Its been a bit busy this last little while. Daile's car is up on axle stands with one hub off, and the outer bushes on the control arms are completely shot. I assume its the same both sides. I'm being told by the shops that I can't buy the tool that's required to get the bushes out an' in...and then they told me the prices of the inner bushes. I hate it when i get through to people that tell me something categorically like that, when they don't really know what they're talking 'bout. Problem is I'm just not feeling that motivated to sort it all out.
Next week (Tuesday) I'm off to Los Angeles, so she can use mine for a week. There, that's sorted then.
Not long now till the Molly arrives. The plan is that we give her the first weekend here, (probably down the coast if the weather's good) and then the following one, she and I are going to do the Frazer trip.
I'm really looking forward to that actually. Daile gave me special dispensation to buy a GPS thingy. I made a special trip to the shop (BCF) that has some near to where i work on the way home tonight. I thought I'd go and do an appraisal....not really intending to buy today. 'BCF' is another one of those acronyms that are in such common parlance here. Officially it stands for 'Boating, Camping and Fishing' ...whereas unofficially and more properly, it stands for 'Blokes shop'.
I spent an inordinate amount of time wandering round, touching, taking things out of boxes, squinting, telling people that I didn't need any help thank you, and that sort of thing. I'm wearing glasses these days that are OK for reading, but not OK for medium distance. I'm using eyes on the other hand, that are not really good at anything other than distance. So when I'm in a shop, I can't really see properly until I'm close to the object. Everything is at precisely the wrong distance. Aside from the GPS, I was also after some 4WD stuff. I'm told that when you get stuck in sand on Frazer, you have to be pulled out by another vehicle. This isn't normally a drama because if you're driving along the 70 mile beach between Hook Point and Sandy Cove, there's always loads of other vehicles along, and you'd be unlucky not to have someone else along within 10 mins or so that could pull you out. (Like this picture i found on the web...)
If you get stuck on one of the tracks inland, then you'd be in the way of the next vehicle that comes along, so you'd be REALLY unlucky to not have help from them..... They say that it's a strong camaraderie on the island....especially between the fishermen (women) that are there in droves at this time of the year cos its a really good time for fishing. The fish that are in copious supply are called 'Tailor' fish. I'm told by one of my work colleagues that is lending me a rod and reel, that WHEN you catch one of these, you have to snap its neck immediately, so that the blood doesn't fill the muscles. If you let it die naturally, the fillet is bland...whereas if you bleed it, the taste is lovely, especially when you eat it within a few hours....which is what we're going to do I hope.
Anyway, the way that you're pulled out of the sand is to use a thing called a 'snatch strap' which is a long strap of webbing, like the kind that you use for lifting loads with a crane, but with stretch in it. You have to use proper shackles and attachments as the forces involved in the tecnique are quite dangerous. What you do is attach one end to the bogged vehicle, and the other to the rescue vehicle, and drive the one close enough to the other that you can leave a loose 's' of about a metre. Then you drive the rescue car smartly away and when the strap goes taught...it begins to stretch...and stretch until it snatchesi the bogged car out. So I bought one of those, and the proper shackles, and a hook to replace the tow ball on the tow bar.
Another thing that i've heard is that when you get dropped off on the beach by the beach landing craft (ferry), it's quite common for the first car off to get bogged in the sand. Apparently the technique is to lower the tyre pressures to about 18psi and drive smoothly off and keep going. I hope we won't be the first off! If it happens, the boat lifts the ramp, backs up, and comes in a little further along the beach, leaving the poor bugger to sort it out! I assume that somone else would go and help....
IF or should I say WHEN I catch my fish....we'll need to cook it. So i've bought a book on how to do this when you're in the middle of nowhere. Fascinating. I'm really looking forward to it. I've got waders coming with the rod too.... So at least I'll LOOK the part!
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