Silver Schoolies No More - Chapter 3 - Carnarvon Day 2

Its a long trip today – not. 

From our present location to our next location, the Wintersun Caravan Park is about 300 metres. The issue is the transfer timings. We need to be out of our present location by 10.00am but cannot get into Wintersun until 11.00am.

We decide to do a wander around town. Its a grey old day and the wind is still what you might call at howling velocity. The van on the back limits many of the places we can go. We can head out to the small boating area and grab a kilo of prawns, head back to a community car park on the water which is empty as we pass it, and indulge in the delicacies, complete with cocktail sauce and a cool drink.

The protection of the Cruiser from the wind on one hand, the increasing temperature of simply being in it are mediated from time to time by opening the doors. Its a tough life but someone has to do it. 

The gulls seem to know what and why we are parked here and have started congregating. The wind pushing them around as they circle. The storm comes and goes. Its brief existence is enough to wet the road and scatter the birds.

We endure these conditions until about half the prawns are consumed. Robyn ensures the gulls go hungry, depositing that which we did not consume of the crustaceans in our bin suitably wrapped.

Back in the Cruiser we wander around a little more before heading to the caravan park. Although we are a little early we are not the only ones. We are ushered to an area far from our last visit but still close to amenities.

Another storm hits as we get the van into position. Robyn takes refuge under the awning of our new neighbours, dragged out of the inclement conditions to the safety of their hospitality, I need only wait in the Cruiser before, after the scud has passed, joining her and meeting them. The park manager who has come to assist us is not so lucky. He heads back to the office thoroughly soaked.

After set up, its off to get the driving light brackets re-welded. They have snapped along one of the bends in the mechanism. The break has taken the stress off the other bend so there is no chance of losing a light.

As I pull into Carnarvon Engineering there is a Motorhome “stuck” in the entrance way. I ask for Andy the owner and he very politely asks me to return at 1.00pm, they are presently swamped with the “emergency” of the Motorhome.

First tick of today’s list, still unticked. Next, a replacement for the broken computer monitor. Betta Electrical seems like a good place to start. They examine the damaged monitor and confirm its terminal. Suggestions for a new one end up in a sale. Now we need a solution for the issue which brought us here, some sort of stand that will work in the confines of the caravan.

Thinking “outside the circle”, knowing the area we tried to use is compact, I suggest a sturdy cardboard box, cut in half, might be the best option. It can mount the screen between the table and the edge of the van, and when we are on the move, inverted, can house all those power cords and other peripherals we find difficulty in packing, between sites.

One thing we will need to do is to stiffen the box, this will mean masking or packing tape as I only have duct tape in the van which does not like to stick brilliantly to cardboard. I can build a prototype and a final version, or have a backup by dissecting the original box.

With the engineer being a little busy, the building of the box can take priority. The duct tape version works well but the tape takes no time in coming adrift. I will need to duck out to the supermarket for the right adhesive.

While I am out, the wind blows up again. When I return the first thing is to take down the awning for fear it will be ripped off in the blow. Its a simple action, but if we were to get caught with a gust while in the lowering position, the results could be disastrous.

With the new equipment, I can look at the set up of the computers . Now the box is in place, I have commandeered the other end of the table to get the monitor as the second screen to my might, so moving of folders and programs is consistent with the movement of the mouse. For some time now I have been fighting tradition rather than logic with everything reversed. 

The new set up works.

Might as well do some celebratory work but not much as soon I will need to go and deal with the lights. I pick a simple set of accounts and deal with them. The client will be happy, whereas they normally pay, they are getting a refund, to be received earlier than planned.

Its time to head back to Andy and the factory on the main road of Carnarvon Engineering to get the light mounts dealt with. The two employees re working like ants just short of a thunderstorm. Andy is trying to set large metal pieces into a truck tray top while his employee is still working on the Motorhome.

