A wheelchair-accessible vehicle for our family

Well, I'd better write a few lines before I start getting obituaries!!  It's been a busy couple of months recently.
Laura and I flew to Melbourne in early February to pick up a Ford Transit van with a wheelchair lifter.  This vehicle makes it much easier to move Anita about - even 6-year-old Erin can load Mum into the van and connect her chair to the tie-downs.  The lifter is a hydraulic Tieman unit, and can easily cope with the 150kg weight of Anita and electric power chair.  The tie-down system is a great concept by Qstraint, using self-retracting straps like a normal seat belt.  You just hold down a red button and pull out the strap, then hook the end to a secure point on the chair (in our case the seat anchors).  This is done on all 4 corners, then the straps automatically ratchet up tight.  So simple!

Wheelchair Lifter

2001 Ford Transit

All we need now is for Laura to get her P-plates, then Anita won't be dependent on me having time to drive her around.

Family Reunion

Laura and I just got back from a long weekend drive to Sheringa in South Australia.  The event was Lynette's 21st birthday celebration, and we have missed so many family events recently that we were determined to get to this one.
Laura has her learner's licence now, so she drove part of the way which was a great help to me.  I have been the sole driver in the family for the past 5 years since Anita gave up her licence due to MS.  Since every trip is over 1000km or more, it is a relief to once again be able to share the driving.  Laura ended up driving about 1200km out of the 3500km we drove for the weekend.  She gained experience in long distance driving, dirt roads, wet roads, night driving, driving in the rain, and driving in built-up areas.
Once we arrived at "Springvilla" and got a good night's sleep on the Friday night, we went fishing early Saturday morning.  It wasn't the best fishing trip we've had but a nice bag of rock cod, sweep, tommies, mullet, and salmon trout made for a very welcome lunch of fresh fish.  Much tastier than the frozen fish on offer in Tennant Creek!!
Then it was time for the main event.  All of my siblings were there: Sharon, Miriam, Samuel, Michelle, Rachel, Joshua, and Saul, along with their partners and most of their children.  Half-brother Leslie was absent, but not missed as I have had no contact with him for years.  Mum was there as well, so that made it a full family reunion, something that has not occurred for several years.  Everyone is looking older, which is probably not surprising as everyone is older.  It hardly seems credible that it is 21 years since I first began visiting Samuel and Sonya at Springvilla, when Lynette was a newborn baby.  But here she was celebrating her 21st birthday.  Several other nieces are now married, and Miriam is a grandmother.  Other nieces are at university.  The family is growing up, and the next generation is heading out into the world to make their mark.  It is great to see, as I am the first in either side of my family and the only one of my generation to have a Bachelor degree, and now the next generation has several students at uinversity and several more heading that way.
After the party, we rolled out our swags at the venue and stayed the night.  Laura and I turned in a little earlier than most because we had 1800km to drive home starting the next morning.
Was it worth driving 3500km just to spend a weekend with family?  Absolutely!  Laura had some time off work, and I was able to arrange some leave.  A bit of overtime work paid for the diesel, so off we went.  Anita wasn't up to such a long drive so she stayed home with Claire and Erin.  It would have been nice to include them in the family reunion, but the logistics were too difficult.  An advantage of having an almost empty vehicle was that we could pick up Anita's father Roger to go back to Tennant Creek with us for a month's visit.  If we had all gone to the party, that would not have been possible.

Registration inspection looming

I received my registration renewal notice via email recently for the Landcruiser.  Don't know how much it is because I can't open it!  And yes, I elected to have renewals sent to me via email not post.  Whatever the cost, I know it's due for a roadworthy inspection, so once again it's time to check everything over.

• Brakes have been replaced, so no worries there.
• All light bulbs working for once (though a couple will inevitably pack up just as the inspector looks at them as usual!).
• No oil leaks, as all previous leaks have been repaired and no new ones have appeared.
• All new steering joints, so steering is tight.
• New universal joints on the driveshafts.
• All suspension bushes replaced.
• New coolant hoses and fan belts.
• Headlights aimed properly.
• Seats and seatbelts in good condition.
• No rust in the bodywork.  Now what that has to do with road-worthiness is anybody's guess, but I know from bitter experience that some inspectors think it does.  I used to have a Falcon wagon which I kept in top mechanical condition, but it had a small rust spot over the rear wheel arch.  I was informed that I could not re-register the vehicle without having the spot repaired by cutting and welding, and would need re-inspection before painting.  Since this would cost more than the vehicle was worth, I didn't bother.  The infuriating thing is that the spot was there the previous year, exactly the same (and I mean exactly, as I had treated it with rust preventer) and there was no hint of a problem.  I wasted $240 putting in a new windscreen before inspection, and ended up having to scrap the vehicle.  My question is if nonstructural rust is such a major issue, why was it passed the previous year, and why do they pass rusted vehicles in much much worse shape owned by people with darker complexion than me?  I'll leave you to decide your own answer to that.
• Wipers work, horn works, windscreen washer works, all indicators and other lights work.
• Handbrake - well there we may have a problem.  I have completely replaced the handbrake system with new components, and it is still absolutely woeful.  It is the one thing I don't like about the 80 series Landcruiser.  Even brand new, the handbrake just barely passes the NT road-worthiness inspection.  My only hope is to adjust it right up till it has almost seized, have the inspection done, then back it off before driving home.  There's no point taking it to a brake specialist, as it is already new and still doesn't work.  They will simply adjust it up until it almost seizes, and charge me $500 for 5 minutes work with a screwdriver.

Anyway, I guess I'm just about ready for the inspection, so like all drivers of older vehicles, I'll go in with my fingers crossed and hope the inspector is not having a bad day.