Travelling Vets - 12. TV Chapter 12

“Yes, Bill and Grace, and I know all about the Double Decker. You are welcome to park where you are for the night, and feel free to enjoy a meal and a drink or two,” the lady said. “Well, that is a much better reception than what we received down the road,” I commented, “Do you mean the Thunder Park? They are a bunch of idiots to reject you, plus they are new to the region, so I doubt if they will survive in business for long if that is their attitude,” the lady said to us, which cheered me up.

We had a very enjoyable dinner, with live music that made the evening more relaxing, and I was now starting to realise that this is what I needed, a holiday with my loved ones, well away from my responsibilities, and with no set destination in mind. We ended up staying for two nights at this hotel, and during the day, we had a good look around the district, having kept the small Jeep as part of the sale deal, which gave us a vehicle to go and explore places.

Now that we would not be making the big changes to the trailer, we didn’t need to downgrade without a vehicle, but Marcus and I did look at adding another shelving and bench space, with a one-metre space between it and the laundry cupboards, which gave us the additional workspace for vet purposes if need be. The one-metre-long cupboard and bench space, include narrow access on both sides, with a fold-down bench from each wall, to make the work area the full 2.45 metres long, yet still, allow access to the vehicle from the front area.

We decided that we might as well start heading west back towards home, but at a leisurely pace, as we were not in any rush to get home, so we started to plan our journey home and decided to take a few risks and take some of the more out of the way roads. From Tambourine, we saw on the map that we needed to head north first, so our next destination was Waterford, a southwest suburb of Brisbane, and only a half-hour drive away, where we would stock up on extra supplies for our long journey home, and this included, having an additional diesel fuel tank added to the front of the trailer, and with a two-inch separation, a freshwater tank was added above it.

We managed to arrange to stay at a nearby Showgrounds Caravan Park, where there is plenty of space for the bus and trailer, and we used the Jeep to get all of our shopping done. We added two extra spare wheels for the bus, as well as for the jeep and the trailer, plus additional engine parts, like fan belts, a spare radiator, a full tool kit, shock absorber springs, spark plugs, windscreen wiper blades, and anything else that we could think of that we needed. We had the Bus and the Jeep fully serviced, and we purchased a few spare parts for the Jeep as well.

In addition to all of that, we purchased a satellite telephone for emergencies, and we had UHF radios installed in the Jeep, Trailer and Bus, plus we had two additional portable radios also, as well as stocking up on some additional veterinary supplies, including the basics needed in the way of vet drugs, which would stay locked up in the small fridge and lock cupboard under the new workbench in the trailer.

After some thought and discussions, we decided that we would avoid caravan parks as much as possible due to the size of our mobile home, and the difficulties that we may have gotten in and out of a place and turning around, so we began looking at alternatives, like farm stays, roadhouse overnight parking and 24-hour highway parking bays, since we are fully self-sufficient, including having solar panels that cover 50% of our roof, which keeps our batteries well charged up.

We only need to top up the water when we pass through a town every four or five days and do a sewage dump every third day and a grey water dump every second day, and after three days of shopping and making the changes we needed, as set our next destination to be Toowoomba, which is a distance of 140 kilometres which would take us about two hours to complete the journey at a steady pace, having decided that if we stick to between 90 and 100 km/h, we should do ok, with conserving fuel.

The showgrounds caravan park in Toowoomba is a little way out of central town, which was fine with us, as we would be staying for only a day to resupply with water, fuel and food supplies, plus to dump our wastewater and sewage. After an overnight stop there we decided to make our way home, we needed to take the Donahue Highway from Boulia to the Queensland / Northern Territory border, where the road becomes the Plenty Highway, which will take us to Alice Springs. To get to Boulia we first had to get to Roma, where we would have to continue on the Warrego Highway through Dalby, Chinchilla, Miles, Yuleba, and Wallumbilla until we reach the outback town of Roma.

