We booked into the caravan park for another night.
The man from NRMA was onsite within the hour, and quickly changed the wheel. In the meantime I had been on the phone to all 3 tyre shops in Yass and found that they were all closed until the New Year. The earliest opening on Jan 2nd, the latest on Jan 27th.
So... we rang Jax Tyres in the northern Canberra suburb of Mitchell and ordered a tyre which would arrive with them the next day.
So... next morning we checked out of the caravan park and drove to Mitchell. We had to wait for the truck to deliver our tyre so we drove up to the new shopping centre of Gungahlin. It was around 40 degrees and although there was a small air conditioned shopping mall most of the eating places had outdoor seating only!!! I still find that strange as the climate in Canberra is stinking hot in summer and freezing in winter!?!
We found a cafe with some indoor seating but very poor air conditioning. (Caffe Cherry Beans.) After a 30 minute wait my Caesar salad was quite acceptable but Michael's 'Hawaiian Melts' were inedible, on stale bread and over melted!
We returned to Jax and they checked out our flattened tyre - good news ...."It's not punctured, the valve seal has perished. You only need a new seal, not a tyre".
THEN .... the tyre fitter appeared with our wheel ... The rim has a hole in it!
Aaaargh! Here we go again -
So... we put the new tyre on the spare rim and fit that to the van. (Our old spare was in need of replacement, so now we have 5 good Michelin tyres.)
Put the old tyre on the old, holey, rim and put that in the spare wheel carrier.
Now we are mobile on good tyres but without a spare.
I had a quick internet search and found an old second hand rim in Queanbeyan.
So.... we drove over to Queanbeyan. Unfortunately it was a 6 stud rim and we need a 5 stud. I rang the caravan park at Queanbeyan to head over there but they were full, I rang Yass caravan park and begged to return. Yes, we can have their last site.
So.... we drove back around Canberra, north back up to Yass.
We checked in for 2 nights and decided to phone Fiat Dealers in the larger towns near by. We found one in Wodonga (Albury / Wodonga....Albury is in New South Wales and Wodonga is in Victoria). Their parts shop is closed at weekends but someone will phone us on Monday and hopefully get us a rim.
So... I booked an extra night in the caravan park. That makes it a whole week that we've stayed in Yass. If it wasn't so stinking hot it would be a delightful little town in which to spend a week.
Monday morning 8.30am I didn't wait for a phone call from the team in Wodonga; I rang them. No they don't have one in stock but can order one today which should be delivered by 10.00am on Wednesday. Let's do it.
So.... we booked into a caravan park near the Fiat dealership in Wodonga and set off there. The Hume Highway improved as we got further away from Canberra and it was quite a nice run down.
We had a brief stop in Gundagai, not to see the Dog on the Tuckerbox (which is at a roadhouse outside town) but the family from "On our Selection" - a series of novels by Steele Rudd, written in the late 1890s. There is a great statue of all of the family, Dad, Dave, Mum and Mabel.
It was in the park next to the information centre so was easy to find.
The rain came back just as we arrived at the caravan park in Wodonga- typical - the one caravan park where they have a swimming pool and although it's over 35 degrees, there's a thunder storm!!
It was New Year's Eve and the local oval had a party and fireworks. We could hear and just see the fireworks over roof tops, then the major Syndey display came on tv at midnight. Here's to 2019.
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