July 2014

Sat – At 6:00pm we pick up our ‘still working’ mates from Cairns airport, they’ve come to join us for a few days in the sun. On the return drive to Port Douglas the car’s battery light keeps blinking on and off, on and off, we’re all a little nervous as there is nowhere to pull over on the coast road.

Mon – Woody takes the car to a local mechanic for assessment and it is found that the alternator has failed. Another one will have to be shipped up from Melbourne. ‘Bill’ the mechanic can’t do the job but offers to charge up the battery so that we can take it to Ireland’s the jeep dealership in Cairns tomorrow. Ironically another Jeep Commander owner whom we met in a Mackay caravan park had recommended Ireland’s and we were going to have it serviced there anyway.

Tues – The boys drop the Jeep off at Ireland’s. We girls are surprised that it took them 10 mins longer to get there using the GPS. We used good old fashioned memory.

Fri – Our friends have already returned to the rat race. Woody catches a bus into Cairns to pick up the Jeep and $2400 later we have it back on the road good as new. We were pleasantly surprised to find that the cost included the dealership major service as well as the replacement of the alternator. In fact ‘Bill’ had quoted us $1100 for the alternator and over $2000 for the alternator and installation. As Bill had many teeth missing perhaps he wanted to finance some future dental work?