Gympie Woes!

Gympie

Stevo's mechanical services Gympie May 30th - June 6th

We set off from Pomona full of the joys of spring, heading to Torbanlea racecourse. We had just come through Gympie when disaster struck! The clutch had burnt out and we were going nowhere. A quick call to our insurance company and we had a recovery vehicle organised.
I unhooked the Terios from the bus, disconnected the 'A' frame and awaited the recovery vehicle.
I thought we should start the Terios and get it out of the way. It wouldn't start as the battery was flat. Can things get any worse? Checking that we had set up the vehicle (for towing) correctly which we had. The only conclusion I could make was that the battery was stuffed!
Poor Andrea had to push me in reverse (towards oncoming traffic) down a slight slope whilst huge B doubles whizzed past us as they charged up the hill. To say she was petrified is an understatement, thank god I got it going and manoeuvred to safety.

This is not how 2 Tykes was meant to travel Australia! Lets hope that when she gets where she is going they look after her. The hill she is going up now is nothing to what she has been up! No wonder the clutch gave up.

Absolutely mortified seeing all my hard work being carried off for repairs, hopefully she will be back on the road soon!

Not only was the clutch burnt out, the flywheel was also stuffed with a couple of serious cracks found on inspection.

No this flywheel is not going back on and a new one has to be ordered from Sydney. It looks like we are going to be here a while longer.
We were lucky when we contacted Stevo's diesel mechanics as they knew the predicament we were in.
2 Tykes is our home on wheels and we still needed to live in the bus while she was being repaired. Stevo's were happy to supply a power lead, showers and a toilet. Free camping without the veiw!

Ah well it only money I suppose, I also got them to fit a new exhaust back box whilst she was in dry dock. Even that was a problem as the part wasn't available. they had to fit a larger box and adjust the brackets to suit.
I had already spoken to Russell their chief mechanic about the problem I've had with the gear changing on the bus and asked him for a test drive after completion.

Final bill for repairs to the bus $4,600 Ouch!!!
I had a test drive with Russell who gave his honest appraisal of the gear changing. We still have a problem with first gear (it doesn't engage fully, and tends to jump out of gear with acceleration) but it has nothing to do with the clutch. It is however one of the reasons the original clutch burnt out as I often set off in second gear. Add this to the burden of towing a vehicle and the clutch was never going to last.
Providing I change my driving style 2 Tykes will keep going. I will however be using first gear for setting off in the future.

Not knowing when and if the repairs would be finished we were a little bit ham-stringed with what we could and couldn't do. A few hours at the beach would be nice.

Rainbow beach

Casper will find a stick at the drop of a hat and it will usually be large. Its alright for the muscular fat necked bull terrier but someone has to get the tree away from him so it can be thrown (well lobbed) and chased.

Then it all starts again!

 Casper loves the beach and seems to get springs on his feet at times!

I tend to be drawn to memorials of fallen comrades and have seen many since my arrival in Australia. Gympie's memorial is wonderful.

The below mural is a closer view of the one above and shows the great detail that the artist has attained.

Eight murals were commissioned by Gympie and took nine years to complete. $240,000 was raised by raffles and donations to fund this artwork.

I wouldn't normally post as many pictures of a memorial but think Gympie's Memorial lane is amazing.

LEST WE FORGET

We were beginning to think that the bus would never get finished and were absolutely fed up by the time it was. It was June the 6th before it was finished and we could get back on the road. Hopefully we won't have too many more mishaps with the bus?