More testing

This weekend just past, we went camping at Potato Point on the south east coast of Australia. Some people may laugh at the location description, but it’s important to make this readable for all readers. On Friday night we were too excited to wait till Saturday to leave and left at dusk to ‘stop wherever’. We stopped near Doughboy Creek on the highway and setup – and this is the video of the event. I apologise in advance, it’s boring as hell, but it will make it all relatable down the track:

Here is the shot the following morning:

We left our first night’s camp maybe around 9AM and had breakfast at a picnic bench at Braidwood. Sitting with our backs to the sun was one of those ‘smell the roses’ moments, were stopping and taking your time was rewarding. I looked like a right homeless junkie washing up our bowls and spoons in the public bathroom, but hey, it saves water and mess in our camper.

The Potato Point camp ground was a lot better than I remember with brand new amenities block and new cabins.

We had a lunch of pastrami, bread and potato salad and an Australian staple of sausage sandwiches for dinner. Both meals were terrific and easy to prepare and clean up. The shot below is us cooking behind the wheel using it as a wind break. It worked a treat.

Only on the other side of the camper were a Wallaby and Joey. With the setting sun bouncing off the waves, it’s perhaps just one of the reasons people love Australia. I can’t actually believe that the shots above don’t have more Wallabies and Kangaroo’s in them, as there were hundreds!

Late in the night it rained for maybe an hour. Even in the foggy mid-sleep state, I remember going ‘woo-hoo!’ in my head. The system works! We’re warm, dry, out of the wind, and can drive away without rolling up anything cold, wet or dirty.
Each night we wound up the day by watching some pre-recorded TV shows. It may sound a bit contradictory to the ‘getting away from it all’ idea, but it’s very relaxing. After long days of driving, endless translations and unfamiliar surroundings, it’s going to be nice just to ‘come home’ to something familiar.

We received our ‘AUS’ sticker. The quote on the RACV website is “While overseas you will need to display nationality plate (AUS sticker or plate)”. We’re not sure how gospel this is, but hey, lets not rock the boat. Plus, it’s a bit of bling and a great conversation starter. “You what?! drove this car across Russia?.. you must be mad!” It’s quite large and I’m not sure were we’re going to fit it.

Fuel Economy:

I’m not sure why, but we don’t seem to be getting very good fuel economy. I’ve never just done a tank of highway driving, so it’s difficult to measure. Most tanks I’ve spent a few hours four wheel driving, which sucks juice, but doesn’t count for a lot of kilometres. So far we’re only getting 1000KM to both tanks. Which over 190L is 18L/100. Now we aren't exactly running the tanks dry, but I’d say we could only do 1100 which would be 17.27L/100.  It’s advertised that it should do 11L/100 but I don’t expect it to. I do expect something like 13L/100 with the roof rack, bull bar, possibly larger tyres. But when in fact you are getting 600KM less range than advertised is, that is a big deal. I calculate that it’s 50% worse than it should be which is huge.

I drive pretty conservatively and am never in a rush so I’m not sure what is happening. It never blows any smoke.

Here’s some thoughts to add to the equation:

On the drive back, we drove up the Brown mountain, and to Queanbeyan via Cooma. We may have had a tail wind, but we were flying up the hills. Continually having to back off so that we were not speeding. We passed a sign saying altitude 1100M . Interesting I thought. Because naturally aspirated engines drive worse at higher altitudes.

This engine has an ‘Altitude Compensator’ on it so that it doesn’t run too rich at higher altitudes (which produces smoke and burns oil). It made me think…. can a Diesel be out of tune? Perhaps it’s been tuned incorrectly and is ruining my economy and power?

I may be getting way ahead of myself as the problem may be a matter of it’s usage pattern as a 4wd, not so much a highway truck. I do have a new fuel and air filter which I’ll fit once I repair the leak in the snorkel. I plan to go for one or two consistent highway runs to see if I can spot a trend.

Another thought, is this last tank I bought from a different distributor… could the vendor be selling me rubbish diesel?

To finish on a high – have a look at the photo that this damn iPhone produces. Simply stunning for a phone: