AOA 2019 Tanunda SA was a great trip and as you know we travelled with Nairn, keeping an eye on him and his Freeway. Great fun as we went via Broken Hill. I had not visited BH before. We had trucked our A30 to Adelaide and back and drove our Mazda CX5.

So perhaps I should tell you the road home story in my Mazda CX5.

During the week in Tanunda I decided to top up the oil in the A30. Grabbed the 5 litre container and duly did the job. In replacing the container in the box of spares, oils, rags etc in the back of my Mazda CX5 I forgot I had the Fire extinguisher in there also, It was covered with rags to stop it rattling.

In pushing the oil container into the box I set the extinguisher off for perhaps a second. (The pin had dropped out). White dust went everywhere. Luckily most was contained to the boot area. Half hour to clean it up.

Couple of days later we set off for home after dropping the A30 to CEVA in Adelaide. We went on to Mildura for our first stop and I dutifully hung up our coats and shirts etc for Desley in the wardrobe. (After Desley telling me not to by the way). Decided to get up early and head off to Wagga Wagga and have breakfast on the way. Got 150klms out just before Balranald and remembered the hanging clothes in the motel wardrobe. Had breakfast in Balranald and back we went and collected same.

Next we made it to Wagga 4 hours later than planned and stayed with friends for what was supposed to be only 1 night before setting off to Canberra to the War Memorial for 2 nights. On leaving Wagga I filled up the car with unleaded petrol instead of diesel. Been filling it with Diesel for 6 years. Not knowing or having experienced this before drove off unaware. I had about ¼ tank left before filling up. Almost immediately car did not feel good except when I increased speed on the highway it seemed to go away until I hit a hill about 10kls out of Wagga. Made it to the top, just where there was a truck stop. And that was it. At least there was some beautiful views from the top.

All stop....

But at least a nice view....

NRMA came and put the car on the truck. We ended up staying another 2 nights with our friends while NRMA drained the fuel tank, flushed the lines and replaced the fuel filter before the car was ready to go again, $570.00 later. We decided we would bypass Canberra and head home. After filling up again I noticed the fuel gauge was showing half full only and indicated I had about 325klm to drive which should have been around the 800 mark for a full tank. Made it to Dubbo and refuelled and set off early next day hoping to get home in the one day. Oh no!!

We decided to head off the Newell Highway just north of Dubbo for something different and travelled along Fossickers Highway via Mendooran, Gunnedah, Manilla, Barraba, Bingara and into Moree on the Gwydir Highway .

Silo art at Barraba…..is that Prince Harry???

17k east of Moree the CX5 ran out of fuel, me not believing the gauge or the warning light.

Again NRMA to the rescue. Car had stopped on an open plain with no trees nearby, 36 degrees and thousands of flies. On top of this the car had stopped 20 metres from a 3 month Kangaroo corpse - CHOICE!

NRMA brought out 10 litres of fuel. The car would start but no revs under foot and would cut out. Later thought it was probably an airlock. Out came the NRMA truck again and into Moree. Refuelled and away we went again. Now deciding to get to Goondiwindi and stay the night and drive home Sunday morning, topping up the tank whether it needed it or not.

On top of this I started to notice on Saturday that I was getting a sore throat and raspy voice. Got worse and have been to doctor for some antibiotics.

None of the above was the cars fault. All down to me.

I might add the A30 is home safely tucked up in its shed.

All part of the driving experience and the rich tapestry of LIFE, I told Des. Not sure she believes me.

See what happens when Nairn is not around……..