Thursday 3rd June - Geraldton

We decided it was time to replace the secondary battery as it wasn’t happy after the voyage in the container and refused to hold a charge.  Whilst it could still run the fridge for a few days and our secondary electrics such as the water pump and strip lights, we didn’t have faith that in the event our primary battery failed it would have enough juice to start the Land Rover.  We’d thought losing the secondary battery might be an issue as it is fairly old, so were prepared to replace it once we got to Australia.  After a couple of hours trying to fit in a larger capacity (and somewhat cheaper) replacement deep cycle battery under the seat next to our primary battery, we gave up and had to buy the expensive, more compact model.  There’s not much room for two batteries under the passenger seat of a Land Rover, and, whilst we managed to get the large one to fit, we couldn’t properly secure the two batteries due to their size difference.  Never mind, at least there was a good pie shop next door where we sustained ourselves with a good Aussie meat pie and a slice of cake.  Brad will also be glad to hear that he was right and we sorted out the power issue with our UHF radio that had it cutting out over the rough stuff; the feed wire from our auxiliary fuse box under the seat was loose, so pushing that back on has the radio fully operational even when things get bumpy.

Next on the list to do was to look for a hot plate so we can cook over an open fire.  We found a suitable example but decided to mull it over until tomorrow and went to Bunnings instead, the Australian equivalent of B&Q, to get some double sided tape, a BBQ scraper/spatula (an Aussie essential), and a hose to make filling our water tank easier.  After refuelling with diesel as prices will only get higher as we head north, we set ourselves up in the local library to use their free Wi-Fi to catch up with world events, as well as finally upload the blog for the last few days.