25 July 2011 – Townsville to Innisfail QLD

With the motorhome packed and ready for travel, we were back at Iveco when they opened at 8:00am and were informed that the freight normally arrived sometime between 10:00am and 10:30am.

First job for the day was to refill a gas bottle (we did that and returned to Iveco and stored the bottle in its compartment).

We then travelled back into Townsville and spent some time taking photographs around the bay looking back at Townsville and out to Magnetic Island.  We were tempted to venture back up to Castle Hill but decided we would prefer to wait close to Iveco should they call and confirm that the truck had been repaired.

The anticipated call never came and we had lunch and then headed back to Iveco only to see that the motorhome was not there.  It returned shortly thereafter and we were informed that the problem had been fixed.

The mechanic stated that they had located a blocked “T” piece and that was the primary cause of our problem.  They also suspected an issues with a hose and valve and had replaced them as they had the parts from Melbourne.  The sun visor had also been replaced.

EDIT – 11 August 2011

Iveco has now confirmed the following details regards our problem.

The problem was a fractured vacuum hose between the turbo VGT valve and the electro valve.  The EGR electro valve was also faulty.

They state that the problem was normally caused by normal wear and tear or heat.

We paid for the freight and at 2:40pm, we attached the car and headed north.  The Iveco did not miss a beat as we travelled to Innisfail.

There was a major accident outside of Townsville that impacted our progress and we were also stopped on several occasions due to road work.  The road after Ingham was hairy as we had a steep climb followed by a decent.  We were mindful of the car travelling behind the motorhome and proceeded with extreme caution.

We saw a lot of the aftermath of cyclone Yasi which hit Queensland early this year.  We saw forests of trees where the trees were standing at 45 degree angles.  We also saw many houses and business with missing roofs or totally destroyed.  We also saw banana crops that looked like they are close to being harvested.

Many years ago there was a movie called “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver.  The story was about a guy in a car being harassed by a truck.  You never saw the driver of the truck.  The car behind the motorhome reminds us of that movie.  Every time you look at the rear view camera you see the car but never the driver.  Sometimes it feels like you are being tailgated but the car never passes you.  Really spooky!!

We arrived at Innisfail at 6:15pm and met the owner of the Big4 Caravan Park who took the time to find a suitable site so we could leave the car attached.

Just after we arrived a fire was lit in the paddock across the road to burn the sugar cane.  This is not normal but the crops are being burnt this year to reveal debris from cyclone Yasi.  The debris will be removed before the crops are harvested mechanically.

While tea was being cooked, the wind changed direction and we were covered with the smoke from the fire.  This was most unpleasant but did not last for long.  We were able to use the fan in the roof of the motorhome to remove most of the smoke from the motorhome.  We slept well knowing we were back on the road again.