Beware the Attack-Class Frog!

[RussnSue]

Greetings fellow Koggers

Our beloved Kedron van, or more specifically our Solar Regulator inside our van, has come under attack from the rare Japanese Kamikaze Frog. Using stealth and operating under the cover of darkness, this dangerous little beastie has crept (hopped?) silently into the front-boot of the van on a mission to destroy the most expensive item it could find in there. The only way that we knew that we were under attack was that one evening we had lights and power in the van and the next morning we did not.

This dangerous little bugger, bent on maximising our inconvenience (let's face it, we only have seven sleeps to go before we set off on our travels), made his way to the Plasmatronics regulator. Once there he lay his body across all of the positive terminals, thereby shorting the "Load" terminal to places that it didn't oughta get shorted to. I suspect that there may have been a small amount of discomfort to the frog as the 30 Amps or more of current surged through its moist little body, but it would have only been temporary. When discovered, as I sought out the cause of the loss of power to the van, the Kamikaze Frog was somewhat discoloured and had the consistency of a very dry potato chip. Some of the connection terminals in the regulator were also changing from their usual copper colour to a nice shade of green.

His mission was successful and we now have no ability to run 12 Volt appliances from the "Load" terminal. I have had to resort to rewiring those appliances so that they run directly from the battery. I will now have to investigate whether it will be more economical to repair the regulator or replace it ($600.00). There you have it people, keep an eye out for those pesky little Kamikaze hoppers and, as we are going to do, consider putting fly-mesh covers on the inside of the breather vents in the sides of the front boot.

Cheers

Russ

[Ian and Sue]

Ah the dreaded Pilbara froggy! We remember him well! A couple of years back we had a brand new home here in Karratha with brand new split system aircons (as opposed to the clanky old HI kind) we thought we were in heaven until on very hot day when the mail house unit stopped. :-( As you know getting a tech out in Karratha is a bit of a mission in itself but one did finally arrive. We weren't too bothered it was going to cost us much as being a new system it was well and truely in warranty! Hmmm... opens the top and there he was, just lying there all dehydrated like across the motherboard, an $800 motherboard at that! Fortunately for us the technician saw the funny side and told Daiken that the motherboard had failed but didn't say why so no cost to us. Phew...

On another note we are leaving next Friday morning, towing our Keddy (a white one with blue stripe) you guys will probably pass us on one of my many connivence stops! I have my cappuccino machine and plenty of capsules so join us for a cuppa.

Safe travels - might see you around Geraldton.

[Ian and Sue]

I just read your dilemma out to Ian- we really love the way you write and felt really horrible giggling at the descriptiveness and you can have the last laugh if it happens to us. When we finally got up off the floor Ian suggested that perhaps the unit is claimable under your insurance policy.

Thanks for the fly screen tip - it is well worth the effort as those frogs do get into some funny places.

Sue

[Chris]

Thanks for the tip as well as the humorous story Russ. That was a light hearte moment, hearing about your amphibian distress.

I will get Val to check ours now....

Chris

[RussnSue]

I just read your dilemma out to Ian- we really love the way you write and felt really horrible giggling at the descriptiveness and you can have the last laugh if it happens to us. When we finally got up off the floor Ian suggested that perhaps the unit is claimable under your insurance policy.

Thanks for the fly screen tip - it is well worth the effort as those frogs do get into some funny places.

Sue

Hi Sue. It's just as well that I limited the story to the frog attack. I could have gone on about how we aren't sleeping at night due to the all-in brawl between the Short Billed Corellas and the Fruit Bats as they argue over the fruit in the Neem trees. (The Corellas are munching it through the day and then roosting in the same tree so that they don't have far to fly the next morning.) Meanwhile, the Bats come in under the cover of darkness and pull on a blue with the birds. You've got to hear the ruckus to believe it. Then of course, if we try to catch a few zzzzz's during the day, the Corellas are still there making a God-awful din.

Or I could have regaled you with the story of being "bombed" by a fish frame of reasonable proportions as a lazy Brahminy Kite flew over me. Obviously it had eaten its fill from the fish (a bluenose salmon, in fact) and had decided that it no longer need to carry all of that weight, choosing instead to drop it on the only Human Being at Cossack at the time - me!

So, as you can see, our escape from Cossack can't come a minute too soon. We have to get out before Mother Nature does us some real harm. We will be leaving about Midday on Friday. We are stopping in at Onslow before leaving the Pilbara and will then take a couple of weeks to get to Gero. It's unlikely that we will pass you along the way - unless you don't plan to make the Onslow turnoff on the first day. We have the van booked in for wheel bearing and brake checks at Gero on the 11th January. I will definitely make an effort to catch up with you when we get down there. I was spewing that I missed you when you came here the other day. Never mind.

Thanks for the tip re: Insurance. It never even crossed my mind to make a claim. Probably should, seeing as though we have been paying our premium all of these years without claiming a thing.

Cheers

Russ.

[RussnSue]

Thanks for the tip as well as the humorous story Russ. That was a light hearte moment, hearing about your amphibian distress.

I will get Val to check ours now....

Chris

Hi Chris. I probably don't need to teach Val how to suck eggs, but make sure he watches his back as he checks those vents. They are in a very awkward spot that had me bent into some pretty nasty shapes as I tried to glue the fly-mesh over them. I still remember watching the poor bugger hobbling around at Alice Springs that time that he hurt his back there. I was too lazy to remove the vents to do the job, because I didn't want to cut all of the silicon sealant from around them.

Cheers

Russ.

[Chris]

I still remember watching the poor bugger hobbling around at Alice Springs that time that he hurt his back there.

Russ.

Ah yes I remember that time in Alice Springs. That was the first time that our charger stopped working - and the van was only a few months old! We recently had a second one go on us, but as Val had cunningly bought a spare one in Alice Springs, to get us home, we had that unit with us and it was press ganged into action.

But back to Alice Springs and Val's back....I had feared I would have to tow the blasted thing all the way home. Luckily his back improved, and I merely helped out with the towing.

Chris

I am glad to see you haven't gone completely batty yet.