The Ride of Shame

It’s always a mistake to think to yourself “Gee the car’s been good lately. Haven’t had a drama in months. What a champion ! ” Cause very soon after that self congratulation, something bad will surely follow……..and it did.

We’d left Baandee Lake early on the Friday morning and headed into Merredin, our most easterly point. Fuelled up, gassed up, and the best latte for weeks we headed south-west, our destination Wellington State Forest in two days time. The road was quiet, blue sky and a few days of forest camping beckoned. The winds had started to blow, so we pulled into a little town, Corrigin, and a cute little caravan park only a spit from the shops. We stayed for two nights as to avoid the weekend crowd at the Wellington Dam. Tamika and I both had our ‘Shallow Hal’ moments recently and are now on a more disciplined food and exercise regime. So we are both taking daily walks and cutting back on the bread and snacks and main meal only every second night – chocolate, not so much…….

A number of towns in this area have large granite outcrops protruding from the undulating plains and afford expansive views across the farmland. Corrigin’s was literally just up the street from our van and reared up maybe 80 metres above the town.

So we waited for the winds to ease and then headed towards Collie. Aaah, what a glorious day! Sunday morning cruising, relaxed and then THAT thought. Two hours later and 15klm out of Collie, a smell….THAT smell. Something burning and the car’s a little sluggish. Probably nothing, but we pulled over into a car park and I checked under the hood. Well, that’s as far as she went. The water coolant container was oozing not water, but a black oily sludge that bubbled out as soon as I tweaked the cap. This was bad…very bad. To make matters worse, I pulled my head out from the engine bay to see a steady trickle of water dropping from the back of the engine.

Now this is where I sing the praises of NRMA. Sure, Premium Roadside Assistance is not cheap, but we were 200klm’s from Perth and a Jeep dealer. Within 24 hours they had us back in Perth, bedded down in a caravan park, 4 nights paid accom, a future tow to get the Jeep to the dealer and more. Still we had to endure the drive of ignominity, our Jeep atop a long flatbed and our van towed dutifully behind. Oh the shame, the shame……

So, as of right now, the Jeep is at the dealers and the damage not fully known until tomorrow. We ‘re pretty sure it’s the EGR unit but what else?? Our immediate plans have not been disrupted. We were going to be in Perth until the end of February anyway. The upside is that were doing a hell of a lot of walking. So, off to find out where the jungle is around here – no rest for the stranded.