Thursday, February 26, 2009

Ken Mills Toyota Maroochydore

Frequent readers might have seen an earlier post here yesterday and today with quite a different text. I had a problem with my car service and was quite angry.
The follow-up however from Ken Mills Toyota was very adequate and swift.
I am a happy man again. Thanks guys.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Fascinating

I always thought I would be afraid of all the spiders in Australia. Well, I am not.
Don't get me wrong, I stay back and don't touch them (because there are some dangerous ones), but they are beautiful.

This one was at the back of our caravan, near the fence.
He frightened the sh.t out of me when I almost ran my head in his web, the size of my hand (the spider, not the web), just in front of my eyes.
Yes I did step back quickly but grabbed the camera afterwards.

Nan, this is one for you !
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Friday, February 20, 2009

Extra-heavy-duty

Airbags. No, no, not the ones IN the car, but the ones UNDER the car. Installed inside the rear springs to compensate for heavy load and to keep the car level (dutch: horizontaal) when it is loaded and the caravan hooked on. You can inflate them to a certain level (yes, we carry a little compressor with us) to make driving a little easier. Let the air out when travelling empty, pressure them when ready to travel with full load
Yesterday the car had its regular service and one airbag appeared to be busted. The second one did not look to good either, so new ones needed to be put in.
Together with the guys from Pedders Suspension in Maroochydore, I decided to replace the rear springs in one go.
Here is the result: heavy duty springs with new airbags. Everything nice and level again and because we have heavier springs now, the new airbags don't need to work so hard anymore. Makes driving very comfortable and safe. Another $610.00 well spent.
By the way: great bunch of guys at Pedders in Maroochydore. Perfect advice and service.
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Saturday, February 14, 2009

Bushfires and flooding


A dramatic situation in Australia at the moment. The north-east is struck by severe floodings (Ingham 1200 mm rain in a week), the south suffering from the worst bush fires in Australian history. Until now the fires took the lives of 181 people and burned 1800 houses. Complete villages are burned to ashes.
To give you an idea where we are at the moment (the Sunshinecoast, just North of Brisbane) in comparison to the disasterzones I made a little map showing Austalia on top of Europe.
We are In Maastricht, the flooding is then in Norway and Scotland, the bushfires are in southern France and Spain.
We better stay here a while !!
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