to admit defeat and call the garage again this time for the flat deck truck. Poor “Andy” - loaded onto the flat deck truck and a fast trip to Walcha and Mountain Motors. Nothing could be done today so we stayed the night outside the garage. Hopefully they will find the problem tomorrow.

Wed 4 April – Gary spent some time investigating the problem with increasing pessimism. Chris, the owner was away for the day and Gary was reluctant to commit to the diagnoses. We walked around  Walcha which has many art sculptures scattered around. It is a pretty town but we could run out of things to do here. Fortunately, we have good TV reception and can watch the Commonwealth Games and the Masters Golf. It was decided we would spend another night here, discuss the problem with Chris and Gary, and make a decision as to the solution. We plugged into power and emptied the toilet. We also have water here.

Thurs 5 April – Chris eventually arrived and we got the bad news that the problem was the injector pump. Not a cheap or quick fix. The pump had to be removed and sent to Dalby, Queensland for servicing, a 3-week exercise. We decided to get public transport to Brisbane and fly home on our scheduled flight on 13 April. On reflection, we have travelled many 1000’s of kms in various campervans in NZ, Europe and North America and this is the first time we have ever had a major mechanical problem. Our luck had to run out at sme stage. Chris very kindly offered to store “Andy” at his property after he is fixed. There was no G3 cellphone coverage so no internet. We went to the library and researched transport and accommodation.

Chris is happy for us to stay the weekend outside the workshop so we will travel by train to Tamworth on Monday, stay 2 nights there and catch a bus for a long trip to Brisbane City where will stay another 2 nights before our flight home.

Fri 6 April- After watching the Masters Golf on TV, we asked Philippa, the office lady, to make up our bill so far. Not as bad as it could have been. The big bill will arrive later!!! At the library we finished our accommodation bookings, did some banking and cleared our emails. Then onto our bikes with the washing to the laundromat. After lunch we took our chairs over the riverbank, found some shade and had a long read. Another quiet night watching the Commonwealth Games on TV. (Well at least the Aussie version).

Sat 7 April - Chris has given us the loan car for the weekend. We packed our lunch and chairs etc and headed back down the Oxley Highway for 18kms to the Apsley Falls. We followed a track over a swing bridge and along the gorge rim to various viewpoints.

Unfortunately, the river is almost dry so the falls are not very spectacular. The gorge was great however. After our picnic lunch we walked the other gorge rim including steps taking us well down towards the river. We sat in the dappled shade and had a read before returning to “Andy”.

Sun 8 April – The car was handy to take all the towels and bed linen to the laundromat. We then set off for a 40km drive to Uralla, a larger country town.

We walked the main street with many beautiful buildings before having lunch and a glass of wine at a nice café on the street.
On the way home we stopped at a lagoon and had a read. In the evening we started closing “Andy” down, de-frosting the fridge, putting up screens etc.

Mon 9 April – We had an early start as the bus to take us to the train arrives at 8:45am and there was heaps to still do. We have been camped at the garage for 

6 nights! People have been very kind and having the car for the weekend had been great but we were not sad to leave Walcha for the short bus ride to the railway station. The train we caught goes from Armidale to Sydney but our trip was only 1 hour to Tamworth. Nice scenery but very dry and dusty. We had not researched the motel we had booked properly and ended up walking thru the centre of the town and then 4kms to the motel. It is very basic but clean and comfortable.

After a rest we discovered that the Big Golden Guitar was only down the road so we visited it, and took the usual photo. Back at the motel we had a swim and relax in the pool.

Tues 10 April – We caught the bus back into town. Tamworth’s population is around 50,000 and has a nice centre which we walked around before continuing on to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was very good with video presentations of all the eras of Country Music. Back on the bus and another swim at the pool. In the evening we walked back to the Big Golden Guitar area and the Longyard Hotel for a beer and the Roast of the Day. It was great! It’s hard to cook a roast in a campervan! The place was flat out. Tamworth seems to be a very busy place.

Wed 11 April – A very early start (5:45am) for our long bus trip to Brisbane. 588kms and 9 hours! The trip was better than expected. Not many stops and interesting scenery. For most of the trip the land was dry and dusty but after our lunch at Warwick, there was more agriculture and we crossed back over the Great Divide and down into Brisbane. We made up for our distance to our accommodation problem at Tamworth as the bus stopped just over the road from the apartment we booked. It’s a great apartment and even has a balcony - Abbey on Roma.

Thurs 12 April – We had a sleep in and then went for a walk to the Queen St Mall to check out where we might have dinner. Back in our apartment we packed our lunch and walked to the South Bank area. Our plan was to have a swim at the artificial beach but being the school holidays there were kids everywhere. We ate lunch at the beach and had a read before it started to rain.
We headed back but stopped at a fan viewing area and realized that the Comm Games Mountain Biking was on so we enjoyed watching NZ get gold and silver.

We walked back to the Queen St Mall and had a very nice dinner at “Jimmy’s on the Mall”, a well-known landmark in Brisbane.

Fri 13 April – We will publish this last blog before we check out of our apartment. The plan is to leave our back pack here, walk to the botanical gardens and spend some time there. We will catch the train to the airport which departs just over the road. Our flight is at 6:30pm and we will land around midnight NZ time. It has been a great trip despite the problems we have had. Hopefully when we pick up “Andy” in late June we will have trouble free cruising!