Gunnedah to Sydney, Xmas 2013

December 15^th, It was a short drive to Gunnedah, The home of the Koalas. We were told that they have the biggest Koala Population in the World. We spent our overnight stay at the Council short stay Park, next to the Showground. The caretaker had a garden with heaps of green tomatoes but Val couldn’t get him to part with any, as he is grooming them for Gunnedah’s Annual Tomato Growing Contest. We were told the contest started some years ago, when local people were bragging about who had grown the biggest tomato.

December 16^th, We headed off for another one night stay at Singleton before going on to Sydney tomorrow. Before we reached the next Town, we encountered herds of cows feeding along the roadside, which was a fascinating sight.  We had to slow right down as they would just wander across the road, not concerned by road traffic, to join their friends on the other side. We stopped at Muswellbrook, for a coffee/ lunch break, at the Information Centre Coffee Shop. After a nice lunch we headed off and around 10 klms out of Muswellbrook, I started to feel wobble through the steering wheel and the brake pedal pulsed on stopping. I checked the front wheels and couldn’t find a problem, like “about to fall off” but did find the left side hub was very hot. We waited on the side of the road, to let the hub cool down and then hopefully would be able to get to Singleton, and have the car checked out by a Mechanic. We headed off, driving slowly, but the wobble was getting worse, and so 2 klms further on I found a wide enough spot to pull to the side, off the Highway. I rang the NRMA and was told we would have an hour wait before they could get to us. The next phone call was from the local NRMA Depot and   The Tow Truck then took us to the Riverside Cabin and Van Park and put us on our site, then took our car back to the Depot for assessment in the morning.

after giving him my version of our problem, he decided we would no doubt need a tow truck and I made sure he knew that we were towing a Caravan. It was hot on the roadside and Val sat in the Van, coolest spot to read her “take 5” magazine, while I kept watch for the Towie. He eventually turned up, after a phone call to determine exactly where we were, and we disconnected the Van and put the Car on his “tilt tray” Truck. After a lot of fiddling we eventually got the Van connected to his tow bar and had to drive a couple of k’s down the road to turn around at a Power Station off ramp and head back to the NRMA depot at Muswellbrook. So, 5 hours after our roadside stop we were finally back at Muswellbrook.

December 17^th, I walked down to the main street and bought a few items at IGA. It was late morning and I was only a short walk from the NRMA depot, so went down to see how they were getting on, as I had been told they would look at my car first thing this morning. Not so, they hadn’t started but it was next job and I would get a call in around an hour. I walked back to the Park and when no call came after 3 hours, I rang them again and LO and Behold, they had just finished evaluating my problem! The problem was not wheel bearings, as I had thought, but a stuck brake cylinder piston, which had caused the overheating of the brake disc, causing it to warp and accentuate the problem. I needed a new set of discs and brake pads at a total cost of $700, including labour. Before accepting this quote, I rang Dianne (who works for Heartland Holden in Blacktown) and she told me that her people could buy those parts for $200 and fit them for no cost. However, when your out in the backblocks you have to “grin and bear it”, so I gave the go-ahead and was told it would be first job in the morning and we would be able to move on to Sydney.

December 18^th, No word about our car at 12 o’clock, so we walked into Town to IGA and did a bit of shopping, Around 12.45pm the call came to say the car was finished, so I left Val at IGA and walked down to the NRMA Depot. The lady behind the desk tells me that the mechanic forgot to add the Diagnostic Charge to the Quote and it will now be $835. I wasn’t Happy, as you can imagine, so she called the mechanic to talk to me and his story was that he quoted for all the mechanical work and had kept to his quote and I was told when the car was booked in that there would be a diagnostic charge. I told him I was not told and he went off to leave the Office Staff to handle the situation. I wasn’t getting anywhere with solving our dispute, so I rang Val, and as expected she went off her brain and all the staff could hear her response from the phone. The head lady went off and I assume spoke to the Boss and came back with an offer to give us Staff Discount, so that brought it down to $743. I paid the account and got out to pick up Val before she got to the NRMA Office. We got to Singleton and our navigator took us via the Putty Road, which was the shortest way to Windsor then on to Rouse Hill. What a torturous, narrow, windy 120 Klms of mountain road. Val was beside herself! We arrived at the OK Caravan Park at Rouse Hill around 5pm, reported to the Office by phone and were told to put our Van on site and fix them up tomorrow. We went over to Greg and Dianne’s and Val took over Spaghetti and Meatballs for dinner, which she had already prepared.

December 19^th, I finished setting up the Van and Annexe and took the boat off the car, so we could go into the underground car park at the Shopping Centres.

December 20^th, The Girls came over today and we all went to rouse Hill Shopping Centre. Val went shopping with Jessica while Annaliese and I went to the movies. We saw “Frozen”, which we both enjoyed immensely. We met up with Val and Jessica at the food court for lunch and then wandered around the shops some more. We dropped the girls back home and drove to Drummoyne, to meet Steven and Ed for dinner

at PJ’s Hotel. The meals were fair, the entertainer was too loud but the company was great.

December 22^nd, We went to Winston Hills Shopping Centre and did the last of our Christmas Shopping. On the way home we stopped off at Greg and Dianne’s, for afternoon tea, and caught up with Sue and Mark (Dianne’s parents) who are in Sydney for Christmas.

December 23^rd, Dianne took the “Territory” into heartland Holden, for a Service and to check the front end for any further problems, after the brake problem in Muswellbrook. Late in the afternoon Dianne called to say that they needed to keep the car in overnight and would have it finished tomorrow. I had told Dianne to have them fix any problems that they found.

December 24^th, We got our car back early afternoon and I could notice how much better it was running. It felt tighter and the rattles from underneath were gone. Dianne had no idea how much it was going to cost me and said not to worry; her boss will sort it out eventually and let us know. Steven and Ed were having a few  friends call in for Dinner and a Christmas drink, so we joined them and had a nice evening, getting home around 2am.

December 25^th, Christmas Day and it rained all day! Both Families gathered at Greg and Diannes place, for Christmas Lunch. They had the lunch table set up nicely and we enjoyed a great meal. We were shown a great family game and had an enjoyable afternoon with all the Family.

December 26^th, We had a drive around today and found that the only places open were the Hotels, so we ended up at “The Mean Fiddler”, a Tavern just on the main road, up from our Caravan Park at Rouse Hill. We hadn’t been there before, so we walked right through the whole complex and were surprised how big it was. They had mist sprayers around all the outdoor eating areas, to keep the customers cool in the hot weather. The food looked good, as well. We had a few drinks, a flutter on the pokies and went home with a small win.

December 27^th, I started packing up this morning, ready to leave tomorrow, for Blacksmiths Beach. We met up with Greg, Dianne, Jessica and Annaliese for lunch at the Coffee Club, in Rouse Hill Shopping Centre. After enjoying our lunch we all wandered around the Shops and I finally bought a new hat from the Cancer Council Shop. We had dinner at Greg and Dianne’s and were entertained by Greg and Jessica who were trying to ride a “Uni-Cycle” which had been bought as a family present for Christmas. It’s a wonder that neither of them was hurt!