Sunday, hmmm well it was supposed to be a nice easy day. Get up, pack up, swim, short trip to camp, set up, relax. That WAS the plan. So here is how it really went. Get up, Pack up, SWIM ahhhhh so cool and clean. Drive to Adels grove and fuel up at 199.9 a ltr (lucky we only needed 15 Ltrs) head off on the Savanah way west towards King Fisher Camp (KFC). After about 80km turn left off the Savanah way and onto Bowthorn Station road still heading towards KFC only 48km to go. We were making excellent time and would get to camp before lunch. The call came over the radio from Hammo "we are just pulling over for a moment" ok thought we will just wait at the next gate it was only 1km away. Then the next call "guys you might want to come back" oh shit we thought a blown tyre. Ha if only it was a blown tyre. No not that simple. Hammos drivers side hub on his trailer had caught on fire. The fire was out, it was just the grease inside the hub that had caught when it had gotten so hot. Ok so plan is let it cool then take it apart use the replacement parts and fix it then be at camp early afternoon. After all it was only just before 12 noon. Yeah right!!! After getting off the wheel the nut was welded to the axle. So next plan is to call NRMA and get RACQ to come and tow it. Well long story short after 50 minutes on the Sat phone they said the best thing to do is to drive to Bowthorn Station which was 2 km away and see if they can help cause the nearest tow was 5 hours away as he had to come from Cammoweal. So James and Hammo set off in our car and returned with Mick the station owner. It was now about 2pm. Again to cut a very very long story short after many attempts to get the nut off and then the washer out and then the bearings out we limped the trailer back to the station. They had the nut off the washer was welded but it came off but the bearings had welded themselves to the axel also. At 6.30pm they called it quits and we set camp for the night, next to the work sheds. We were very appreciative of the fact we were not on the track and Mick opened up a toilet and shower for us. We cooked up a quick bolognaise to share and ate together. It had been a very long hot day on the side of the track at Bowthorn station which is about 25km from the intersection on the Savanah way, (In the middle of nowhere). We were in the middle of doing the crossings over Accident Creek which we will never now forget the name of.
Last swim before heading off
BUGGER!!!
SAT phones at work
Monday, Brad who is the current caretaker of KFC was called in to help. He is a boiler maker and he would be able to fix it. He arrived about 9am and set to work with his oxy. Not long later the bearings came off. Brad then worked on the whole assembly and managed to salvage it back to a good working state and put it all back together. It was now 11.30am and 24 hours after first getting the call on the UHF we were all again set off to KFC. This time we went behind Hammo incase anything happened. We were just 5km from the Station when we noticed Hammo stopped again. The first thought was he is just checking things until we got closer and saw it. AHHHHHHHHHHH #### the F###### bearings had collapsed completely this time and the wheel was barely hanging on. We managed to pull the trailer just off the track before the wheel went crack and nearly fell off the whole way it was just wedged in the gap. The plan was now to call NRMA/RACQ and get a tow there was no going back to try and do it all again. So at 12 noon the boys set off in our car to go back and ask to use the phone. They arrived back at 2.30pm with the news that a tow would either cost a packet or not come till Wednesday. After securing the trailer and tinkering with things the decision was made to get the tow on Wednesday. The boys again set off back to make that call. After a further 2 hours they returned with new that nothing could be booked till morning. We had said to the Hammo's all along we will stay with them till we know they are safe and sorted so we all set off back to camp to spend the night in our trailer. Di and I had now spent virtually 2 whole days on the side of a dirt road watching very few cars pass, keeping in the shade and trying to find things to do. We set up a hopscotch course, I tightened all the nuts on our car and trailer, made the car tidy and we talked and solved the worlds (well Hammo's worlds) problems. The shower was sensational it had been 10 Days since I had had a HOT shower and after 2 days on the side of a dirt road not much felt better ( I had been having cold showers and swimming every day but nothing beats a hot shower).
