That slight grizzle before starting the car has halted my travels!
I left Port Pirie heading for Burra yesterday but the delay before the engine fired worried me so I decided to head straight to Clare where I thought there was a depot for the RAA. Unfortunately this has since moved elsewhere so on the advice of the Mitsubishi dealer I took the car to an Auto mechanic. Despite being very busy he came out to the car park to check it out.
The car would not start! Dead as a dodo!
Paul promised to look it over and call me later so I left it and booked into a motel as near as possible to the mechanic for one night - ever hopeful! Later he rang and informed me the starter motor was dead and he couldn't get one until Tueday so here I am for the next few days - stuck!
Fortunately my NRMA Roadside Insurance was fast and efficient and took care of my motel cost and would have provided me with a hire car - if one had been available.
Clare is a lovely town (from what I have seen) but without a car a bit limited. Today I explored the main street, watched the local team play football - not sure what kind - for a few minutes and had coffee and a pie at the bakery. As most of my gear remains in the car I bought a poncho for the forecast rain showers. So glad I took my walking boots out of the car but forgot the goretex, And I did a Woolworths shop. Just beat the rain back to the motel.
Every shop closes at 12.30 or 1.0 on Saturday and most don't open on Sunday - even coffee shops. So I think I will be reading my books and getting quite a lot of rest. It is possible to do a winery tour but the weather is not very inviting so I will continue with little walks and lots of loafing.
I did go to a fantastic Italian restaurant - Ragu - last night which is close by and I may do so again if it stops raining.
As I was expected at Normanville today I rang and said I am delayed and hopefully will get there late on Tuesday - if all goes to plan.
The good news is that the new starter motor will get me on my way and the car is OK and I am OK.
Can't help thinking how lucky I was that I didn't pull over and stop the car to take photos of the kilometres of paddocks so beautifully ploughed stretching to the horizon. It may have died and left me stranded until the RAA got to me! Which would have been hours!
I don't think the starter motor owed me anything - as far as I can remember it is the original. It has done 312,000.000K! Hope it makes the car good for another 300,000!
Can't complain about the rain - it is desperately needed!
Another photo from Old Wilpena Station.
A very good read, thank you Lesley, you write very well with lots of interesting material that you see along the way. Im basically blind, I would enjoy it all but recall very little let alone write it up :-))
ReplyDeleteI had a starter motor in Yass once, I think I had my mum in the car. Called into a garage, the man started it up and he said I will be ok to get home as long as I kept driving, which I did, had to, to get mum back home here.
So, relax enjoy Sunday. Hope it does not rain & you can go out and walk around exploring Clare.
Starting to read this in the wrong order - just had lunch with only Tony, John and Susan, everyone else was AWOL (not really but I always wanted to say that!). Also just replied to your email. Bless you - and yes I believe you were protected!
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