These things always seem to happen in the wee small hours – that’s when our fridge alarm started were going “beep, beep, beep” and the blue light turned to red. As we were camping off power by the grapevines, the assumption was that we must have run out of gas. So out Robin went in the dead of night and changed the gas bottle over. But no, that didn’t work. Then it was on to Plan B and he fired up the generator, hoping that it wouldn’t wake up Geoff and Eileen, our overnight camping buddies. Luckily they slept like logs and didn’t hear a thing, they told us the next morning.
We then moved on to join in with the caravan club rally at Kahutura School and tried the fridge on gas again. There was no sound of the alarm going on, and the fridge light glowed blue, so that looked promising. But it was a false promise indeed, as the fridge just sat there, shining its little blue light to lull us into a false sense of security, and all the time couldn’t or wouldn’t fire up to get things cold again. The meat in the freezer box had thawed, and the milk and butter was getting warm, and the lettuce was wilting. Luckily we could use the fridge in the school kitchen to chill the perishables down again.
After a phone call to the Leisureline factory about our problem, we were given the names of a couple of authorised gas fitters in the Wellington region who could fix our problem under warranty. This will save us making the long trip north to Hamilton to the Leisureline factory. Consequently, on our return home, the first priority was to get our caravan booked in to get the problem fixed.
As previously mentioned, the wind did not let up all weekend while we were staying at Kahutura School. The mornings started off calm, and as the hours ticked by, the wind increased so much that our awnings and sun shades out had to be taken down or wound back in. After we had all happily been enjoying 4zees in the hall one afternoon, Geoff and Eileen returned to their van to find they had a problem. The exterior of their two part door had been hooked back onto it’s catch, while the interior screen safety door was securely fastened. A gust of wind had slammed the exterior door shut with a wallop. The key wouldn’t open the lock, the door was jammed tight.
Eileen told me to bring my camera, as all sorts of things are happening in next door. And they were – there was a full delegation there to help. Unfortunately I had missed seeing Barry wriggle through the outside locker, come up under the bed, lift the bed up over his head and gain access inside. Being fit and lean, he was the ideal contender for this job.
Bill K, Geoff, Robin, Graham and Bill S all there to help
Barry couldn’t unlock the door from the inside. Geoff then opened up the window wide and climbed inside. Perhaps two heads would be better than one at solving this problem. Or maybe brute force was needed.
The force of the wind had slammed the outer door shut which then pushed the top latch of the screen door past it’s stops. Geoff and Barry unscrewed the latch on the door, so that it freed up allowing it to be opened. Once opened, the latch was reassembled, and then functioned correctly, although the plastic stop was cracked by the force and will need to be replaced.
Success at last
The wind wasn’t finished with us yet. As we were making our way back to our respective homes on Monday (Wellington Anniversary Day) we came across Bill and Barbara’s caravan on the side of the road. Bill was inside the caravan, and we thought that perhaps the wind had blown one of their windows out. Not quite so bad, as it turned out. The window had not been properly fastened shut before left the school, and the wind had whipped it open and damaged the hinges. Bill was securing it shut and will fix the hinges once he returns home. And just in case we needed a further reminder, there was a high wind warning flashing as we started on our journey over the Rimutaka Hill. Thank goodness we made it safely home.
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