THE WALLABY TRACK WITH LIONEL MUSSELL

I was on the road early on a Sunday morning . I headed to Greenvale , with everything working normally .

My plan was to head off each morning and find a bush camp in the afternoon . This was okay for the first night but on the next night I was on a long , boring road with no place to spend the night except on the roadside . It wasn ' t a problem because there was very little traffic . There was also no phone or wi-fi coverage and when I saw the diff oil that had come out onto a rear wheel , I was a bit worried about topping up the oil .

When I found a motor repair business , I tried to book and the owner said , “ Yes , but it will be a few hours .” Not wanting spend time there I said thanks but no thanks .

I stopped just out of town and brewed a coffee , when I realised it was a silly move so I went back to book in . Unfortunately , the owner was away and the girl at the desk didn ' t think they could do it . A little

80 \ soft soap from me and she got a mechanic to check the oil and top it up . Phew ! It showed no further leaks for the rest of the trip home .

My daughter told me I was doing too many kilometres and to slow down . I took her advice for a bit but after settling in a disused area and sipping a 3pm coffee , I began to wonder how I would spend the rest of the afternoon and evening . Would it be like the previous night with no phone or wi-fi ?

I changed my mind and hit the road again . With no phone coverage , I couldn ' t let my girls know until Swan Hill , Vic , but when I rang they were delighted , and I arrived home before dark .

I covered 2800km in the four days on the road . That wasn ' t a straight daily figure as it started less and was longer on the last day . I didn ’ t work out the fuel cost but diesel was very dear in the outback .

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