In the lead up to this Big Trip 2: Electric Boogaloo I said to a few people that we had such good luck on our first trip that our expectations were WAY too high. Turns out, I should have kept my mouth shut!! At this stage we are on a run of bad luck a mile long 😖😵💫😭.
After surviving the initial bite by the shower recess, we spent an extra week in Longreach, slowly rebuilding Nora's strength through many hours of Stardew Valley and Nailed It, as well as both halves of the Wicked movie.
By the final day she had recovered enough for the tour of the QANTAS museum, which had been the original intent of the stop. It was really, really special to get to walk through the Super Constellation, one of the first aeroplanes that was able to make intercontinental flights from Australia. Not only was it a really cool old plane, but it was also lovely to admire all of the hard work that had gone into its restoration, particularly given the leadership of the project by Chris Nelson, beloved Pop of our good friends the Hendry-Nelsons.
We were very grateful for our extra time in Longreach, particularly as it enabled my purchase of an especially fetching western style shirt from the Irvines (I resisted the temptation to buy proper cowboy boots, still holding out for a tailor made pair in Nashville, one of these days...). But after a week we were happy to cross the Tropic of Capricorn and hit the road again, particularly knowing we had a few hard days of driving ahead of us.
We packed up well enough (we left the caravan park by 9, but then stopped for breakfast in town 😂) and chose a early stop for lunch at Winton, just to quickly check out an old favourite from our last trip. The outdoor fossicking pit was no longer available, but the girls did get a chance to fossick for Boulder opals in a different shop, which as we learned in Lightning Ridge are only found in Queensland. So many opal varieties! We then pushed through to Cloncurry for the night, which we mostly picked to avoid staying over in Mount Isa which was NOT a highlight from the last trip. On the way we had to stop as a mob of cattle was being mustered along the highway, which was pretty exciting!!
Despite our dislike of Mount Isa we ended up spending a few hours there on the Wednesday morning picking up some last minute supplies, including extra jerry cans for spare diesel and a fire pit for roasting marshmallows. Once we finally got back on the road, the next big attraction was the border crossing, which is always a fun stop!
We stopped at the Barkly Homestead for the night, which definitely feels pretty fancy for how remote it is - its literally in the middle of nowhere! The 2 hour wait for dinner was offset by the NSW in the State of Origin, for me at least - everyone else was pretty tired and over it, and Josie burst into tears at one point when the crowded room roared for another NSW try.
The next day we pushed through a super long day of driving to make it all to Mataranka, so those lucky enough to be able to swim were able to take a few laps in the delightful thermal waters of Bitter Springs on Friday morning. Nora was an absolute trouper given she had to miss out, and she and I tried to distract ourselves by checking out the museum. Unfortunately a few minutes after paying our entrance fee Nora got bitten/stung by a flying creature of some sort, so we had to wrap up very quickly and head to the bakery for some ice wrapped up in a newly purchased tea-towel and a jam doughnut.
We then headed into Katherine for a planned easy evening, which was quickly thwarted by a bit of concerning pinkness and heat near Nora's wound. We decided to play it safe and Bob took her to the ED at the hospital, thinking if they got there by 4 pm they'd avoid the Friday night rush. Unfortunately it didn't quite work out like that, and it took more than 5 hours to see a doctor for 5 minutes to tell them it was fine, but if we really wanted to get some antibiotics to take with us on the Gibb River Road as back up we could. Sigh. In the meantime I was able to get 4 loads of washing done and hung up, and even feed the other 2 children, yay me!!
After a slow start to the Saturday, mostly to allow all the washing to dry, we headed for the WA border with the intention to arrive in Kununurra by 7, which in NT is before the sunset. And while I knew intellectually WA is one and a half hours behind the NT, I somehow thought it would still be light when we arrived in Kununurra. But no! The sun went down while we were still an hour out of town, right about the time Frankie the Tankie started flashing warning lights at us and went into 'limp mode'. It was intense, made all the most so by the darkness and single lane highway with minimal shoulders. But we thankfully made it to Kununurra safely, even surviving a surprisingly thorough quarantine inspection at the border.
The next morning Bob worked out that when driving an 18 year old Landcruiser while towing a caravan, you need to plan for a complete oil change every 5,000 km. And we had done about 4,700 kms! At least we now know to book in for the next one, somewhere around Perth, maybe?!?!? He called around local mechanics and was very relieved to be able to book Frankie into the local Toyota service centre. We hoped it would be a single day job and we'd still be able to head out of the Gibb River Road on Wednesday. In the meantime, we decided to splurge on a day trip to the Bungle Bungles to make up for the fact that we chose not to risk camping there for 3 nights as originally planned, just to be on the safe side, wounded leg wise. I'll do a separate post on that trip, which was truly amazing, but just to finish the litany of bad luck, on our return to Kununurra we were informed that Frankie actually required a new intercooler, which they do not have in stock, so we're stuck here until at least next Monday 😱.
After a bit of sadness, and a family meeting to discuss the importance of team work in such trying times (and yes, we have threatened to turn the car around and go home if the attitudes and behaviours that are sometimes on display don't improve!) we pulled up our socks and got onto reorganising plans to accommodate the new delay. We negotiated to move to a new site in an attempt to escape the shade, midges and horrendous mosquitos at our original site, so had to pack everything up and shift it 50 meters down the road. I walked up to the Toyota service centre to pick up the car, which they said is safe to drive locally while we wait for the replacement part, and we pottered and rested and watched the sunset at a local high point. I booked a tour of an Aboriginal gallery and investigated a few other activities we could do now that we have more time in town.
This morning I woke up and took the opportunity to do a bit of tidying and cleaning, and was feeling very chuffed and ready for the gallery tour, when I got a call from the park reception telling me we were supposed to have checked out. Despite my attempts to explain that we had been told yesterday that we had booked the new site for 6 nights, they were adamant that as there was no record of this in their system we would simply have to move. I was totally unable to cope at this stage, so Bob took over and discussed it with them in person, where they eventually apologised for THEIR MISTAKE, but did confirm that we would have to move yet again, into a very small and tight spot right next to the toilets. But at least it has power!!
And there ends my tale of woe - we're really, REALLY hoping we're over the worst of the bad luck, but I'll believe it when I see it.
