Wheel bad ...

It started off like any other day… up early … have breakfast … get packed up and head off … on this day we were in Kununurra where we needed to restock, refill and refuel but had also booked the car in for 2 new rear tyres that had become quite chopped up … or at least one had … oddly the rear passenger was severely abraded but the front passenger was ok … I think it is odd given that they travel over the same surface; were manufactured on the same date … presumably the same batch yet one was severely abraded and the other not … go figure…

Anyway … I get to the tyre place just as they are opening … I tell them that I had a booking … yep … I sit down … the phone rings continuously and a flood of people coming in ... mainly wanting punctures repaired … some with some good ‘ol aussie vernacular and others that struggled to put two English words together … (it is a Monday and they don’t open Sunday) ... after about 45 minutes the somewhat stressed and heavily perspiring man at the counter informs me … sorry mate … we’ve only got one tyre …

They fit the tyre … I drive back to the Caravan Park to hitch up (about 3kms) … meanwhile the tyre has deflated 6 psi and I can hear air escaping from the tyre valve … hitched up we head back to the tyre place … my perspiring new mate comes out … shakes his head … says you must have a puncture … but I can hear it coming from there (pointing to the valve) … oh yeah they haven’t tightened the valve … he pulls out his little valve tightening device and job done … I inflate the tyre back to where I want it (we have about 360kms of bitumen down to Halls Creek).

We have a pretty easy run down the bitumen and make good time.  The new tyre hasn’t really changed its initial pressure (I would’ve expected it to increase as it warmed up) … but didn’t think too much more about it until we stopped to setup camp … we had made such good time that we fuelled up in Halls Creek and decided to push on to the Tanami Track …

Tanami Track

The Tanami Track (or road) runs for about 1030km from Halls Creek to north of Alice Springs where it links up with the Stuart Highway that runs down the middle of Australia from basically Alice Springs to Darwin.  The Tanami is in the process of being bituminised. 

The Alice Springs end has had about 300km completed.  The Halls Creek end has about 60km completed.  Works are currently being undertaken at the Halls Creek end which we travelled through.  Coincidentally, the new section was due to be opened today …

Balgo Community

So … the Tanami, thus far has largely been reasonably flat with low height trees and grasses … it crosses part of the Great Sandy Desert.  It is difficult, so far, to find anywhere to camp off the road with any degree of privacy.  It is typical of remote unsealed roads … corrugations … slow and fast sections … the odd road train … single wandering dingoes … cows … wedged tailed eagles …

We passed Wolf Creek Crater and travelled another 30kms or so as it was starting to get late in the day … we found a track along a fence line … we drove about 2.5kms down the track and setup for the night. 

The next morning our new tyre was flat as a tack … so ... rolling in the lovely orange dust I changed the tyre … we decided at this point that we probably needed a spare tyre (although we had other contingencies such as tyre plugs, patches and the ability to swap the Tvan spare over) we figured that we still had about 2000kms of unsealed remote roads that it was the best option … so we turned around and headed back to Halls Creek through all of the roadworks and corrugations … 160kms back.

We got to Halls Creek Toyota … now Halls Creek is tiny with a large indigenous population roaming the streets and sitting on the sidewalk … the entire shire has a population of about 4000 people … but they have a Toyota Dealer … we took the new tyre to them … they washed it twice with soapy water looking for bubbles (indicative of a leak) … no bubbles … looked for damage … no damage … reinflated to 50psi to force a leak … no leak … maybe the tyre had somehow righted itself on the rim (the theory being that the tyre was perhaps not seated properly on the rim when installed) … anyway … no leaks to be seen … we decided that as it was the newest tyre we would have it put back on the Cruiser … job done … thanks very much … see you later … thank your mother for the chickens …

Once off the bitumen near Halls Creek, I deflate the tyres as we were about to hit the dirt again …

Off we go again … back down the road again … I monitor the tyre pressure monitor (TPMS) with an eagle eye … the psi moves up and down a couple of psi (which can be normal) … we get about 270kms down the Tanami again ... it is late in the day ... we find a dirt track running behind one of the few rocky outcrops … so down the sandy track we go … 2kms later we are behind this magnificent outcrop in our own private gravel camp area of about 1 acre in size. 

Tanami Camp

We pull up … set up camp … and I notice that the tyre has lost 4psi … in about 30 minutes … I inflate the tyre up to 50psi for overnight … the next morning is glorious … not a breath of wind … clear blue sky … so quiet … but the tyre has gone down to 9psi … I reinflate back to 38psi allowing for a slight drop but still ok for the unsealed roads ahead … off we go … I watch the tpms and the tyre pressure doesn’t move … ok … this is good!  Happy days …

Not many fuel stops

We pass across the NT/WA border … stop for a photo opportunity and adjust our clocks by 1.5 hours … I move along the road to get the car in a better position for the photo … Cate notices what she thinks is the rear wheel moving oddly (passenger side … the new tyre) … Cate drives while I look … I summise that it may be just the undulations and the suspension adapting to the changes in the road … I push and pull the wheel … there is a little bit of play … I do the same on the Tvan … similar amount of play … mmm … odd but not alarmingly so … (The Cruiser has mag wheels that have a centre cap over the wheel nuts. We have had no issues whatsoever with loose tyre nuts or wheel bearings or anything of that nature ... so I don't think much about it).

