Back to Gladstone

Tues 4 August… We are back in Gladstone again after a quite nice run up from Elliott Heads. After negotiating Bundaberg there were no major towns until we got here. Our first priority is to find a garage to fix our worn ball joint, and after a bit of a tour round the town we found what we needed. The garage mechanic slid under the van and came up holding a rubber bush which had perished. It doesn’t need a very expensive ball joint just 2 small steel brackets and 2 rubber bushes. Pete would like to have a word with the Indian owner in Coffs Harbour who would have ripped us off but for their own inefficiency. Anyway it is getting fettled on Monday when we are back from Heron Island. Here at Barney Beach the internet still doesn’t work as it didn’t a month ago when we were here last, but the camp is immaculate. We had a walk along the beach which is very stony and rocky, hardly any sand, then back to the camp where the boys tested the swimming pool-------that didn’t last long, water icy cold!! The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting dive equipment and clothes to take for the next 5 days on Heron Island.