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.
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