Off we go again … about 8 kms down the road … the Queensland tourist yells … the wheel is about to come off … whadya mean?  The fucking wheel is about to fall off !!!! she explains ... I pull over and get out … the wheel is at about a 25-30 degree angle with 5 of the 6 wheel nuts sheared off and sitting broken in their socket … 3 fall out in my fingers … the remaining two I gently remove … the wheel is held somehow by one nut … I am not sure whether the wheel is jammed on or it is just resting against the wheel nut … but it is precarious to say the least … we are sitting on the road about 1m from a deep spoon drain (if there was a white line on the road … we are on it).

Wheel good!

This is slightly alarming to say the least … it is about 10am.  I place a jack under the car to support it … lest any movement sheers or dislodges the last remaining wheel nut and we end up with a bigger problem …

Wheel Bad

We recently changed our Tvan and Landcruiser insurance to an off road specialty (Club 4X4) insurer and took out an additional $15000 remote recovery option … might be time to check in!

I pulled out the gamechanger … StarLink … rang them … on hold for close to an hour with multiple drop outs … we are about 270km from Halls Creek and about 750km to Alice Springs with no towns (other than a couple of Aboriginal Communities) in between.  After much tooing and froing … they try to organise a tow back from Halls Creek … we are told it will take 10 hours each way for the tow truck to get to us and take us back … but no one can tell us when they will be here …the claim has been approved but the tow operator is apparently not returning calls … this is part of our $15k Remote Cover (not the non-responsive calls).

We also have RACQ Ultimate Roadside Assistance Cover … I call them … they take details … we don’t qualify … yet … but if we are more than 24 hours laid up … they may be able to assist … provided there is no insurance claim …

The odd road train stops, enquires and manages to pass us without getting into the spoon drain on the other side of the road … one offers to locate some bolts that might solve our problem but can’t find them … he is heading home to Perth having delivered some equipment to one of the mines some 60kms down the road … it will take him 5 days to get home.  His fuel consumption is 1 litre per kilometre … in a head wind it can get down to 0.8!

By late afternoon a couple of others have stopped and offered food and water and beer! Two vehicles stop and come over … they are two couples that we met at Mt Elizabeth Station (you may recall the guy with the oil leak in that blog) … we have a chat and a laugh … something similar has previously happened to one of them … they give me two beers … I suggest that we exchange phone numbers as we got on really well with them … they know my name is Pete … what’s your last name?  McDonald … they look blankly … no … what is YOUR last name?  McDonald … everybody laughs but us … his name is Peter McDonald … they leave to find a campsite further down the road …

It is now about 5pm and no word from the insurer … or anyone for that matter about the ETA of the tow truck … I phone again and am told that they will call me back as soon as they have made contact with the tow truck …

We enjoy a romantic and a sumptuous 3 course dinner … ahhh paradise by the dashboard light (good name for a song...) - corn chips for entrée, tuna/rice bowls (pre-packaged) for the main followed by a protein bar for dessert!! All washed down with a ginger beer. The things you do when you don’t want to be cooking when the tow truck arrives and we delay proceedings!

Night approaches … it gets cool quickly then cold … we setup a couple of strobes (a red one and a white one) on the Tvan and the Cruiser and settle down in the Cruiser.  At about 1.30am a car slows … I get out and have a chat … they offer me water and food and more beer … they are from Bendigo … Spring Gully (which is where I lived when I was in Bendigo!).  They had 4 weeks off and decided to drive to Broome, do the Gibb then to Darwin for some bike races then home …

At about 2.00am we decide to migrate to the Tvan which is still hitched … but we can do a “quick setup” where we lift the rear deck and climb inside … we pull out the sleeping bags … in we climb and leave the rear hatch up looking down the road …

At about 4am another vehicle pulls up alongside offering help and more beer and looking for somewhere to camp … he moves on … we wake up with the sun … another cloudless glorious morning …

This is where it gets confusing … we are dealing with 3 times zones … WA (for Halls Creek), we are sitting just over the border in NT (1.5 hour difference to Halls Creek), Brisbane (for RACQ) and Melbourne for Club 4X4 … my watch says one thing … my Ipad says another thing and my IPhone another … some have switched over automatically … some haven’t …

It is now 12 noon in the NT and 10.30 in WA … only one car has been past … two remote mine workers heading 60kms inland down a dirt track to clear another dirt track for a drilling platform to be towed in … for gold … The same workers who drove past us yesterday on their way home from work, very politely they said they hoped they didn’t see us this afternoon, but if we needed anything they were on UHF channel 40!

Morning tea

We have now been advised that the tow truck left Halls Creek at first light this morning … he will take 7 hours to get to us … he has a hire car with him … then the Cruiser will go on the back of the truck and Tvan towed back in … there is no Caravan Park in Halls Creek … it has closed permanently … the owner died … we are hoping to see the lights of Halls Creek later today!

Another day ... another adventure ...