Saving Patty!

Our last trip saw poor Patty our Patrol loose both Brakes and a Wheel Bearing on 2 separate days; leaving her completely immobile. So after a few hours last weekend; of pulling the entire wheel and numerous parts off Patty, they came home in Johnnys car to be repaired or replaced.
Now here we are on a return trip to get the big girl mobile and to bring her home.
Carrying just the basics for camping and with the camper in tow, we had a swag of parts and tools to replace both wheel bearins on the front Left and Right. Both boys had been shopping all week to get replacement parts.

We arrived at 6pm and had the Camper set up within minutes. Johnny set up his new rifle and the boys fired off a few rounds while I cooked sausages for dinner.
After a couple JD’s and some talking shit we had a relaxing evening in a mild wind and the moon in its half moon phase.

Sunday
Up at 730am for coffees and ready to fix Patty.
The herd of sheep had congregated around our campsite grazing as they passed. Not bothered by our presence.

At about 930 I had Johnnys awesome Bushnell Binoculars and was watching some small birds making their way in and out of a hollow in a tree. I then thought to look for the spotted lizard who lives in a nearby rock crevasse, who we have fondly named Spot, but couldn’t get a clear view of his cavern. I moved closer to where he hides but found another resident in the neighbouring rock that nade me want to run…. An adult Brown Snake, disturbed by me, raised the front half of its body into the air to rush into a large crevasse in the rock. I called “Brown Snake, Brown Snake” but the boys were too far away. Chris saw me waving and came down with a shovel. The snake had already gone but we waited to see if it was coming out the otherside. Lucky for him he was not sighted again. Johnny got his .22 ready in case of an encore appearance. Normally snakes wouldn’t bother me but this one was 5m from our camp and in our common walkway. It is refreshing to know they try to escape before you even see them. If they weren’t the 2nd most deadliest snake in the world, I would go as far to say it was a beautiful majestic creature.

I had intention to take my GoPro out on the quad but the Quad bike didn’t want to play today. The boys played around with it and managed to start the bike. I was over the moon! Refitted my camera and new FOX goggles to my helmet and went for a 15 minute spin. The goggles were amazingly clear and kept out all the dust and sweat. Highly recommended! FOX AIRSPC

My ride lasted 15 minutes but didn’t get up to the otherside entirely. Just testing out the camera positioning to make sure I don’t film 30 minutes of half the side of my helmet like I did last time!
I reviewed the footage on my phone and it didn’t look too bad. Upgraded the camera SD storage to a 16GB card as you can never have enough storage!!

Cooked the boys Bacon and Egg sandwiches for Brunch. Butchers Bacon is the best, tastes like BBQ’d Ham!

Patty Progress
Left side assembled

Right side underway!

We cracked our first beers at 4pm after discovering the brake caliper on the right would need to be replaced. Hairline cracks, evident heat stress and abnormal wear. The brake pads were fitted all the same so it will be a slow trip home.

After a quick pack up we begun to leave just before 9pm. Our neighbour John was on his property and rode to meet us. We went and met the rest of his family who were very friendly. We told them about random shooters coming onto their property late at night and firing off rounds. They must know people have been coming onto their property when absent as they told us we are now locking the gate and offered us a set of keys. We were really happy with this decision!

During the trip home, we had Kangaroos in abundance hopping in front of the car. We had one pod that wouldn’t let us past! They just stayed in front of the cars! One managed to bounce into Johnnys car after he stopped, no harm done to either party except Johnnys light now looked into the sky!

Arrived home after midnight, very tired!!