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I note our last part of our travels as relayed to the group ended at Laidley where we initially stayed 3 nights at
Lake Dyer/Bill Gunn Weir. We had had a problem with the Onan generator starting a day or so ago, so I used a lot of the time
there to sort out the problem. It was the normal situation with these new microprocessor controlled gizmos. The engine would
start up and immediately close down which did eventually prove to be the engine control unit closing the engine down because
it wasn't "happy" with some electrical parameter or another. The problem then is to make the engine run, by inhibiting the
close down function, in order to then diagnose the electrical problem. Easier said than done .. particualarly with lots of
accessibility problems. To cut a long story short, and after a series of measurements/deductions, I came to the conclusion
that the engine control unit .. also the automatic regulator for the alternator was faulty.
With a number of, so called, as advertised Onan "agents" proving to be non existent, or still on annual vacation,
I managed to chase up a supplier in Melbourne for this rather expensive item. It was going to take a couple of days to have
the unit freighted to Laidley, so we decided to spend that time out at Thornton. We had visited that spot before and were
aware of power, and other facilities, being available. Had good time there for four nights, then returned to Laidley Post
Office where the new unit had arrived. Decided to go back to Lake Dyer/Bill Gunn weir in order to fit the unit. This was
done, and it was with some relief that on starting the generator, it all worked.
By the way, I have since typed up a heap of notes relating to what must be done in order to bypass the control unit
to make the engine run, then a series of alternator measurements to help diagnose electrical problems. I had, years ago,
worked on large alternators etc. But, there were no microprocessors around then, less automation, and it was in general no
great hassle to run the engine in order to diagnose alternator/regulator problems.
Eventually departed Laidley (though we have a soft spot for that area) and travelled the Gatton/Clifton Road, stopping
overnight about half way at the rather nice Heifer Creek rest area. The next day we continued on, via Clifton to Nobby where
we stayed two nights opposite the pub. We had one meal at the pub and power is available at the very reasonable rate of $2
per night. From there we went back to Clifton and stayed a night at the Showgrounds. As we had made arrangements to pick up
our mail at Allora we were travelling slowly. Decided to head west to Leyburn as it was recommended by another traveller.
That traveller had told us that power was available there, but on arrival, the service had been discontinued by the
"progress association" as the system had been abused. Hopefully, its been sorted out by now.
From there we travelled to Allora, picked up our mail, and went to another favourtite spot for the night, Apex Park.
We were now to travel down the New England Highway, mainly as we hadn't been there in the motorhome, together with writing
that section of the Highway up in my "camp spot" notes. Stopped for the night at Wallangarra on the Qld./NSW border. A
short drive of 20 km the next day took us to Tenterfield Showgrounds for the night. They are within easy walking of a
supermarket, so took the opportunity of doing some shopping.
Only stayed one night and travelled on south to a spot we had stayed before, Heritage Park, about 10 km north of
Glen Innes. More shopping in Glen Innes, including a visit to a second hand book shop for more reading material. Paperbacks
were expensive there with $1 being the minimum price. We are use to paying 20c each at other el cheapo "Lifeline, St.
Vinnies" type emporiums. It was then on to Guyra and the "Mother of Birds Lagoon", just to the west of the town, for a night.
Travelling on to Armidale, we initially checked out some of the camp spots along the Coffs Harbour road. However,
they didn't appeal, so it was back through Armidale and to the north west, to Dumuresq Dam. This was a rather large camping
area and seemed popular with the locals. It has a feature that we noted in a number of these, cold in winter, New England
spots. Notably, a semi enclosed building with a large open fire place and tables for eating. Guess they must be rather comfy
in winter with a nice fire lit in the fire place.
The next stop was Uralla where we visited the Info Centre to get directions to the Fossicking Area .. a camp spot on
Rocky Creek just out of town. We found what we thought to be the only level camp spot in the area. This was proven when
other motorhomes and caravans arrived during our three night stay, looked around, and drove away! Thus we had this rather
nice spot to ourselves apart from a few local who came swimming, fishing and picnicing. We were aware of a Chinese restaurent
at the Bowls Club, so we fronted up for Sunday Chinese lunch, only to be told the Chinese lessee had left for a holiday in
China that very morning! So we missed out.
So we continued south to Bendemeer where we had lunch at Memorial Park near the centre of town. There is a sign
"NO CAMPING, $300 FINE" for camping in main section of park, but it's legal to camp off to one side of the park. We were
aware that it is possible to camp in the Showgrounds in Bendemeer, but there didn't appear to be any sign "Showgrounds". So,
we drove further south and saw the showgrounds from the highway. With some more deductions we found the unsigned entry road
and got ourselves settled for a two night stay. This was quite a nice spot with an extensive size camping area along side
the creek. Apparently, some people had camped there during the recent Tamworth music festival and commuted the 40 km into
Tamworth whenever they wanted to "take in" an event.