This alone would be a 350-kilometre journey, and Marcus and I would change over, after driving 200 kilometres, so we both didn’t get too tired from driving. With Roma to be the second last major town that we would be travelling through, we stocked up on fuel, water, and food, as well as got rid of our waste. From Roma, it is a 700-kilometre journey northwest to Longreach. We were often concerned in regards to the height of overhead power lines and this often had us having to change directions regarding where we could travel through towns, this came clear, when we arrived in Roma.

Like all towns that we approach, since we left Tamborine, we have had the boys stationed in the master bedroom, and at the stairs, to watch and warn us if a power line is too close to the top of the bus. Although we are 4.25 metres high, and the standard minimum height of power lines is 4.5 metres, we have had to make a few diversions in smaller towns, are the power lines were too low.

Now with handheld radios, both boys sat in the master bedroom, to stay watch for low power lines, and they would warn whoever is driving of low power lines approaching. Often, we would just stop and assess the situation and work out if we had clearance or not, and decided from there if we continue or divert. When we arrived in Roma, I was concerned with what I saw ahead, and Marcus grabbed a hand-held UHF radio and asked me to stop, and he would walk ahead for the whole way through town.

Travelling at a slow 5 kilometres per hour, I slowly followed Marcus, and as we crossed another street slowly, I looked back and saw a hardware store on the side street, so I pulled over. “Marcus, let's see if we can get an aluminium pole that is 4 metres long, and you better get some thick rubber gloves too,” I said into the radio. “Good idea, I will be right back,” Marcus replied, as he crossed the street and headed for the hardware store, returning ten minutes later with all we needed, plus a few other items.

Releasing the back door of the trailer, Marcus reversed out the jeep and parked it behind the trailer, before closing the back door again, he then went to the side of the bus and opened a storage locker and retrieved several tools, as I climbed out of the bus to see what Marcus had planned to do, and I smiled when I saw that he was installing a bracket to the roof rack of the jeep, that will hold the pole in place, with it been secured 25 cm above the ground, so the pole is level in height with the top of the bus.

I noticed that the top of the pole had already been painted a bright fluorescent orange colour, so the top can be easily seen from the ground. Once fixed in place, Marcus jumped into the driver seat of the jeep, with Langley seated in the passenger seat and they set off ahead of the bus slowly, with Ryley keeping an eye on the top of the pole when we approached power lines, but thankfully we managed to clear them all, but there were a few very close calls at some points.

Once out on the western side of town, we pulled over, to take the pole down and secure it onto the roof rack of the trailer, before putting the jeep away again. “Good afternoon,” a voice said as we were finishing putting the jeep away, and the boys had returned inside the bus, and the voice made both of us jump. “How may we assist you, officer?” Marcus asked when we both realised that a police car was parked nearby.

“Very ingenious idea you have there, to make sure you don’t wipe out the town’s power supply. I was watching you from a distance when your idea caught my attention,” the police officer said to us. “Is it wrong what we did?” I asked with concern, wondering if we were in deep trouble or not.

“A little dangerous, but I see you have taken precautions, but I suggest that with other towns that you approach ahead, you have the police assist you, ensuring that you will have enough clearance. What is the total height of your double-decker bus?” the officer replied. “It is 4.25 metres sir, and we believe that power lines are supposed to be at a minimum height of 4.5 metres, but we have come across a few places where it isn’t and have had to go around the edge of town instead of sticking to the main road,” I replied.

“Ok, where are you heading and which way are you going?” the officer asked us. “Home to Western Australia, and we want to continue on the Warrego Highway and Landsborough Highway northwest to Boulia and eventually take the Donohue Highway and Plenty Highway to Alice Springs is the route we are planning to go,” Marcus replied. “I see, well I will notify the police stations at Mitchell, Morven, Augathella, Blackall, and Balcadine, where you need to take left at the junction, and finally Longreach, where they will give you further instructions,” the officer said to us.