The Motorhome (an older one) has lost the use of the rear lights. Replacement parts are not an option so they are refabricating new brackets for what can be sourced to fit the lights they have been able to access. The owner of the vehicle is inside it, starting to get stressed at the time it is taking. She needs to get back to Quobba, hopefully in the light. Driving at dusk and into the early evening is fraught with danger as the nocturnal animal start to move having been shaded during the heat of the day. By nocturnal animals here we include kangaroos and cattle, both of which may come off second best in a collision but in return do potentially severe damage to the man-made “irresistible force”.

I can assist by starting the process and remove the broken braces. The driving lights are easy. I have the correct allen keys for that, having needed to adjust the trajectory of lights for much of the trip. The others have made jokes of my “depressed” driving lights from time to time, but in the less than often times we have needed the driving flights they always seem to be pointing directly down.

The lights come off easily. The brackets are a different. Instead of a self threading operation, there are bolts holding them from underneath, within the bull bar. This means I need to contort fingers (along with a spanner) to hold the nut while manipulating the bolt.

Bark is lost and with bark removal comes blood – my blood. Thankfully the Cruiser has a reasonably equipped first aid kit from which I extract a band aid and resume the struggle. I drop a spanner into the back of the bull bar. It is impossible to reach with just fingers. 

I fashion then, a retrieving apparatus. What this means in the long end of my light rod gear is poked into place to manipulate the errant tool to a spot where it can be retrieved. Again and again I lose the spanner, and again and again i use the rod tip to retrieve it.

Its a tough job but it keeps me amused. Scarily I manage to get them off, needing only three bandaids.

The Motorhome is gone. The owner is not as happy as she could possibly be, but now with rear lights that work she heads off with plenty of light to make her destination. While I am waiting I grab a broom and start what probably is the staff members final job on a Friday – the clean up. Many piles of dust and dirt are piled, amalgamated and removed to a bin. Its not that it is a dirty workshop, rather it is large and the red dust from the outback gets everywhere. 

Its a time waster for me, and I get a smile from the staff as they continue completing the project in hand. Friday is supposedly an early finish but by the look of the other projects on the go in the workshop, today will be the exception.

Now its time to deal with the pieces that are my broken brackets. The plan is to strengthen the breaking point as well as the opposing spot, which when the brackets are back together will now cop the full force of the stress.

The welding takes a short time. The result is what seems to be a much stronger set of brackets. But with strength comes a deal of inflexibility which manifests itself in the difficulty in locating the relevant holes in both the bull bar and the actual lights. It was difficult enough getting them off, returning them to their original position has become a nightmare.

Together, me adding the muscle and him the technicality, we eventually relocate the brackets and the lights. There was a fair bit of gnashing of teeth, a loss of a little more bark, retrieval of errant bolts from inside the bull bar and resetting of expectations, but in the end we managed to replace the items to their proper places eventually.

While the employee and I have been struggling with the light brackets. Andy the owner has been fabricating a large truck tray. He has been moving large sheets of metal onto a frame and tack welding them in place.

Mine was supposed to be the last job of the day, but clearly they are going to be working overtime this particular Friday. Andy tells me the price and I am astounded at how little the cost is. I enquire as to his “poison” and head out to adjacent bottle shop to obtain a bonus for he and the staff member.

We wont be partaking of it because they have lots still to do and I head back to the van park feeling good about the transactions and the work performed.

Its still raining. There are puddles of water beginning to form on the parched earth in the caravan park. What once were roads of white dusty ground, wet from time to time by dust settling vehicles, is now seemingly a mud bath of pools of murky water and the beginnings of gouging tyre tracks. The road however holds up much better than it looks and deteriorates very little. Just as well, pulling the myriad of vans out of the park through a bog would not be a good look, especially on a very busy holiday weekend.

Its been a long day and thankfully this park,  like so many others, have themed dining nights. Tonight is Pie Night. A van has come to the park, set up in the main area and is pedalling its wares. With the rain, many are eating in, so when we head to the pie van, there are no customers.

Once we make our selections, the proprietor suggests we use good old word of mouth to let others know they are here. Our selections, a boring beef pie and a chicken pie, look and smell delicious. Back in the van their aromas are put to the test with consumption.

The end certainly justified the means.