Problems with the Hilux and Kalgoorlie

Things are not looking too good for the Hilux.
After driving all day along the Great Central Highway, and just as we were ready to pull into camp, the Hilux started loosing power, and blue smoke started coming out of the exhaust.
Not looking good.
Barry, who had his laptop with him, plugged into the test port, and came up with an injector issue.
This appears to be a known problem with Hilux and Prado vehicles. And it can be potentially very serious possibly requiring an engine rebuild.
Next morning I limped into Warburton, and RACV in Melbourne.
They required an independent inspection,  and actually had a suitable person in Warburton, but he was out of town for 24 hours.
And so started a process which all happened ever so slowly.
Finally the assessor rolled up, and confirmed Barry’s assessment. He was then required to report to RACV and the process for recovery got under way.
RACV, who have been very helpful and understanding, were waiting on 3 quotes to recover the Hilux on a tilt tray sent from Kalgoorlie. This is a round trip of 1800 km mostly over rough gravel roads.
As I said before, things move slowly in the outback, and after one very dodgy idea involving packing the Hilux into a huge refrigerated road train that just happened to making its weekly trip to Warburton, a plan was approved to send a proper tilt tray for recovery.
Meanwhile I ended up cooling my heels in the Warburton roadhouse camp ground for 5 days.
The camp ground is used by passing travelers who arrive late afternoon and pull out first thing the next morning. Consequently it is totally empty during the day. As it happens there was one other semi permanent resident. She worked at the shire office only 100 metres from the camp ground and she turned out to be friendly, and in fact was able to drive me to the local airport when I was finally able to fly out on a single engine Cessna that did the mail run twice a week.
She has two dogs, one the biggest ever Great Dane, and the other a cute tiny dog she carries around in a little pouch. What a contrast.
I should describe the camp ground. It is totally surrounded with a 2 metre fence with razor wire on top. The entrance is a security gate also topped with razor wire, and padlocked at night, and only unlocked at day break.
The camp kitchen is also covered in a wire cage, but this is not so much for security, as to keep out the camp peacocks which number about thirty or so.
They are the strangest critters, that at night roost in the high voltage power lines, and during the day scratch around making as much mess as possible.
I took some amusing photos of them, but still haven’t been successfull adding photos to the blog.
If it sounds like I wasn’t impressed by Warburton camp, in its plus side it had nice hot showers, and was kept spotlessly clean by the staff.
Also, every night there were new people to talk to.
But I was happy to leave when the chance came up to catch a small plane out to come to Kalgoorlie.
I was a bit apprehensive about travelling on a tiny plane, but it was a great experience. The views looking down on the outback landscape were stunning, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
My fellow passengers were all aborigines, and laughed and yelled the whole way. It was a great experience.
Now I am in Kalgoorlie and have hired a small car, and booked into a modest motel.
I have done a bit of sightseeing, but the highlight has been catching up with some of the Blankfield family. Morry is a fifo gynocologist who practices in Kalgoorlie, and I spent a great evening at their house, talking family, and of course the joys of Kalgoorlie.
One downside for me is that I have had this persistent cough that is at its worst at night, and even though I believe not much can be done, I have made a doctors appointment for this arvo to check it out.
The next problem for me to face, is that next week is the biggest yearly event in Kalgoorlie, the Miners and Diggers expo, and there is no accommodation or hire cars whatsoever to be had in Kalgoorlie. I might be sleeping on a park bench.

