With Coffs complete and in the rear view mirror, it was time to head for Sydney, or so I thought. A couple of hours in and we pulled over at the Wang Wauk rest area (not that there was sign, Google Maps told me the name, more on that below) to give the kids a break.
Since leaving Coffs I had the nagging suspicion that my alternator was probably stuffed and the car was running on battery. The battery light was on and the power windows were going up and down very slowly and my phone would not charge.
No worries I thought, the Pajero's a diesel and therefore it doesn't have an ignition circuit and so continue to run without the need to generate its own ignition. Well guess what, that's just not how it is for any car with ECU's (Electronic Control Unit) or in other words the car computer.
No worries I thought, the Pajero's a diesel and therefore it doesn't have an ignition circuit and so continue to run without the need to generate its own ignition. Well guess what, that's just not how it is for any car with ECU's (Electronic Control Unit) or in other words the car computer.
The Pajero stopped dead just as we were crossing the freeway and turning south, I had just enough momentum to get off the road and as far into the middle medium strip as possible. Not a great place to be with kids.
To make things worse neither Kirsty or I had charged our phones and they were nearly flat and the iPad was just about knackered as well and this made figuring out where we were a task. We figured out that Wang Wauk was our location, Kirsty had showed considerable insight and made me and the Pajero a member of RACQ.
We called RACQ who patched us through to NMRA who sent a guy out to test my battery, which we all knew to be cactus but they tested it anyway and an hour later we were on the back of a truck heading to Tuncurry.
We called RACQ who patched us through to NMRA who sent a guy out to test my battery, which we all knew to be cactus but they tested it anyway and an hour later we were on the back of a truck heading to Tuncurry.
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| The site of much unpleasantness |
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| Broken at the Wang Wauk Rest Area The Alternator is cactus and the battery is dead. |
So here we are on the back of a truck being towed to Tuncurry/Forster. The guys at the sparkie workshop were excellent and did their level best to help us out. If you are in the area and need some auto electrical work, go to Tuncurry Auto Electricians.
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| In the back of the tow truck. My loving and supportive wife must have said Poo-Jero 20 times in 5 minutes. Thanks darling. |
So we spent the night at the Tuncurry Motor Lodge. It was pleasant enough, just the drug deals going down in the room across from us was a bit dodgy.
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| Tuncurry digs |
We had a top night at the Tuncurry Beach Bowl Club. We had dinner and a show with a couple of old grey nomads wanting to punch on at the bar. Top Stuff.
On our drive out of Tuncurry I decided we might as well take the long way out and see some of the beautiful countryside on offer. It was absolutely stunning. Truly Gods own country down this way.
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| Mayall Lake
We took the road out through Mayall Lake, through the amusingly named Booti Booti NP and came back onto the freeway at Bulahdelah.
From here on out it was a straight run to Sydney.
Travel Day 6
Coffs to Wang Wauk, Tuncurry/Forster
The path as recorded by GPS
download The Google Earth KML file
Travel Day 7
Tuncurry/Forster to Sydney via Mayall Lake.
The path as recorded by GPS
download
The Google Earth KML file |
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