AWASA AND ARBA MINCH We said our goodbyes to Craig and left for the south of the country - pleased to have fixed the problems on the car. This time confident we could get to our next destination - Arba Minch. However, it was not to be...as we drove about 100 km from the capital we lost all power in the accelerator and presumed it was caused by a tear in a hose connecting our radiator and turbo. We fixed it with a tyre repair plaster and when it continued we even used surgical tape from our first aid kit - however after a few kilometres the problem returned. We crawled the last fifty kilometres to the nearest large town on our map, Awassa where we camped at a wonderful spot - Adenium Camp - in the garden of Jana (German) and her Ethiopian husband's beautiful home. It was just the place for some R&R for us and TLC for Biggles. We were really fortunate to meet another couple at the camp called Peter and Gutrun - a German couple who have spent the last few years working in Tanzania and are now on their way back to Germany in their red UniMog - arriving just in time for Gutrun to give birth to their first baby! As we spent a few days in Awassa, making the most of Jana's great cooking, Peter helped Rich with the car problems. The lack of acceleration was not the turbo hose but the clutch slipping - after a day of looking into this it turned out that the master cylinder put on by the mechanics in Addis had been put on too tightly, causing too much pressure in the hydrolic pressure system aghhh...yet again one step forward three steps back! We realise this was an unfortunate mistake made by the mechanics rushing off for the weekend and wish Craig the best of luck with his time at EIG. A more alarming problem was also spotted as Rich and Peter worked under the car - our fuel tank was leaking. Luckily Darren and Ineka (who we first met in Luxor, Egypt) turned up so the three chaps took the fuel sump guard off and investigated the leak. Unfortunately it was worse than we'd thought and after trying to patch it up with steel putty we realised it would have to be welded - a major job considering the tank was full of diesel! Craig kindly tried to track down a new fuel tank for us in Addis (no small feat for a city dominated by Land Cruisers!). However, we were lucky to have the help of Peter and Darren who spent a full day with Rich in the mechanics yard welding a new plate of tin to the bottom of the tank (bush mechanics at its best!). The extraordinary team effort meant that 24 hours later we had a new, leak-free bottom to our tank, ready to set off to the south west corner of Ethiopia into the tribal areas of the Omo Valley. We owe a debt of gratitude to Darren, Ineka, Peter, Gudrun and Craig for their steadfast support in Awasa and Addis and we hope we can return the favour sometime in the near future.