Returned to Base

We are back home again, and straight back into the routines. Dog activities on the week end, training on Monday and Tuesday and Rotary tonight.

Several things have come up after the 12000km trip. There is a lot of work to do on the caravan, some of which will be expensive, some will be time consuming and some are just fixing poor design.

Good news is the van and Navara  drove very well for the entire trip returning a much better fuel consumption than we have ever had, thanks to Turbo Tune fixing the air flow monitor, and Complete Laser Alignment Service for getting the caravan wheels pointing the right way. Mt Isa to Alice Springs (1500km) did 16.5 litres per 100 km on this trip, on previous trips it was in the mid 20s.

Road rules about lane markings vary from state to state. In Queensland a single broken line means " Do not overtake", a solid line next to a broken line means "Overtake with caution" and a double solid line means "Overtake anytime as it is not possible for anything to be coming from the opposite direction". No wonder the Bruce Highway is considered one of the most dangerous roads in Australia. Not blaming all Queensland drivers, it is just that Queensland seems to have far more idiots with driving licences than the rest of Australia.

Next trip will be just a short one into Victoria for a couple of weeks, dog trials again.

Alice Springs Trials

We are in Alice Springs for a week with trials starting tonight. The pic shows a Frogmouth owl that perched outside our caravan at Tennant Creek. There were two of them, but the other one flew away before I could get the camera out.
Had a couple of lazy days at Alice, did a few tourist things, stocked up with the shopping and did some training with the Alice Springs dog club.
The van and the car got a much needed cleaning as the dust from the roads had started to make everything look reddish brown. They say there is a limit to how dirty a car can get because at a certain point the dirt falls off due to its own weight, well we were getting close to that point.
Planning to be home by about Wednesday or Thursday, depending on how we feel on the way home.

Tennant Creek

Lots of travelling since Atherton. We went to Townsville for the dog trials and met up with friends from Brisbane for a few nights. We got talking to a fellow traveller who sold us 5 metres of LED lights which I fitted to the van in place of the pathetic out side light we had. He even loaned me a soldering iron and some silicone glue so I could install them. It is brighter than daylight now and uses 20 mA per metre. See the dog blog for the trial results.
Had to start back towards Alice Springs and home after the trials. Charters Towers was the first stop where we went to the court house and voted. Next night was at Richmond, a nice town with a recreation lake round it. It was 1.2km round the lake not counting the unplanned swim. See the dog blog for details.
Kathy found the fridge would not work in the caravan, after a process of elimination I found a 3 amp glass tube fuse had blown. I had 150 fuses of all types for the car and van, except a 3 amp glass tube fuse. I fixed a spade fuse in place of the tube fuse which got the fridge working again.
At Mt Isa, Mick the Air-conditioning man came and fixed the air-conditioner in the van, a "broken" wire which looked like it had been cut most of the way through. He also had a 3 amp glass tube in his kit for the fridge.
We stopped at the Barkley Homestead for 1 night. Next morning I started the Navara to get the cab cool and turn the fridge to 12v. I shut the door, and some how the doors locked. Not supposed to be able to happen but it did. The engine is running and I am locked outside. Nissan could not help, RAA was sending a man from Tennant Creek to come out and help when I remembered Edwin the salesman telling me about a secret panel on the passenger door that can be removed to get access to a key hole. Found the key hole, used Kathy's keys to get in and get control of the car again. Even managed to stop the man coming from Tennant Creek before he got too far.
Got to Tennant Creek without incident and had a rest day/washing day/ touring day. The pic is the view from the lookout towards Tennant Creek. Ready to try for Alice Springs on Monday.