Moneybox

He could have just been awfully unlucky. I had one attempt at landing at Jandakot where we dropped dramatically just after crossing the fence. We pulled up in ground effect over the grass. My instructor slammed the panic button and shouted go-around but it was too late to panic because we were setup for a perfect landing, just about 100m too early. We executed a go-around but I'd have just applied enough throttle to reach the runway. It all happened to quickly for either of us to react in time to prevent to rapid decent.

I've been told any landing you walk away from is a good one. Did he pass?

Very lucky you had your seat belt well fastened.

It looks just like the wetlands we flew over in Botswana but there we could see herds of large grazing animals, elephants, hippos, buffalo, zebras, impalas, giraffes and many more. Apart from Kangaroos we seemed to be a bit short of large plant eaters. Did the aboriginals wipe the out?

It was built by my father-in-law. He flew competitions across Australia and in the US. Dick Gibbs: Started control line modelling with a Mills 1.3 installed in a "Junior Cham-peen" then progressed to teamracing and scale. Somehow he became addicted to scale modeling and still has an Albatross DVA control liner that has placed twice at National championships. His favourite was the APS free flight Tiger Moth that won the State Free Flight Scale Champs five years in a row. Dick has flown Radio models since the 60s and is currently dabbling with Vintage C/L stunt.

Mrs M has an Albatros D1-D111 1917 German fighter tucked away somewhere. She won't let me fly it without a tail-dragger endorsement... 😒

I take it everybody walked away safely, tissue not needed?

If you're unlucky enough for one of your many lithium battery devices to burst into flames you're unlikely to survive to fight the fire anyway. LithiumRust.mp4 This is rust on all untreated steel under the Hyundai iLoad dash. The corrosion is only evident since the lithium fire a few weeks back. There was no fire in this area so it has to be chemicals released in the battery explosion.

You can't exactly stand outside and give it a squirt. Whatever it releases you're going to be breathing. Perhaps CO2 is the safest.

Nearly fixed... Still a bit of underbody to fit... I'll regas to air conditioning first thing in the morning. The dirty panels are off the doner vehicle.

Perhaps too late, never got over the attraction and feel....

After a quick trip out to the station I started on the van work. The vinyl job was stuck well but left nice shiny paint underneath. It's a long way from finished the 38°C day helped soften the plastic wrap.

Yes thank you. We’ve done quite a few signs. Mrs M’s van is ex-RAC and my old one was our Toll van. She already told me it’s my job before I bought it.

Something to do with the weather or the season, no more than a dozen bugs hit the screen on the trip home. Got two birds unfortunately. The wife warned me to not hit on any birds while I was away.

I did take a peek under the bonnet before I strapped it down. Pumped the tyres to 50psi while hot too. It ran so well no more checks were necessary for the rest of the trip. The windscreen sticker said it was due for a service as I left, it’ll get one now.

It’s a very long way from Caiguna to Cue but I’m home.

The racks don’t slow it down but they help chew the fuel, 11.5 L/100km. Another milestone. A poor unlucky bustard so it was time to look for a camp. I at Caiguna Blowhole waiting for sunrise.

I’m halfway, just 2/3rd to go. With 2340km left I should get there just after Rudolph.

Well you don’t have to worry now. I did a quick rebuild in Bunnings car park. I had prepared well but after dropping a few kilograms to meet to Jetstar requirements I turned up a little short of bits and pieces. The hand luggage police were out, she grabbed my little suit case as I whipped the little tablet out to save some weight. It weighed 8.3kg “It’s a little heavy but you’ve only got one so we’ll let it go”. So I checked my suit case in and entered security, enjoyed the usual frisk of my upper left leg and made it through to the mini restaurant where I ordered a toasted sandwich. While I’m waiting for that I hear my name called so back out again to the service desk. “Mr Box you have a lamp with a lithium battery in your checked baggage”. “No, that’s my Hyundai headlamp without any battery”. “Well you’d better take it back to the oversize guy so he can take another look”. I looked around for some big bugger before I woke up to what she was on about. Anyhow the oversize guy was adamant I had a lithium battery so I had to open up. Sure enough I had a little camp lamp in there so it had to come out and into my carry-on bag. That problem was solved but then I had to go back for another upper leg frisk. Not only that but they spotted the camp lamp in my carry-on. Eventually they gave up and sent me on my way. The Hyundai is shooting along fine apart from a damaged cruise control switch. I might try to do something with that in the morning. Right now I’m camped in a little parking bay at Wail. This lousy Victorian weather makes it near impossible to boil the kettle. Yes I know I’m using old technology, lithium is much preferred as a heating source with instant ignition and being almost impossible to extinguish it takes a lot of beating.

We’re off to Perth in the morning to fly out to Melbourne. I should land there 6:15am Sunday. My first mistake was booking a flight on Jetstar, Virgin allow an extra 15kg of luggage, that helps when you have to pack tools and car parts. That meant I had to go down to the shed for a carry-on sized bag. We got caught in the rain so we dived into an old boiler until the worst passed. There’s been a storm brewing ever since I bought this van from the auction. Hopefully, it’ll settle down soon, it’s a very long way to Melbourne and back.

I learned many years ago, if you take it you won't need it, if you need it you won't have it so now I don't carry spares but I usually have a good tool kit. This time I'm taking the only part I'm quite sure I need. I just have to find a big enough suitcase.

I won't be stopping for these guys. I fly out on Virgin Saturday night landing in Melbourne 6:15am Sunday. If my friend has his Mercedes and trailer ready then I'll be driving that towing the Hyundai. If not I'll drive the Hyundai home. It has a smashed RH headlight so I might have a spare in my baggage.

Now there's an opportunity. I could leave here with a trailer, pick him up on the way through and then get mine from Ballarat where it landed this morning and bring it home.

It worked out lucky for me. About fifteen years back I came across a Hummer H1 broken down on the Nullarbor. I was the Train the Trainer for AM-General Corporation. I trained the Hummer service crews for all of Australasia so getting him underway was a five minute fix using a paper clip to short and electrical circuit. When I decided to sell up and retire in 2014 this was the guy who opened his cheque book. A good deed never goes unnoticed.

Nev, I've driven the Nullarbor so many times over the last 50 years that I doubt I could possibly account for them all. I'm of the opinion that if a vehicle starts and runs without overheating then it'll cross the Nullarbor. I enjoy the drive but this time it wasn't planned. Before buying the vehicle I had a freight quote of $2000. I failed to account for the extra size created by the glass rack. The rack made it too wide for it to fit onto a regular car carrier. Freight quotes this week range from $6019 to $12,000 and that's just to Kalgoorlie. I look like having a tilt tray take the vehicle to Ballarat and I'll work out how I'm going to move it after that.