Day 12: Mon 19 May 25 - Gladstone

Mon 19 May 25 - Gladstone

Weather: 16 Deg at 06:00am, reaching 26 Deg, mostly clear with a very light southerly breeze. Amazing weather, and very happy to be away from Canberra where it was only 10 Deg.

It turned out to be a slow start to the day, followed by lots of time with Mum, including some minor domestic maintenance at her home. I also finalised arrangements for placement of Uncle's ashes in Rockhampton on Friday and had a long phone call with a Dometic service support agent about our leaking toilet which has become very frustrating. Bill from Bundaberg, was very helpful again - turned out to be the same guy I spoke to almost 12 months ago (24 May 24) when I had trouble with our Dometic fridge in West Australia. As with our fridge issue, he was very helpful, but sadly no good news. Short story is I have almost certainly jumped the gun ordering another cassette which has been despatched but not yet delivered. Turns out the particular model of Dometic toilet that we have is renowned for these issues. Completely removing the whole unit, then reinstalling it may realign internal mechanisms thereby resolving the stiff slide and leaking issue. But the most likely, and longer lasting option is to replace the whole unit with a more recent and more reliable one - at considerable more cost. Unfortunately the new $380 cassette that we've ordered won't fit the newer model, so we wouldn't be able to use it as a spare. We have decided to stay an extra week in Gladstone (= more time with Mum which she's happy about), and have arranged for a Caravan repair business in Rockhampton to look at it when we pass through to Yeppoon in two weeks. We have also decided to stay in Yeppoon for 2 weeks. 

By mid afternoon, it was time to get out on the bike to burn some more energy and check out what's new around town. Dinner was with Mum again tonight before we returned to the van ending another full day. 

On a bike ride past Barney Point Beach (QAL Bauxite stockpiles in the background), a few blocks from where I lived before leaving to join the Navy many years ago

On a bike ride - view from Auckland Hill across to the Marina
 
On a bike ride - view from Auckland Hill across to the Marina, with former HMAS GLADSTONE on a hardstand in the foreground (sister ship to HMAS GAWLER which I served on in Darwin in the mid 80's)

On a bike ride - at the marina

On a bike ride - at the marina



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