Townsville - Part II

 Day 1 - Back to Townsville

Whilst packing up Muriel we spotted another Koala in a tree, right next to our camp.  We checked out at the usual 10am curfew thinking we would go and watch the animal feeding thing they did at our camp but decided against it when we were told that it was $24 each to watch and a further $18 if you wanted to hold the resident Koala. Sod off, we can see them in the wild for free!

As our ferry wasn’t until lunchtime we decided instead to take a last look at some of the bays. Starting at Horseshoe Bay, we then made our way to Geoffrey Bay, then onto Picnic Bay and finally Nelly Bay, all with their own particular charm.

We had already booked 2 nights back at the original campsite. Being walking distance to the garage and also booking an en-suite would mean we have a place to store stuff, change of clothes etc. should we want to go for a swim. So after a calm ferry crossing we drove to the camp site and got a warm greeting at reception. Only problem was that there was racing on so the price had gone up without us knowing but the kind manager gave us a discount after waiting for others in reception to clear out of hearing range.

Muriel wasn’t due to the garage until the next morning and thinking Townsville had nothing more exciting to offer us (apart from an aquarium but we’d just dived the reef!) we chilled out for the afternoon, did a bit of spring cleaning and washing before and early dinner and bed…the diving, walking and wildlife spotting had really caught up on us!.

We loved Maggie Island, best place so far for us in Oz.

Day 2 – Muriel goes to the docs

The problem with Muriel was that the gears got really difficult to select after a long journey, so the diagnostic was, change main gear box seal (we were aware of this problem from our initial inspection) , change the gearbox oil and whilst you have the gear box out its worth changing the clutch as this may help too.  All this was going to cost us around £ 400 but we thought it was good for peace of mind and good to show we had addressed all the known faults and have paperwork for when we sold her.

As we were told this would be done within a day we got up early moved stuff we might need from the van into our en-suite bathroom and then took Muriel to the garage for around 8.30am.

So after dropping her off we did some clothes washing and then sat around the campsite pool reading (Shell) and trying to catch up with the blog (Glenn) for most of the day.   Only stopping to grab a dirty McDonalds for an early lunch/late breakfast.

Around 4.15 we got the call that there had been some complications at the garage (as usual!!) and we would not get Muriel back tonight.  So we check with reception who had some bungalows available if we needed to book into one for the night, before going to the garage for the full s.p.

At the garage we found that apparently the crank shaft had a groove in it so could not be put back together again, which meant that they had ordered a sleeve for it that would not arrive until tomorrow.  To be fair to them they said we could sleep in the van in the garage (they had a toilet in there), but as Muriel was up in blocks and we did not fancy being locked inside a garage for the night we booked into one of the campsites bungalows for the night.

The bungalow to be fair was going to be a nice change for us apart from the fact that we had to traipse back and forward with our stuff that was stored in the en-suite on the other side of the campsite.

Once ensconced in our small bungalow, Shell was insistent that we should contact our breakdown service to see if they would pick up the tab for the bungalow (I was convinced they wouldn’t as we hadn’t actually broken down on the road).  However after being transferred a few times they confirmed that once they checked with the garage they would cover the cost for our accommodation that night and would take over paying for it should Muriel not be ready by tomorrow night (Sorry Shell, I am really impressed by RACQ).

Later that night we popped around the corner and picked up some nasty kebabs (not a great diet today!!), before going to bed and watching a film on TV (Escape from New York).

Day 3 – Waiting Game

Once again today we had to wait around in the hope that Muriel would be fixed by the end of the day.   We had managed to let the receptionist keep the bungalow until midday, but they were busy today which meant that at midday we had to move all of our stuff from the bungalow and store it in reception.

We headed back to the pool and again spent the day reading and blogging with the odd call to the garage to check on progress.

At around 3.30pm we were getting a bit worried about getting Muriel back so we headed to a nearby coffee shop where we could see the garage and stake it out.  Whilst drinking our coffee’s we noticed that Muriel appeared to be back in one piece and then a mechanic took her for a drive and returned.

Finishing our coffee we headed across to the garage who confirmed indeed she was ready to go and it was only a matter of settling the bill.  Unfortunately due to the extra work it did cost more than the estimate and ending up costing us around £ 600 (We’ll have to up our selling price to cover this).

Driving back to the campsite (the gears did feel a lot better!) we checked to see if they had a plot for the night, but they didn’t as there was a V8 motor race weekend going on in Townsville and everything had been booked.

The lady at reception was very helpful and suggested and booked us into another campsite across town, which was OK as long as we got there by 5.30, she even gave us directions to avoid all the event diversions along the way.

Just as we were approaching the new site the sat-nav went a bit crazy and we went round in circles for a while before arriving around 5.15 (site was pretty hard to find).

Setting up a bit sharpish we then decided as it was getting dark to go to the camp kitchen to prepare and eat our evening meal.  I noticed on the notice board in the kitchen that there may be large pythons knocking around the park and to report them to reception if you spotted one, another nervous mid-night pee on the horizon!!

Once we had eaten and cleaned up we returned to the van for a few drinks and a bit of reading before hitting the sack.