Saturday, 12 May 2012

Day 2 on the Gibb River Road - Disaster!


Day 26 Sunday 6th May- Second day on the Gibb River track

THE WHEELS FALL OFF. AGAIN!!!

They say lightning doesn’t strike in the same place twice! That saying obviously doesn’t apply to trailer wheels.
We had been travelling for about an hour. Paul was very uneasy about the condition of the dust caps on the wheels and also about the bearings. To allay his fears we stopped at a way side rest stop and he took off the hub caps and repacked the bearings with grease, making sure they were completely clean.
I could tell Paul was very anxious about something and I knew he wasn’t enjoying the drive. This is very unusual for Paul. He enjoys the challenge of four wheel driving.
He was worried about the wheels. After his quick servicing of the trailer wheels I assumed everything was OK and became once more engrossed in the every changing views of the Kimberleys.

Great Scenery
 We were driving through the King Leopold ranges, and even though we were disappointed the Bell Gorge track was closed, we continued to wind our way through the Ranges. I learnt a new term. Every so often we came to either a steep descent or ascent which had been bituminized. We drive along a plateau and everynow and then we go down into a water way. These bituminized sections are called Jumpups and all have their own name, eg. Stumpy’s  Jumpup, Macs Jumpup etc.
The other thing was, we were expecting the road to be really bad, but this gravel section from Windjana Gorge was in excellent condition. 
Great Road

So we had a good road, beautiful scenery……..then I heard “Oh No” That’s all Paul said!! But at the same time I heard the same thump as I did a few days ago. ….Surely?... Not again?
It was far worse this time.
The wheel rolled down a steep embankment into a river!
OH NO!!!!!!

The mudguard on the trailer was smashed,
The brakes on the trailer were shattered and
The thread had been stripped off the axle.
Absolutely shattered (The trailer and  Us)
 ( I have learnt a lot this trip about wheels going around!)

"You picked a fine time to leave me Loose Wheel (Lucille)
This time I had the presence to get myself a seat and book as well as water and hat while I prepared for the long vigil as I guarded the trailer.
But… it was now that our luck changed!
The wheel and tyre itself was undamaged.
We lost our wheel only 15 Kms from Imintji, a small road house with the only resident mechanic for the entire Gibb River road.
We also encountered three guardian angels.
1.      Kev;  the mechanic at the road house was  a real bushman’s mechanic , the type who can fix everything with a bit of string (thread tape  and a new wheel nut  for the axle in this instance), and he supplied Paul with the ideas and tools to fix the axle.
2.      Keith and Barb. This nurse and his wife both work in Aboriginal Communities in Northern Territory, stopped to see if I was OK. They decided to keep me company and brought out chairs and drinks. The three of us had a picnic while waiting for Paul
3.      When Paul arrived, Keith informed us that he was an ex diesel mechanic and always travelled with a huge tool box. To cut a long story short (well a bit anyway) the job was efficiently done by Paul and Keith.

Job done. Our guardian angels inspecting the completed job

Our final stroke of good luck for the day was our camp site. Kev, the guardian angel mechanic told us of a beautiful Billabong just past the store that only the locals know about. We set up camp in an idyllic bush camp on the edge of a billabong covered in water lilies, and we still had  enough time to watch the sun go down with our fiveses.

2 comments:

  1. bloody hell!!! I don't remember having all this trouble. What is going on? Shame about Bell Gorge Road. That was the road we blew 2 tyres on. But scenery at the end was lovely.
    Another lovely thing about traveling in that area is the lovely people you meet. Makes everything good.

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  2. All part of the adventure. Dad you have perservered so well with the wheel disasters. Lets hope for smooth travelling from now on. And Gill, happy mothers day xxx

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