Really.... on the first day??

After all the planning, organising & saving it was with some trepidation & anxiety that we set off from Lithgow at 5.30am on Monday the 17th of March. We had visited all the family in QLD & NSW and it was time to finally start camping. We planned to spend some time on the Murray river near Mildura. As it was about 870km away we decided to break the trip up & spend 2 nights camped on the Murrumbidgee river near Hay and the continue on to the Murray. 

We set off early and it wasn't long before we were travelling along those big flat tree less plains on the way to Hay. We had found a free campsite near Hay in the Camps Australia Wide book that looked good. We found it relatively easily, so stopped and had a look to see if it was suitable. We found a flat campsite right on the edge of the Murrumbidgee that was perfect. 

So we set about putting the trailer up for our first night. It all went to plan & we had the camper up, everything out & a fire pit dug by about 3pm. We decided it was time for a beer & fish down at the river. Life couldn't get much better. 

That's when it all turned to shit!! Mat went to get the beers out of the fridge & saw the thermostat was reading 9 degrees. WHAT!! That couldn't be right. What followed was a series of checks to see what the problem was. Cords, plugs,12v sockets, 240v, fuses were all checked but nothing, the fridge would not work.

Luckily we have two 40L engel fridges in our set up. We plan to run one as a freezer & one as a fridge, but this time as we are only travelling for a week or so before visiting family again we only had one turned on. So we turned the other one on & transferred all the food across to it. 

We pulled the fridge out of the car & pulled it to pieces. Checked every connection & but still nothing. When Mat asked for me to pass him the hammer I thought oh god here we go!! A firm tap on the motor & the fridge started working! Really? We couldn't believe it. We left it running for 15 minutes & the temperature was dropping, it seemed to be working. So we put it all back together, turned it back on & nothing!! It wouldn't work again!! Far out. 

So then came the conversation over a few beers about whet we were going to do. A new fridge, repairs, how long would it all take, where would we get a repair or new fridge??

In the end we decided we need the fridge to be reliable. Also we didn't have the time to wait for a repair. So we decided to bite the bullet & buy a new fridge in Mildura & donate the old one to the recyclers at Mildura. 

The great thing about Mildura was that it had lots of competition for fridges. In the end we got a great deal from the guys at AusTrek Outdoor Adventure Centre in Mildura. 

So this afternoon we need to get the fridge all set up in its bag with the tie down handles on ready to go. We still can't believe the fridge died on our first day of camping, but what can you do?? So we now have two brand new fridges, so here's hoping that is the last drama we have....

On a happier note here is a sneak peak of our view from our campsite on the Murray. We will write up that post soon.