Well, as promised by Steve Clark, (local welder) he arrived to the stranded PS Adelaide at 6am. After a quick assessment he advised that he would have to take the fire bar bridge support back to his workshop for maintenance. He promised to work as fast he could to ensure the PS Adelaide made it in time for the celebrations in Mildura.
Wood Wood is a very small town, consisting only of a caravan park and appro 50 residents. The word was out that we were in town and needed assistance. Before long, the riverbank was full of locals coming to take photos and offering to assist in anyway. Even a few copies of the Saturday paper were delivered by local Neville Algie just in time for breakfast.
Breakfast was egg and bacon rolls, and even though we were not fired up, crew were not going to sit on their lorals. The engineers rooms was tidied and the hard to reach paddle boxes were painted.
Two crew went for a walk to investigate what else was in Wood Wood. Annies road side stall caught our eyes so it was essential we stocked up on some local product. Annies home made tomato relish and fig jam was purchased, along with fresh avocadoes and lemons.
At 11am our welder from Swan Hill returned the fire bar brace and the crew got to work on re-installing them. By 12noon a fire was back in the boiler building pressure for our departure.
A beautiful soup for lunch was provided by the crew from the PB Iron Dry. As soon as lunch was over, we said goodbye to Wood Wood and cruised for two hours arriving into Tooleybuc at around 4.30pm.
We moored on the Victorian side and it was agreed that we would all go out for dinner including the crew from the PB Iron Dry. After a quick clean up the PS Adelaide crew jumped into the tinny and crossed over to Tooleybuc (NSW side) and dined at the Toolebuc Club.
We received a royal welcome invited to dine in our own private function room the Poon Boon Room. Very fitting as the PS Adelaide used to be owned by the Poon Boon Station.
Even though the crew were ready for a big night, it was pretty quite in Tooleybuc so we all went back to the boat and called it a night.
Distance Travelled: 25km
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