An update on Andromeda

Just a wee update on our most important member of the team. 

 

Col & Andromeda are thick as thieves and he makes sure she is in a good place mentally and physically at all times. (By tapping the dashboard and hoping?)

 

As mentioned in a previous blog, she needed a bit of Chassis welding done when we left Iriniga, and so far, that is holding up nicely.

 

She did have a leaky clutch master cylinder, so needed a top up of brake fluid every morning. In South Luangwa, Colin gave her a new clutch master cylinder which, knock on wood, is doing the job.  The change itself was a team effort – Laura on Baboon watch to make sure that no cheeky monkey was going to charge off with anything out of our spare parts stash.  Our overlanding friends had had a baboon break in & entry.  The offender got into a tent and stole a pack of peanuts that had been stashed in the bowels of a bag. In exchange for the nuts, the baboon had defecated all over their tent, leaving the victim to spend all afternoon doing laundry and scrubbing the inside of their tents clean.  The threat was real, we had been warned, so whilst Colin was working on Andromeda, Laura was forever putting things back in the car and making sure all the doors and windows were closed at all times.

 

One further hiccup is that every now and then Andromeda doesn’t start.  All we hear is an empty click, and we cannot put our finger on what is causing this sporadic electrical malfunction.  We do know how to fix the issue though – she just needs an encouraging push.  Often, she doesn’t even need a full-on jump start – just a friendly nudge, and we are on our way.  Colin has done the bulk of the driving so often it is Laura who jumps out, offers a gentle push of about 3 inches, and she fires up.  The number of times we have had to resort to a proper jump start (ie. In the car park of a shopping mall) and people on the street see Laura attempting to push Andromeda passed the 3-inch mark, help always comes from all directions.  Men, Women, park attendants, random shoppers – everyone is happy to help and within moments we are on our way again. 

 

The only time this hiccup has caused us stress, is when on a game drive in North Luangwa and coming across a bunch of skitsy elephants.  A ranger told us – the ele’s here are quite anxious, they will either run towards you, or away from you.  Marvelous! Turning off the car at a group of ele’s to take a couple of photos knowing she may not fire up again if we are in need of a sharp exit, does keep it all quiet exciting.

 

Am sure by the end of our adventure we will have figured out what the issue is and it will have been resolved. 

 

We are coming across a lot of self – drivers, in their all bells & whilstles kitted out, South African registered bakkies, complete with air conditioning and fans in the roof tents.  And although our version of airco, is driving with the windows down, giving the tsetse flies the opportunity to chomp away at us, we wouldn’t swap her for the world – she is such a fab car!