Drive: 89km; Total
towed: 1303km
3 (feels like 1) - 25 deg C
After a walk on very chilly morning, we left Ravenswood just before 9:30am. We had to leave after 9am as that is when the kangaroos go to bed and are off the roads (so we were told by a fellow traveller). We did see one wallaby beside the road but it had the good sense to hop off into the bush.
We didn't stop for mornos until we had reached our final destination of Charters Towers. We pulled into the Charter Towers Tourist Park about 10:30am. Upon being shown to our site by the friendly manager, Brad, we were informed there was a terrible sound coming from our van in the wheel area. After reversing into the site Brad had a look at the wheels and found some disturbing stuff. After a lot of talking, poking and gesticulating, we decided to ring the suspension man and booked the van in for Mon afternoon. We then had a cuppa. After mornos, the boys decided that they would take one of the wheels off to have a better look. They all decided that it was the suspension that had not been correctly positioned from the day we bought the van. Apparently, all it needs is an adjustment, two new tyres, and new or reconditioned bearings and we will be OK. Time will tell. S&M suggested that we book another night (Mon) as the findings may be more serious and therefore take more time to fix. G&Y also agreed; very kind of them to do this for us.
It was then time for lunch and a ride around town. Charters Towers is still one of those Queensland country towns where most of the shops close at midday on a Saturday and don't open until Monday morning. So, the ride was good in that there were very few cars on the roads. 10km later we were back home and getting ready to enjoy the live music in the camp kitchen.
