True to form

True to form, as soon as the roof top tent was in place it started to rain.  Now we haven’t had rain in Brisbane for weeks and weeks.  Is it something we said?  So, having delayed our trip for a few days to allow the worst of weather to pass through, and also found time for a small celebration to note my seventy second year on this earth , we decided to set out on Monday morning, leaving at 10am sharp. 

True to form we were away at 11.  With everything loaded including the kitchen sink (well plastic washing up bowl) and with a second spare wheel, it took an hour to settle in handling what is a very heavy Defender 90.  The spare wheel cover on the bonnet rapidly became a menace.  Not only did it act as a very effective air brake, as the material expanded it slowly reduced forward visibility.  I’d liken it to driving behind  the back end of an elephant.  Our first tea stop sorted out the visibility issue but I noticed water leaking into the front wheel arch.  This was traced to the header tank but as it was only a small leak decided to carry on regardless.  Somehow, despite all the checks and servicing Vin Rouge usually manages to spring a surprise or two.

 Travelling north on the Bruce Highway is not the most enjoyable motoring.  Mostly it’s a combination of heavy trucks – in Australia these usually have at least two trailers – and caravans.  We trundled along about 80-90kmh easing over to let the faster vehicles overtake us, whilst we passed the caravans on the inclines.  Add indifferent visibility, drizzle and a dull flat light with no sun and it simply became tedious.  Still we managed to put close on 400 ks under our belt before an overnight stop at the small town with the odd name of Gin Gin.  By the way, did you know that June 13^th (my birthday) is also World Gin Day?  Recommendation for anyone planning to overnight at the Gin Gin site is get as far away as possible from the road.  Trucks rumble past more or less continuously, so what with getting used to camping again and the racket from the road, it was not the most peaceful of nights.

Next morning we’re up bright and early to enjoy the delights of Gladstone.  The aluminium smelter might be the largest in the world but, apart from fork lift trucks moving ingots, its sterile appearance of massive sheds resembles a chicken farm on an epic scale.  Coal depots, a cyanide plant and other heavy industry completes the scene so we pushed on towards Rockhampton.   A brief stop at the Tropic of Capricorn where we officially transferred from a sub tropical to a tropical climate and on again.  We can reliably report that there’s no difference between sub-tropical and tropical rain.  It’s just as wet and falls just as hard.  The satnav easily found Graeme Filer, the Land Rover engineer who not only arranged for a new radiator header tank to be flown up from Sydney overnight, but his good lady Lyndal provided us with lots of tips about our planned route to the Cape.  There’s something special about Land Rover people.  They’re always friendly and always helpful.  They even recommended a good camp site at Yeppoon, where we intended to stay overnight.  So now I’m sitting here, a few yards from the gently rolling surf driving up the beach.  The sun, yes actual sun, is leaving the day and we’re somewhat more organised than we were 24 hours ago.  To celebrate we’re eating out – fish and chips.

Following a morning constitutional along the pristine beach where small clams and minute crabs were making patterns in the sand and it’s back to Rockhampton for the new part to be fitted then north again on the tedious Bruce Highway and yet more rain.  We considered staying in Rocky and dropping into see the rodeo boys practicing bull riding or visiting the Capricorn Caves but finally decided that we would prefer to get as far north as we could and hopefully drive through the rain belt.  And it worked!  Overnight at the St Lawrence free camp site where we found a high, dry spot away from the parts that had been flooded earlier in the day and parked next to a couple who own a Series II Land Rover.  Thai Green curry for dinner and watching thousands of magpie geese flock before roosting for the night and things are looking much more cheerful.

That’ll do for the first blog.  True to form we started out in the rain and true to form Vin Rouge developed a problem.  Wonder what the next days or weeks will bring?