Stuck ...

Wednesday 5th August 2009
We were all fired up this morning, ready for our trip to Glen Helen Homestead and Gorge. However, as I started the car there was a hissing sound from under the bonnet and when I looked there was engine oil pouring out the bottom of the car. A quick call to the Mitsubishi 24/7 assistance line had me talking to the local Mitsubishi Service centre where I was told that they could look at the car this afternoon. About an hour later a tow truck arrived at the caravn park and loaded our car to take it into town. Just as well we are only a few kms from the centre of Alice Springs.
We were now stuck in the caravan park without a car. The kids were extremely happy about our situation as they could go to the playground and spend the morning having fun. After lunch we got going on some more school work to fill in the time. By 3:30pm I started to ring the Mitsubishi dealer to find out when I could get the car back. By 4pm I stood at the gate of the caravn park to see if I could get a lift into town with someone. As luck would have it there was not a single car for over 15 minutes and I was just about to head for the bus stop down the road when the caravan park staff knocked off work. I managed to convince a very nice lady to give me a lift into town so I could pick up the car. As it turns out the place which performed the 15000 km service in Darwin didn't do a good job. They didn't change both seals on the oil filter as they were supposed to and as a result the second seal blew and thats where the oil was pouring out as soon as the engine was started.
With the car back in running order I went straight back to the caravan park to fetch the rest of the family and go for a shopping trip to stock up on food.
Ilse met a couple from Wodonga, parked just a couple of sites away from us, who are the grand parents of Alexander's school mate. Within a couple of hours of that encounter Ilse met the former neighbours of very good friends of ours. It's a small world indeed.
Our travel plans had to go on hold today so we will continue tomorrow where we've left of this morning.