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Tuesday we were not in any great hurry to wake up but we all rose and faced the day. Hammo and James got to work making up things so that the tyre could be fitted to the trailer. Di and I tried to help where we could but generally just pottered around. Another LONG story short about 1pm the guys fitted the tyre and it worked so no the trailer was rolling. It didn't have to get far but they had success in getting it back on its wheels so it could roll onto a tip truck. After a quick lunch we farewelled the Hammos. They were expecting a confirmation call at 2.30pm for a tow for the following day and there was nothing more we could do to help. We turned north west and headed for King Fisher Camp yet again. We made it into camp in good time but we were exhausted. It had been a few very trying days so it was good to sit at camp and relax on grass under the trees. We were chased into our tent just after 8pm when the mosquitoes got so bad they were biting us through our clothes.
Wednesday morning we were in no great hurry so we packed and were rolling out of camp about 9.30am. We had been told that if we back tracked about 30 Kms to Doomagee we would get a super market and with our fresh food stock looking dismal we turned east on the Savanah way and went into town. With the fridge full and car full we again set off West with King Ash Bay as the destination. It was only 380 Kms. This was our last day in QLD for a while and we said farewell as we crossed the boarder about 1pm. Not long after passing into the NT our car ticked over 230,000km we gave Randy a pat and kept going. We pushed on till we got to the Calvett river where there was a place to pull off for lunch. We had a half hour stop then continued. The road up to this point had been really quite good we were sitting on about 70-80 kph but after this point oh boy did that change we were now only doing between 60-70 kph. We pulled into Borroloola and fuelled up with only a further 42 km to go we pushed on. The road was not a lot better and we finally pulled into camp about 6pm we were exhausted again. We enjoyed our dinner and then a walk up to the pub to call home. The pub is the only place with reception. We heard from the Hammos that they had made it to Burketown and were seeing the mechanic the following day.
Thursday we were awake early and packed ready for only a short 200 kms to Lorella Springs. We had seen good things about this Station and were really looking forward to some spring swimming and relaxing. We set off before 9am and headed south west then north up to LS. Well we were in for a shock at how bad the road could actually get. On the main road we were sitting on 60 with some slower patches but once we turned off and onto the last 30 kms we could barely do 40 kph it was rough, the corrugations were huge and the road was in appalling condition. We arrived just on noon and checked in. We found a nice place to camp under the trees where we could hear the spring running down stream. After set up we went and soaked away our aching backs in the warm spring water. We ate a very late lunch and just snoozed the afternoon away under the trees.
Friday morning we had decided to first swim in the spring then breakfast then off for a drive to see the gorges and other swimming holes. After signing out so the staff know where we were going and getting instructions we set off about 10.30am. We did the crocodile springs and Tullawaha pools loop. It was only 18 kms round trip. The track really was a bush track and we spent a good deal of time in 1st gear low range crawling across rock beds. It was not hard driving just slow. We had to do a short 600m walk out to the Tullawah pool. I went for a swim out there. I really enjoyed looking at Fossil Fern the patterns in the rocks were beautiful. We had lunch at one of the pools and then set of back to camp. I had said to James that I would drive back to give him a break. Then we came across the deepest river crossing Randy has ever done. I was nervous to say the least I had never driven through such deep water but the car in front had no problems so across we set. It was deep but Randy chugged through and I was thankful we had the snorkel fitted for that one. We arrived back at camp a bit after 2pm again went and chilled in the water then snoozed. Ahhhhh we could get used to this swimming and snoozing way of life.
Saturday morning we had a little sleep in and when we woke we decide to push on out of camp. Lorella springs had been a little bit of a let down. The pools that they rave about were so different to the pictures and sure they sell fuel, which we would have needed had we stayed and done more driving but it would be sold to us at $3 a litre. At $34 a night for a site with no power and nothing much to do it was time to pack up and hit the road. We were packed and on the move by 10am. We made it to Cape Crawford about 12.30pm fuelled up, aired up and had a quick lunch then pushed directly west to Daly Waters. We drove the 270km on bitumen only getting off for passing trucks and other vehicles as it was only one lane wide. We pulled into camp just on 4pm. We scored the second last powered site and because we were setting up for 5 nights they gave us a very cosy grassy spot right next to the pub and close to the amenities. We were buggered so we opted for a pub meal and we both thorougly enjoyed the beef and barra with lots of salad. The atmosphere and entertainment for the night was one to remember. We had not laughed so hard in a long time. We purchased "Chilli's" CD's so keep an ear out for them in coming short movies I may make.
This weeks total is an even 12 each.
