28 March 2018 – Wagga Wagga NSW

“He” received a telephone call from “She” just after 7:00am requesting that a visit he made to the shops to purchase a couple of items that were not packed and could not be transported on a plane.

Just after 8:00am “He” left the camp site and headed to the Wagga Wagga shopping precinct.  A couple of minutes after leaving, the radio in the Navara stopped working and then rebooted itself.  This was strange and “He” immediately started to think if there was a Polaris agent in Wagga Wagga.  After the second shutdown, concern started to form in his mind.  The third shutdown several minutes later was followed by the car going into “limp” mode and every light on the dash being illuminated.  The vehicle was stopped on the side of a main Wagga Wagga street and an attempt to restart failed.

A call was made to Nissan Roadside Assistance as the car was still under warranty.  Nissan transferred the call to the NRMA and “He” was informed that assistance should be there within the hour.  Whilst waiting for the NRMA to arrive, an inspection under the bonnet revealed that the pulley attached to the alternator was missing a belt.  This was of a significant concern as the belt had been replaced the previous week following a car service.  When the NRMA technician arrived, he agreed with the prognosis but of even more concern, was able to remove the pulley assembly from the front of the alternator.  With the vehicle totally immobilised, a tow truck was ordered.

The vehicle was taken to the local Nissan Dealer, Riverina Motors.

“He” was informed that the vehicle would be looked at later in the day following the clearance of their scheduled work.  History now tells us that the vehicle was inspected later in the afternoon but unfortunately after the cut-off time for the ordering of spare parts for delivery the next day.  The prognosis was that the alternator had ceased, belts had been broken and a clutch assembly (the part that the NRMA technician found to the loose) was destroyed.  Part would be ordered but delivery was not expected until the Tuesday following Easter.  Bugger!!!!

The Nissan dealer provided transport back to the camp site.

After arriving back at the camp site, calls were made to Nissan and fortunately our warranty covered a rental car for a period of 5 days (Wed, Thur, Fri, Sat and Sunday).  This was approved and later extended to 6 days (Easter Monday) due to the long weekend.

During the afternoon, time was spent inside a new building on the festival site where the technology available to us during the festival was explained in detail.  There were several screens that could be projected onto and our video camera could be connected to multiple screens via an Ethernet connection.  We also had the ability to use internal speakers for sound.  “He” also assisted with the setup of the sound system that would be used during the festival.

Later in the afternoon a friend moved the caravan into the festival site and much later, another friend provided a lift to the local AVIS outlet where a Toyota Camry was provided as a rental vehicle.  “He” finally completed the shopping that should have taken place in the morning.

Happy hour was enjoyed with friends and the time was also taken to fly a quad copter to photograph the site with the only vehicles belonging to some of the volunteers.  The evening meal was enjoyed with friends.

With power now available, the television was tuned and watched until late in the evening.  We have power for only essential items in the caravan (battery charger, refrigerator and some very small appliances (camera batteries, mobile telephone chargers etc)).

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