Tiresome Tyres & A Mid-West Xmas, Geraldton

Saturday the 15th of December and buoyed by a beautiful night but deflated to be leaving Monkey Mia, we began packing up the caravan, for one of the last times on our trip. With everyone doing their designated jobs, we were done and hooked up in no time. 

We stopped at the resort coffee shop for a cuppa, said goodbye to our caravanning friends and we were on our way.

Again, the scenery on the way out was just as beautiful as on the way in. It was blue skies and blue waters for as far as the eye could see.

We stopped in Denham for brekky and we all smiled when we saw this Emu and chicks having a morning stroll along the Bay, in the main street of Denham. 

An Emu and her chicks

Once we reached the North-West Coastal Highway we continued on, stopping at Billabong roadhouse for a toilet stop.

By around midday we passed a sign that welcomed us to the Batavia Coast. It was just after that we heard an almighty bang. 

Holy Shite! Richard pulled over to see what had happened. It was another tyre but it hadn' t blown. Instead, this relatively new tyre was completely shredded. That made it two tyres and a tow ball in 5 weeks. We were starting to think that maybe Big Red didn't want to go home.

The shredded tyre

Richard took the spare tyre off,  only to be faced with another dilemma... The spare tyre was also sick. It had a big bubble in it. So what to do? Continue on the shredded tyre or the bubble tyre?

We had no mobile service, so Richard waited for a road train to drive past to ask his advice on what to do on the CB.

He thought it best to go with the bubble tyre, but very slowly.

So Richard went to work, detaching the caravan, hoisting up the car and swapping tyres. It was 38 degrees in the shade and the flies were feral. Within 10 minutes and a few liters of sweat later, the bubble tyre was on. Richard has become a literal TyrePro.

The Tyrepro gets to work

We took off very slowly, we still had 200 kilometres to Geraldton. At 70kms an hour and having to listen to the cricket... it was going to be a long innings.

We managed to get mobile reception eventually, and Dave, who runs the Geraldton dealership, part of the Magic Group, organized some new tyres for us on arrival. 

By 3 o'clock Big Red limped into Geraldton. Richard dropped the van, the kids and I off at the caravan park, opposite the beach (you know it well Angela:-)and took the car into the dealership for some more new tyres.

Other than a few new buildings, Geraldton hadn't changed too much in over a year.

Richard was back a couple of hours later with some new tyres. On the way into the caravan park, he bumped into some caravaning friends  we were next to in Darwin, then in Derby and now Geraldton. So he went off to have a beer with them. 

Before long it was time to get ready for the Mid-West Auto Xmas Party. 
It really was like a comedy act, the 5 of us trying to get ready at the same time in the caravan. There were clothes flying everywhere and needless to say we were all in each others space. But, with plenty of time to spare we were ready and on our way.

The party was at the dealership and the theme for the night was Casino (Mum, you would have loved it).

Richard did a speech and thanked Dave & Carol for doing a great job and the party was on. 

Everyone was given 22 casino chips and had and hour and a half to play with them on 4 gaming tables. 

Carol oversees the roulette table

We had brought the kids and they did a good job of remaining concealed until Harry heard Casino and then he, Jack & Nina all wanted in. 

So they all got their maths lessons for the day. Adding up their chips and counting to 21 in the blackjack game :-)

All the staff and the kids had a ball.

Aunty Em teaches the kids how to gamble

Harry, Emily, Richard, Nina & Dave

Nina has a dance

Carol & Dave had done such an amazing job of organizing the whole event... Thanks guys.

Jack gets into the Christmas spirit

Richard & I

Richard, Dave, Sonia & Carol

By 9 o'clock anyone who had chips left had them counted and prizes were given out.

It was a great night and we were so happy to be there to thank the Mid-West team for their amazing effort this year. 

Tomorrow we continue on the final leg and home.