Thursday 9th May, 2019

We had a good nights sleep and woke to a very cold and sunny morning. Our plan on setting out was to get fuel, have our tyres checked and head straight to Temora. We need to do some shopping, but thought we could do it in Temora. The attraction there is an aviation museum that had old planes that can actually fly, though they only take them out a few times a year.

After having the tyres checked, we drove out of the rear of the workshop, misjudged the driveway dip and scraped our fuel tank. The Winnie went about 100 metres before stopping. We had a fuel leak.

Almost immediately men arrived to offer advice and help. Someone went underneath and could see the tank pushed backwards. One of our helpers was able to offer help in the form of a tow truck and a place where it could be repaired. We called roadside assistance and they said to phone our insurers. We decided to wait until the Winnie had been taken to the workshop.

It was scary watching the Winnie being winched onto the truck, but all went well and we caught a lift to their workshop. They will have to send our aluminium tank out to be repaired as they can only weld steel. We are to phone tomorrow at midday to find out what is happening.

They offered a workshop vehicle for us to drive, we felt blessed even though I forgot about the clutch at first. When we drive the Winnie in manual we don’t have a clutch.

The caravan park where we stayed last night is small, with very friendly staff, so our first thought for the overnight was to go back there and take a cabin. No problems, and the cost is within our insurance budget at $100 per night (can be up to $150).

At this point we rang the insurer which will now liaise with the repairer to get a quote.

We had a rest, feeling a bit shaken up. We took some food with us from the van, but may go back tomorrow to get more, rather than buying everything. We have a useable small kitchen in the cabin for preparing food but have tracked down a nice hotel to have our evening meal. There are four pubs in town and I can see why a local person recommended this one, it has a nicely furnished dining room.

We went to the Visitors Centre where we looked at a gallery, then walked around the town to get a feel for what is has to offer, should we have to stay for another day or so.

Having watched it being winched onto the truck I couldn’t bear to watch it coming off. I thought everything would be a mess in the van after being on such an angle, but in fact all was as tidy as we had left it, a miracle indeed.

Our cabin and car.