Yowie Bay to Streaky Bay (South Australia)

All ready to hit the road

 Before we left we had Australia Day at our house with Lisa and Russ. Lisa made us some yummy Cockatoo Cup Cakes.

We planned to get to Tumut on our first night but as we didn't get away until after 2pm we didn't make it that far, so our first night was a free camp at the Gunning Showgrounds.  The facilities at Gunning were more than satisfactory.

We headed into Tumut the next day -  we really like camping by the river there.

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In Tumut we were surrounded by Corella's, not quite Cockatoos but very similar.

Our first night in Tumut we enjoyed takeaway Indian food specially made by Russ. It was fantastic, what a treat!

The fridge locks installed by BushTracker unwind themselves, even on sealed roads! What a mess.

Talked to BushTracker & they told us the fix, a nylon washer worth 2 cents. Now it doesn't unscrew.

Bailey excited to see me. Jayne was also!

The transmission in our Toyota LandCruiser is a dinosaur being designed in the 1970's! It still has a Torque Converter that slips and jumps all over the place, not at all like the Touareg. While we were in Tumut we were camped next to the guy who used to own Tumut Toyota, a customer of ours. He had travelled all of 1.2kms to camp there. They go a long way for holidays down there.

We got talking as he had a brand new LandCruiser and he made the silly mistake of asking me what I think of ours. He then informed us of a guy in Murray Bridge who has a Torque Converter lockup device that he fits to LandCruisers. So after a phone call, we were off to South Australia via Murray Bridge, a 200km diversion, to get one of these babies fitted. The car now feels like a new car, the way the transmission drives is a vast improvement, mind you it's still not perfect. I also think our fuel economy is much better, but we have to do more kms to be certain of that.

Free camp at Tooleybuc on the Murray River on the way to Murray Bridge

Free camping at Weeroona Island with the Flinders Ranges in the background

Jayne getting a workout

Enjoying a beer at Streaky Bay Pub

From here, we're off across the Nullarbor tomorrow.