Month: August 2021

Ahh, second time lucky. Passed over the border with barely a stop at the quarantine checkpoint. Our Police pass was accepted this time and old mate quarantine officer did a cursory inspection of our vehicle for contraband of the vegetable and fruit variety. Being honest people we had ditched all our goodies at Victoria River Roadhouse camp yesterday morning so had to do a full vegetable shop at Coles in Kununurra to replace the missing food. A quick refuel and it was back on the road again for a trip down memory lane also known as the Great Nortrhern Highway to set up camp early (for us, in any case) at the Muluk Rest Area Freecamp where we have stayed on previous occasions (on the traditional lands of the Kira people).

The vehicle is still playing up spasmodically. Every now and then the sensor error shuts off the cruise control but it is still drivable. Originally, I had to use the Diagnostic Scanner to clear the faults to get up and running again but on two occasions now it has reset itself after the ignition has been turned off. This afternoon it did over 200kms without any problems so maybe my luck has changed and the system is settling down.

Beautiful night under the stars, balmy breeze and the occasional shooting star. We were startled in the early hours of the morning by a pack of dingoes that came into the camp and started howling. Exciting but scarey at the same time.

We woke to a lovely cool morning and after a leisurely breakfast, set off for the border. We stopped at Pine Creek to refuel just to make sure we had plenty of fuel to get to Kununurra then decided to head straight to the border.

There was a long queue at the quarantine checkpoint which was a mystery to us – surely you have your approved pass so it should be “Howz it going, come on through”. Oh silly us. After waiting for 45 minutes and despite having our border pass approved to go through today, the police at the checkpoint can’t admit anyone into Western Australia until they have finished fifteen days in the Northern Territory (they don’t count the first day at all) meaning if we had our details entered they would cancel our pass and we would have to apply all over again. Even the constable on duty said its ridiculous that, after nearly two years, the powers that be have not fixed the system so that people like us, who have done the right thing, aren’t turned around. In any case we had to return to the NT and can enter WA at one minute past midnight if we so desire.

We decided to return to Timber Creek and spend the night at the Caravan Park there on Nungali/Ngaliwuru traditional lands. As a consolation its sausages and eggs for dinner (I’m easily distracted) to accompany the chorus of the fruit bats camped down by the crocodile pond. The other side of this is that, because it is taking so long to get across the border, nearly all westbound travellers are staying at least one night in Kununurra which means we will have to do our shopping tomorrow then move on (there is no room at the Inn. Thank goodness Jenny’s not pregnant or it would be Christmas all over again)

We anticipated a quick turn around from our mechanical woes but alas it was not to be. After an extraordinarily unlucky moment when I pulled to the side of the road to let traffic pass, a sharp stone was thrown up and hit the sensor lead from the Left Rear Wheel Speed Sensor. As with all great technology, it’s great while it works. Unfortunately, with no rear wheel sensor the vehicle refuses to get out of first gear. We took it to the legends at Pine Creek Auto Repairs who were unavailable until after lunch. Fortunately, after the last sensor issue earlier in the year, I had bought a Diagnostic Scanner for the Sprinter and was able to ascertain that the sensor lead had a short on the positive wire. Not so fortunately, the spare wheel sensor I bought was the wrong one, meaning a repair was the only option. The brothers at Pine Creek Auto isolated the fault and were able to solder the bashed wires back together and, after a reset of the system we were on our way again. We ended up stopping at the Victoria River Roadhouse Caravan Park (Wardaman traditional lands) and enjoying a chicken schnitzel at their restaurant. Off to WA in the morning.

We left the happy family at Bellamack, refuelled and headed south. It’s been a fun week in Darwin, being the social butterflies that we are. The youngsters took us to a few of their favourite haunts and we recuperated from our Mataranka mosquito bites. Our plan was to head south of Katherine tonight but a slight mechanical hiccup has seen us camp at Pine Creek (traditional lands of the Wagiman) until the mechanical services open up tomorrow (today is a public holiday). Hopefully we will still be at Timber Creek tomorrow afternoon.