First day out & a fortuitous mistake.

Leaving home all went to plan & we were on the road by mid morning, driving along occasionally exchanging grins with each other. “This is real, we’re really doing it”. Even the on/off drizzling rain didn’t dampen our enthusiasm any more than it did for all the young lambs with their mothers we passed. They jumped & pranced around. Our jumping & prancing was inside.

We thought around 300kms would make for a good first day, a compromise between rushing northward to the hoped for warmth & the desire to travel to previously ‘untravelled’ territory to feel we had begun our adventure.  Our route was up through north central Victoria, toward Mildura & the NSW border, with an overnighter at one of a couple of free camps. One at Woomelang, or another a little further north at Lake Walpeup, depending on how we felt. Our hope was to arrive mid to late afternoon.

We were well into the Wimmera, (Victoria’s grain belt, characterised by flat open paddocks which stretch to the horizon, big clouds & occasional grain silos, huge man made  edifices on the once mallee covered land). Our GPS navigator suggested we take a short cut just south of Birchip.  Bless ‘her’. We stopped briefly at the beginning of the dirt road. What can possibly go wrong? The road looked as smooth as a baby’s bum & besides we are in a very capable 4wd. 800 metres later, just over the brow of a hill & hidden from sight we were bogged. Yep first day & bogged in Birchip! I turned to MrsTea & said “We’re not going anywhere” & to her credit she remained calm.

What I had failed to consider was that the road comprised of red clay & this combined with the fact that the rain had just become a lot heavier had conspired to turn the baby’s bottom into a slippery morass. From the moment our wheels started spinning & the whole shebang was sliding sideways into the gutter we had no hope. 4wd & a diff lock were no match for wet red clay. The ‘grass’ sides only hid softer clay scraped to the side by a grader.

Trying to walk on the stuff was like walking on ice.

We retreated out of the wind & the icy rain back into the cab, trying not to cover everything in sticky red mud & the realisation that we would be there overnight & possibly longer hit us. The prospect was not an appealing one. Having decided that using the Tvan would make too much mess it seemed sleeping sitting up in the cab & hoping for sun the following day to dry the track out enough to let us escape was the best option

An hour later, about 3pm, the sun shone through the clouds & I thought another attempt at extrication worth an attempt. MrsTea was less sure, but agreed “we could only make things worse”!  With all the tyres deflated to 22psi I selected high second gear & blow me we started moving forward. With gritted teeth we swung off the narrow track & slowly bumped & bounced our way through some scrub to complete a 180 degree turn, back onto the track & then managed to slowly,  ….. very slowly ……..slide our way back to the bitumen. Almost 3 hours after leaving the bitumen we were back on solid ground having learned just how little it can take to stop a 4wd in it’s tracks!

In the freezing wind & rain (again) we had to pump the tyres back up. It was here we discovered we had another problem. For some unknown reason the big meaty compressor was struggling big time. We did eventually manage to get all tyres up to pressure but it took over an hour, & it was obvious there was a problem with the compressor.

We made it to Woomelang in the dark, by 6:30. Had a bite to eat & an early night, leaving early this morning to drive to Mildura where we sought assistance. The local ARB (4wd accessory store & workshop) assured me that I would not find anyone in Mildura who would either have parts nor the ability to repair our compressor & tried as best they could to sell me one of theirs. At $600 + fitting this was not a cheap option, but I was also not willing to risk travelling on without a means of inflating tyres.

A chap at Enzed (hoses & hydraulics) put me on to Tbas, a company specialising in compressors. It was music to my ears when I explained we had a Boss PX07 compressor & he knew exactly what I was talking about. He suggested we go & find a caravan park & then return without The Tvan & he’d ‘have a look’. An hour later I’d left MrsTea in the Tvan & was back at Tbas. In the meantime the chap had ordered a rebuild kit, “just in case we needed it”, & whilst talking with the Boss supplier had ascertained that the symptoms I’d described sounded like a faulty check valve (1 way valve). He waved me into their yard & met me there with a replacement check valve he had taken off a full kit he had on the shelf & said “lets try the easy things first”. The old check valve when removed was full of gunk & in a sorry state, looking like it could very easily be seized.

It was, & the replacement restored the compressor to full health. I left the shop with a newly fitted check valve, a spare check valve (not the right one but will suffice if needed) & a bill for $61.00. He didn’t even charge me anything for his time. Fantastic service & a big relief.

Sometimes crap happens. On this occasion it was fortuitous. The compressor’s performance was failing rapidly, & I very much doubt it would have re-inflated the tyres a second time. So much better to have discovered this now than in a remote & potentially dangerous situation later.

I believe that the problem was caused by ‘lack of use’. The compressor is 5 years old, but has previously only inflated half a dozen tyres. It will now be given a regular work out, including blowing out any moisture build up in the air tank.

Those with good memories who read our ‘Big Trip’ blog may remember that in the first few days of our around Oz trip in the old bus that I bogged it on wet red clay just outside Dubbo! I reckon ‘Bogged in Birchip’ has a better sound to it & at least this time we did’t need assistance to get out!