Blogs

We have been in a gorgeous anchorage at Wakaya Island, which we hadn’t been to before. Unfortunately we couldn’t get off and have a walk along the white sandy beach as it is a privately owned island and there are signs up everywhere “Private Island. Strictly no landing”. It is owned by a Canadian entrepreneur by the name of David Gilmour.
We had a few dives there and it is a well known area for manta ray sightings, although we didn’t see any, the dives were still really impressive and the water clarity was amazing. We saw all the usual tropical fish with a few we hadn’t seen before and a shark or two. Adds to the excitement!!!!

We are finally somewhere exciting. As if just being here wasn't exciting, but this is were it starts to get good!! We crossed the Daintree river on the ferry this afternoon, and are heading up the coast towards Cooktown. We stumbled across magic little spot down by the river with a swimming hole. I can't find the name of the river on any of my maps so might have to go and read the sign on the bridge just up the road. Usual story when your looking for a quite spot to camp, look closely on either side of a bridge, there's quite often access down to the river!!! The plan is to do the servicing on Betsie in the morning, and see how much of the day is left following that. We have only just ticked over 4700ks, so it's a few hundred early for an oil change, but in terms of the route we are taking north, it makes sense to do it now. It also hasn't had a decent spanner check since Hervey Bay, so it'll be a full inspection of everything. The plan is to go through the Daintree National Park by heading up coast via the Bloomfield track, to Wajul Wajul, and arrive at Cooktown. From there we might head to Elim beach if we can get permission, otherwise we will nosey on through Lake Field National Park via Battle Camp road to meet up with the Peninsula Developement road at the Musgrave Road house. I'm still on the fence about Cape Melville, in that you can't do everything in the time available, and it's not a through route. It's a detour of around 260ks which is a long way in low range, but it does look spectacular!!! Mission on!!!!!!

On Thursday we went for a dive at Split rock and China Gardens, on the northern side of Tu'ungasika Island. At least 25m visibility and an amazing array of coral. So many different species of fish, so many colours, just beautiful. Caught up with friends from Fusio and Vegas for a night of card playing - lots of laughs learning a new game. Friday 4th July was a big celebration in Neiafu for the Kings Birthday. A full military parade with brass band and well timed marching - great display. The Tongan Navy patrol boats were in the harbour and had an open day so we went aboard and explored. The day was capped off with the Tui Vava'u festival where a NZ band entertained the crowd. The winner and finalists of the Miss Vava'u contest were on the dance floor along with the Crown Prince (and his body guards). We enjoyed dancing too and the music was great - although it was a little loud!! We spent yesterday snorkeling at Taunga Island and then on to Port Maurelle for the night. About 6 boats in the bay - we all gathered on the beach for a bonfire and BBQ dinner, nice night meeting some more cruisers. Today we went diving at A'a Island, we found a patch of coral with anemones and several anemone fish playing around. Karl filmed a video of them dancing about with the underwater camera Heather gave him for his Birthday. Great footage - Karl was able to get very close to these curious little fish, fabulous!

Well, more like things that make strange unexplainable noises in the engine!!!!!
Yesterday we filled up at Blackdown, and I used the high volume truck pump like I always do. I then moved over to the airline while Sarah was inside paying. I was halfway round checking the tyres and I noticed there was a different noise coming from the engine. I assumed that because I was squatting down beside the rear wheel and the front of the truck was tight up against a steel shipping container, I was just hearing a certain frequency amplified. Maybe belt noise.
We drove another few hundred meters up the road to a shop Sarah wanted to go into, and I noticed the noise was still there. While she was inside I popped the bonnet for a better look/listen. It certainly wasn't like any normal belt noise, and wasn't coming from the usual places this engine makes belt noise from. If I had to pick a spot I would say front of the engine, the drivers side and rotational. All the belt driven stuff in on the passengers side of the engine. Needless to say there was a definite feeling of panic and a knot of dread in my stomach. Yay, serious engine trouble.

I was playing with the revs to see if it got better or worse, if it sped up with the engine speed etc, and it suddenly disappeared and didn't come back. Hmmmmm, ok, a strange rotational noise that magically fixes it's self. Just what you want. We did another 250k's that afternoon, stopping and starting and it was all ok. All of the pre start checks proved everything was as it should be the next morning, and we have done another 400 odd k's today, and it's running like a dream.
Needless to say I lay awake all last night staring at the roof churning away on possibilities. My theory is it was the injector pump. Dumping the fuel in from the high volume pump has stirred up some crud in the tank, which either restricted the pick up, or gave the lift pump a hard time, and the injector pump was struggling for fuel and was making some odd noises in complaint. My revving the engine relieved the blockage and it's sorted itself out. For now. Either that, or the cam belts about to break because the tensioner bearing has seized up, or a cam bearing has nipped up onto the cam shaft and is now wearing out the block, or the oil pump is wearing into the timing cover, or the cam pulley or injector pump pulley has come loose, or the fan bearing is about to fail.
Non of that makes sense, the only thing that does is the injector pump. It's all still going really well, better than ever, so who knows. Hope it doesn't bite me in some really inconvenient time and place!!!
Other than that, I have list count of the dead Roos and pigs, and we have all had a swim in the Reid River this arvo, so all is good!!! Pete.