On the road and back again!!!

Happy New Year everyone and anyone following our adventure, 2013 was not even finished before we were to experience our first difficulties.
Having spent Christmas with the family we were keen to head off and meet up with friends in Victoria, I had made arrangements with a friend in Dubbo to stay on their property NYE so off we went.
Saying goodbyes and being a little teary we finally hit the road around 3pm NYE, madness I know but when you gotta go you gotta go!.

We only had a 4hr journey ahead of us and the excitement of going to Western Plains Zoo the following day was something we were all looking forward too, it was about 2hrs into the journey when the car decided to spoil our fun. 5th gear started to rattle, not an uncommon problem with this model of car with high mileage, I just wished it had appeared earlier but hey ho.
We made it to the property at Dubbo using 4th gear and had a quiet night with John and his grandkids before retiring for the night.
On New Years Day we decided to leave the property and head towards Dubbo with the van, worst case we could call the NRMA and have their mechanic check the car over which ended up being the case. Being the 1st Jan no mechanics were available so we checked into the Big4 van park and settled in expecting to be there 5 days minimum, it was decided we would see the zoo in the morning and wait to see what the local mechanics advised before continuing on, the car drove fine but 5th was an issue.
The next day (2nd Jan) I made some calls which confirmed know-one locally could assist with fixing the gearbox, I did make contact with Ben @ Modern Motors in Dungog who confirmed they had a new gearbox on the shelf and I could have it fitted the following Monday, decision made.
We visited the zoo during the day, it was quite hot around 32'C to be walking too much but thankfully this zoo your drive around and park up to check out the savannah exhibits thus avoiding getting to hot.

We arranged to check out the next day, the car should be ok to tow the van back and worst case we call the NRMA again. So on the 3rd Jan we drove back to the in-laws in the Hunter Valley (in 4th!), today the car was dropped off at Dungog and this afternoon picked up with a reconditioned gearbox, new clutch and flywheel, should last another 300,000km!.

This is a mural/sculpture at Merriwa, quite impressive showing the wool industry.

8th January we plan to head off for again, this time no going back.....

On a brighter note we sold the VW Golf we had for sale. :)