Matilda is not quite fully "new"

24/2/14

We picked Matilda up from the repair shop yesterday. She has been buffed up, and fixed up, and looks great, in our driveway again. 

But the new steps are not functioning correctly! They are not holding in the "up" position. This is the same problem we had with our original steps, resulting in their catching on a tree. Mark from EOV is working on the problem, suspecting it is a faulty batch of motors in the steps. So for the time being they are held up with a rachet strap :(

And driving home from Caboolture she had an engine sys warning light. This is also a recurring problem and is similar to what happened at Wiepa, holding us up for 10"days! So Matilda is now booked in to Fuso next week for a review of this problem. 

We will also take the precaution of having her looked over thoroughly by our favourite 4WD expert before we load her for the Japan trip. Time is getting very short now so I hope he doesn't find anything amiss!

14/3/14

Fuso has fixed the engine sys warning. This time it was again the vehicle speed indicator but they said it was dirt in the sensor. They cleaned it out and all is now well. They also did a wheel alignment and straightened up the steering wheel.

We have since been out to Stanthorpe and back without any problems.

During a late Friday night birthday celebration with 2 of our oldest and best friends we made an impulsive decision to go to Stanthorpe for the weekend! In the morning we still wanted to go so we threw some clothes and food in and off we went. We have a property at Stanthorpe, so we knew where we could camp. It sure was lovelly to get out again. 

But Bronwyn and Dottie didn't like the look of the roof top tent! They thought they would have an accident if they had to negotiate the ladder at night! So we volunteered to sleep in the penthouse while they slept in our bed in the lower level. 

This was the first time I had been up in the tent. And the ladder was a bit scary, but I found that if I took it slowly and held on tight it was OK. It was good for us to try it out, and we decided the mattress was too hard. We have since put a memory foam topper on it. So for anyone thinking of joining us -it is now that much more comfortable. 

We had Matilda looked at by our favourite 4wd expert. He found grease nipples falling off, the bull bar loose, and other small things. The air filter was very filthy ( not sure why? - could it be the Cape). He advised us to have an early service ( Fuso says it's not due until 30,000 Klms unless the vehicle is driven in rough or dirty conditions!)  We have done 18,000 Klms in dust and mud, and since we are going overseas we had him do that. He also invited us back for a tutorial session on maintenance for the vehicle (perhaps detecting that we are novices in this respect :))

So this morning we had our tutorial. We started with a grease gun and learned where all the nipples are. We learned how to check and change the air filter and the fuel filter, and the fan belts, including the "endless air" belt. We developed a list of tools and spares that we need to carry. And we were told how often we need to do the inspections etc. This was a very useful session for us, and took 2.5 hours on a Saturday morning -and then he wouldn't let us pay! 

So if you are in Brisbane and need a 4wd specialist I highly recommend Mario - very knowledgeable (recommended to us by other mechanics as the best 4wd specialist in Brisbane) and all round very nice guy! 

Mario at 

Moorooka Mechanical Services, 

33 Baldock St 

Moorooka 

phone 38480115

We have our bank garantee approved for the full value of the vehicle. This is needed for the Carnet. We now have to wait until we have the bank garantee on paper before we will take the paperwork to the RACQ to get our Carnet. We are still awaiting the replacement steps motor from Sydney. 

Then it is a matter of packing the vehicle into a shipping container, and she is off. Ships leave here for Osaka weekly, so we can go as soon as we are ready. At this stage we are expecting to ship about 1st April.

Matilda is all new again!

22/2/14

Matilda has been in the repair shop for the last few weeks, getting everything fixed up after the shakedown trips. There was a quite a list of things to be done, some serious and some trivial. The more serious ones were the window of the camper (which was our fault -banged it on a tree),

the steps (under warranty because the steps were coming down while we travelled), strapping on one of the fuel tanks, 

battery tray, fridge door (ALL of the door shelves broke off!) 

and waterproofing of lockers. 

More minor ones were dust ingress, adjustment of doors, some fiberglass repairs, loose screws. Mark at EOV has been very good about it all and Brad here in Brisbane who has done the repairs has been very good as well.

We are still waiting for a shipping date, and many of the things we need to do in preparation depend on that date. We are also waiting for a valuation of Matilda to arrive from Mark in Sydney. That valuation determines the carnet cost, and also the insurance cost. And we can't get our travel health insurance until we have our flight dates.... Also we need a couple of things done by Fuso under warranty, So we will be very busy as soon as we have Matilda back home. 

Meanwhile we have been getting medical and dental checkups seen to, getting the Brookfield property ready for us to leave again for 3 months, paying bills, catching up with our real estate developement, etc. 

We have also bought some more toys! I am concerned about radioactivity in food in Japan, so I researched and then ordered a hand held Geiger counter. It has been ordered on eBay and will arrive in a few more days. I also ordered an inTeach (Delorme) device. This is a personal locator, with two way txt message capability. That means. I can communicate easily with family and friends from anywhere in the world. (I did have a spot connect -but it has somehow been lost!) the spot connect however was capable of only one way communication.