Dropped the car in at 7AM to be the first cab off the rank with that little disaster so the only thing we planned today was to see the sights of down town Kununurra and have a look around the shops. Lazy start to the day as down town was not going to take long. We ventured into town and managed to pick up some more breathable sun hats for both of us, did we mention it is BLOODY HOT here? Sharon managed to get a hair cut appointment at a different hair dresser. We got lots of information at the visitors centre and talked with the lady who takes bookings for ElQuestro, our next adventure once the car is sorted again. She told us the season is waning and we can book the private river side campsites no worries. This made us feel better about visiting there now the crowds have died down a bit. She told us at the beginning of the season they had upwards of 600 people out there each day.

Not much else in down town Kununurra I can report? Called up about the car around 15:30 as my phone was playing silly buggers and it did not sound good and he wanted me to call back around 16:30 so instead I walked around their to see for myself what was going on. He invited me into the workshop to have a look and they had it on the hoist. Spoke with the mechanics working on it and had a look at what they had done. They confirmed it was a crap installation by who ever put it in, thanks ARB Launceston! They had re-done the front bracket and replaced all the bolts with proper size high tensile steel bolts.

While talking to them Sever (the owner) bought out a stubbie of Boags Premium for me and we all had a beer while finishing things off. They love the Boags Premium apparently. The bull bar had a small but noticeable wobble in it, all the bolts were tight but I went out to the office to pay and when I returned they showed me a large crack in the passenger side crash cam (holds the bull bar and crushes on impact). This is the one replaced in the recent crash repair by Finns. To be fair the Tanami could have caused this crack and I can’t really blame Finns this time.

So we are still stuck here and the car is back in at 7AM for a welding job this time and some more money out of my wallet. Sever told me all the issues these vehicles have and what he regulary replaces over a beer, he has two of them. He has everything from clutches, gearboxes to transfer cases in stock. The air filter was completely shot after only 6,600Km on these roads so it got replaced as well. Hoping for better news tomorrow and then we can make plans to move on. All this sitting around is driving me crazy, I can’t just sit around, need to be doing something and we need some decent blog material.

PS: Sharon reminded me that yesterday I was looking at signs going around a corner in Wyndham and I went a bit wide and nearly had a crash with a police car. I waved at him but he didn’t look to impressed! Latter in the day he gave me a ‘special’ wave as we passed him on the highway…..