Continuing towards Tamworth one encounters the Moombi Range with its quite a long and steep decent. Our exhaust
brakes, which had been working well for the last many thousands of kilometres, decided, at this stage, not to work.
Consequently, the normal brakes got quite a workout on that decent. We had been warned by other travellers that Tamworth and
the surrounding area was very dry and drought declared. We were amazed to find water taps at a small rest area out of town.
There was a different situation at the large Info Centre that we visited where no water was available. However, opposite the
Info Centre we noted a Chinese restaurent which we patronised for some take away Chinese food.
We continued south to a nice rest area at Wallabadah. Here again, we found many water taps in the rest area despite
the fact that water for the small town has to be transported 14 kms from Quirindi. There is a recently completed "First Fleet
Memorial" built on what was the caravan park and beside the rest area. From Wallabadah, it was planned to cover two loops.
The first was east out the Nundle area, then north back to Tamworth. The second was from Tamworth south west via Werris Creek
and Quirindi and back to Wallabadah.
Arriving at Nundle, an old gold mining town, we found the rather narrow, congested main street already full of parked
cars, so we didn't even stop! We decided to continue on to Hanging Rock and the camp spot at Sheba Dam. There was no
indication on the map that there was a l-o-n-g steep hill to be climbed. This proved to be a first gear job for about 5 kms
and included a couple of hairpin bends .. surely the longest bit of first gear work the motorhome has ever undertaken. I
figured I should do something about the exhaust brakes in order to decsend that hill as we had to go back the same way. I had
traced some of the rather complex circuitry on previous occasions when they gave trouble. That circuitry was checked out and
proved to be working OK. So, this meant some of the untraced circuitry was causing the problem. I did eventually manage to
trace one wire to a switch on the gear box but I couldn't unplug the plug/socket combination which connects that switch to
the vehicle wiring harness. I couldn't trace the wire from the other side of that switch and concluded there was at least
one more component in the circuit of which I was unaware. As all this was difficult work underneath the vehicle. I decided
to bypass the inoperative circuit just to get the exhaust brakes working. Thus a day or so was spent at Sheba Dam.
The decent was made with the exhaust brakes working, in second gear, and the need to use the normal brakes
occasionally. We continued a short way north to an unsigned rest area beside the Peel River. This is another popular
fossicking spot with a number of people stopping for that purpose during our two night stay. To the north is Chaffey Dam, the
water supply for Tamworth. We checked out the camping area, noted the rather low water level and continued further north to
Woolomin where there is a nice camp spot, also on the banks of the Peel River, where we stayed the night.
From Woolomin we continued further north and completed the loop meeting the New England Highway to the east of
Tamworth. Went into Tamworth shopping at a suburban shopping centre we had learnt about. Before leaving town we visited,
once again, the Chinese restaurant opposite the Info Centre. We travelled west of Tamworth to the rest area opposite Tamworth
airport. Noted a number of heavy jets parked semi permanently and were entertained by a fair amount of aircraft activity.
This went on into the evening with three doing circuits and bumps for well over an hour.
We had to travel almost back to Tamworth from the airport to start our loop to the south. We had lunch at Currabubula
where there were a couple of rest areas, but to small for us. Continued onto Werris Creek where we both had long overdue
haircuts, and on the advice of the hairdresser, went to an area opposite the football field and spent the night. The next day
we continued south to Quirindi, but, as no obvious camp spots were noted, we continued to Wallabadah thus completing that
loop.
We had a storm and some nice rain that night and, although Wallabadah rest area appealed to us, we continued south
once again along the New England highway. Passed through Willow Tree and Murrurundi to our overnight camp spot at Burning
Mountain Reserve. We had the company of a couple of campervans for the night, though it's difficult to find a level parking
spot. The next day we travelled into Scone where they had had a fair amount of damage from the storm two nights ago.
Apparently, some houses lost roofs and we could see fallen trees being cut up and carted away. I had a couple of things to
do in my bank, but found out their computers were down. They managed to do everything though, by phone calls! I also
purchased a spare regulator for our gas as we had an odd problem with the regulator back at Wallabadah. No gas can mean no
cooking, no refrigeration, no hot water under certain conditions. Serious business, so the spare was purchased as good
insurance!
Continuing south, we passed through Musswellbrook then turned east off the highway to Lake Liddell. There is as
extensive camping area here and we decided to stay a couple of days.
I might add, that since replacing the control unit in the Onan generator, I have slowly picked the encapsulating
material from a large section of the old one. Particualarly so, in the vicinity of the components which form the alternator
regulator functions, as this is where I figured the problem was. Managed to find a shorted diode which I have identified as
an 800V, 8A "fast" diode. Have a current problem of locating the original part or similar diode in the same package. May
have to try and one in a different package, which makes life difficult. Would be nice to repair that original unit and have
it on hand as a spare.
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