The Anne Beadell Highway

The title is a misnomer if ever there was.  It is definitely not a highway.
The road to Emu was really bad. And it only got worse from there on.
There is a great video on you tube where a fellow only did 50 km on the Anne Beadell, and he turned around and went home. The trouble is corrugations that shake the vehicle so much, that everything that can rattle does, including your teeth. And this goes on day after day.
Last time I only got as far as Emu before having to turn around due to my battery shaking loose.
Emu is the famous desert atomic bomb site that Len Beadell prepared for the Brits to test their atomic bombs. It is so remote, that they decided no one could possibly affected by the radiation. Unfortunately I don’t think they took too much notice of the local aborigines.
There are two commemorative stone plinths about a metre high wth carved warnings about not hanging around for too long because of very high radiation levels. Their names are Totem 1, and Totem 2.
Also at the site we lined our 5 vehicles up on the massive aeroplane runway for a classic off-road photo.
Next day it was heading west in a more or less straight line for 7 days.
First port of call was the one and only fuel stop at Kilkurkla. I thing the fellow there only fills up about 20 cars a week, and that’s in the busy season.
I created a bit of a holdup when I ran out of fuel. This was because my fuel consumption had increased dramatically because of the corrugations and soft sand. And because my fuel gauge was faulty.
Luckily I had plenty of fuel in the large 200 litre tank, and I was able to siphon from the tank to the fuel filler. .
For a moment though, when the Hilux just died, I was thinking the worst.
Not long after that, the big 200 Landcruiser towing the camper trailer also started running low, and I ended parking next to him and siphoning fuel into his filler. There is so little traffic, that we just blocked the road with no problems. In fact in the seven days we only met 2 vehicles.
Minor problems appeared on most of the vehicles. The most worrying is cracked fuel tank in the Colorado and as I write this he has driven 300km to try and get it it fixed.
We will stay in Laverton for a few days to rest and recuperate.

2019 Anne Beadell Hwy and CSR

Well it's July 2019 and although there are a heap of items I never completed on the Hilux, and even more jobs not completed at home, I am finally on the road.

In fact it is my third day on the road, although the first day was only half a day and I only got as far as Cobram for the first camp. I felt that if I didn't pull the plug and just go, I would never get away.
One resolution I did make was that next time I would start preparing earlier. Much earlier.

It was good to finally be on the road.  The forecast wasn't great..gale force winds and rain. But that's ok. The only time the gale force winds bothered me was on the second day in the Riverina, when the winds were blowing the farmers top soil across the highway, and visibility was down to about twenty metres. Of course the traffic including huge trucks only slowed down a bit, and the most dangerous thing to do was to pull over and stop. On the news that morning was an item where a bus had hit a large trailer that had become separated from a prime mover, and the poor driver had no where to go.
Sadly heaps dead and injured.

My second night camp site didn't start well, as I drove the long hours to reach Hallet, a camp ground I had stayed at before. Unfortunately it was shut due to all the rain, so I went into the local pub to see if they had any rooms, but they didn't do rooms, just beer.
Well all the patrons got involved with their best suggestions, and I ended up taking the advice from an old fellow who looked like he never strayed far from his place at the bar, but he told me the close town of Jackson nearby had 3 pubs and a campground.
It all ended well, as the nearby campground, only 40 minutes away had plenty of space, and in fact had far better facilities for only $5 more in camping fees.



This morning I set off to Port Augusta via the wonderfull town of  Wilmington. It's main claim was the Land Rover and British Toy Museum with enough selection to bring tears to the eyes of any lad who grew up in the 50's. Every Dinky vehicle ever made was on show together with enough Mecano and Triang to sink a ship. And of course huge quantities of Land Rover paraphanailia, plus Hornby and the list went on and on. He regained me for about half an hour why Land Rovers were the best 4WD, and was a most interesting person.
The other claim to fame was the cheap diesel available at 8 cents less than Port Augusta prices, so I filled up to 200 litre tank. ( the fuel app on the phone is brilliant)

After a brief stop in Port Augusta for food shopping, I headed north, and have just booked in to Woomera, one of my favourite place to visit.
I started off with a quick visit to the cemetery to pay my respects to Anne and Len Beadell, as we will be travelling on their roads bearing their names on this trip.

Tomorrow it's off to Coober Pedy after which I will have no mobile coverage for a while.