Saturday 6th - Esperance
Our first cold and windy day today – no more than 15 degrees with a 30 knot wind coming up from the south (read Antarctica). Ian and Billy Stewart put on a warm breakfast with lots of good hospitality. Ian took Bill and Robert on a recce tour of what would happen today so as no-one could get lost. WAIT AND SEE arrived at the Esperance Museum Park and caused quite a stir, with many people stopping and looking from their cars. We had three hours free time looking around the town. After a fabulous lunch (prepared by Ian and Billy) right out of the back of their Jowett Javelin, Barry and Susan boarded a light plane while Ollie, Rosalie and Robert drove WAIT, AND, & SEE along the 18km coastline to the Esperance Wind Farm. The aerial footage unfortunately will be of limited use due to the wind turbulence over the coastline; however the ground shots taken by Bill are good. Susan was a little green stepping off the Cessna.
A few repairs and discoveries today on the Bradfords. We were kindly given the use of the Esperance Veteran Car Club’s workshop, where the damaged door on WAIT was repaired. It was good that Bill had used hard Jarra timber for the door pillars when he and Robert had constructed the timber frame. The steering on SEE was adjusted and tightened in the workshop. Also, it has been discovered that WAIT has developed a crack along a section of the muffler, and that will have to wait until we get to Kalgoorlie to be repaired.
Due to the different fuel consumptions on the Bradfords, it was decided this afternoon to change the fuel bowls between WAIt and AND. WAIT is showing the poorest fuel usage, and AND is showing the best. There are other theories circulating as to why there is a large discrepancy in fuel usage, and they will be explored over the next few days.
We are all having a great time, and really enjoying driving the Bradfords. Pauline tells me that half the Shire now knows about WAIT AND SEE, probably due to the fact that two if its famous sons, Ollie and later on Howard, are drivers. For those living out of the Shire, that is Sutherland Shire in Sydney’s south.
Susan and Bill