Road Trip - Darwin to the East Coast

[Leroy]

Killer! Thanks for the updates Beers in Brissy sooner than later at that pace.

[Wassa]

Good the detail mate , feel like we are right there with you, ( Wish list one day) keep the posts coming .... see you in bris

[Ted2]

Sensational Cam. What a great experience and story to tell

[braddick]

Loving hearing about your travel experience in the split
Keep them coming
Sing out if u going between Adelaide and Melbourne I'm in the middle (Nhill/Kaniva) out on a farm and always welcome a kombi traveler

[gazza]

Good stuff Cam

[chuck85]

Looks like a great trip. Keep the updated rolling in.
Bus is looking f@#king awesome

[Cam Biscuit]

Thanks Fellas - I'm writing in a notebook the highlights of each day so I don't forget too much of this trip. At least by the time I do these updates I haven't forgotten everything!

A storm brewed up in the late afternoon in Cloncurry, threatened a lot but not too much rain and the showers cleared by just after sunrise. I hit the road about 6.40 and a bloody triple road train pulled out in front of me so the brakes got tested early....he then proceeded to sit on around 80-85 and it was a good 20 or 30 minutes of sitting behind him before I gathered enough courage to overtake.

After that it was lots of long boring stretches and generally shitty roads - talk about rough & bouncy they must have had a 5 year old on the grader when the road was first done....Lots of roadworks along the way so maybe they've got the message that this road is pretty crappy!! Through the little towns of Julia Creek, and Maxwelton and then a stop at Richmond for a cuppa and a top up.

Next was Hughenden and a lunch break and wander through the Museum - Dinosaurs are a pretty big deal in this area with lots of fossils found around the district. Had a bit of a drive around, theres some interesting old houses around outback QLD! No old Kombis to be found yet though

Very windy stretch from here - Its very clear to me now there's 3 ways the wind can be annoying and only 1 way the wind is going to do you any good!
Only about 60k's further on was the Prairie Motel and I was ready for a few beers by now. Pretty funky inside and nice people running it so I ended up staying for dinner and then using the paddock they have behind the pub for free campers to stay the night.

[Cam Biscuit]

Day 6

Woke early again but luxuriated in comfort on the rock 'n' roll bed and read a bit more of Jack Reacher until I could be arsed getting going once the drizzly rain stopped. The only amenity in this paddock is a three sided corrugated iron 'shower' rigged up with poly pipe. For a bloke from Darwin I can tell you it was a little nippy at 6.30am and there may have been some shrinkage at the time (Fully rectified now though )

Mandatory cuppa and then on the road again about 7.30 or so and on to a funny little servo in Pentland - no automation, the lady behind the counter just asked me how much fuel I'd used Been a while since thats happened to me! Into Charters Towers by late morning for a coffee and a look at the visitor centre to suss out what to see. Did the usual museums and then up Tower Hill for a great view over the city.
Then pushed on towards Townsville. Seems to me today that Sunday is the day for Dickhead drivers in QLD.....dopey overtaking manoeuvres, people pulling out in front of me etc etc. Hit rain about 20km's out and surprisingly the rain didn't piss in through the airbox, the new seals must have done something after all! Still a few dribbles around the safaris though

I got into Townsville around 4pm and after 2500kms from Darwin it was nice to hit the coast again so tonight I'm in a budget motel on the beach front. Shame its been raining since I got here!! Bloody brakes are squealing again and giving me the shits. I can really pull them apart at the Motel so if anyone knows an air cooled mechanic here please let me know. Suspect its the fronts now - wonder if one of the springs that retract the pads has broken and is jamming.....?

[hypa6]

safe travels mate. good reading your storys thanks

[DRHEMS3]

Mmm how's the serenity! Love the updates

[ogrule]

Mate enjoying your posts haven't been on those roads for years-so your wetting the appetite to do a trip again

[morts]

it was a good 20 or 30 minutes of sitting behind him before I gathered enough courage to overtake.

[gazza]

Come on Cam man up pull the drum off bet its an easy fix
Make a good photo and heaps of strangers of the street will give you good advice and stories of when they owned one just like it

[rusty 55]

I remember changing a rear hubseal and bearing in a dust bowl car park in coberpeady while driving around the country back in 98, just got to get the job done!

[Cam Biscuit]

Cheers guys

The fronts are not a drama but getting the rear nuts off is going to be tough I think.....

I suspect the alternator might be on the way out as well, getting an intermittent screeching kind of noise - might be the bearing on the fritz?

In Mission Beach at the moment