During last evening we discussed our next moves. We were about 90km north of William Creek and 110 south of Oodnadatta. Do we abandon our attempts to get to The Painted Desert this trip and head back to William Creek and then across to Coober Pedy, knowing the road conditions as they were? Or, do we keep heading north to Oodnadatta and then sus things out and either go across to Coober Pedy directly or head through The Painted Desert?
Two things helped us with the decision and both can be attributed to the good Samaritans from the day before. The first was that due to their repair of the puncture, we still had a spare tyre. The other was that ‘Dad, with his extensive outback experience told us that we were virtually halfway along the track and that the road forward was less rocky than that already covered. We did get quite a geography lesson included but it was well worth it.
By 8.30 we were out of there. The conditions were marginally better; perhaps a few less rocks but a few more corrugations. 5 continuous kms of shudder and shake at one stage. Perhaps we were a little paranoid as we stopped regularly just to check the tyres were all still OK. Again, we met very few travellers but we did meet one very dusty 3 dog cattle road train (3 trailers).
We were extremely relieved when we finally pulled up at The Pink Roadhouse in Oodnadatta. Time for coffee! Any new arrival at the roadhouse seemed to be swamped by others wanting to know where you from and what road conditions were like. It was a good chance to gather your own information as well. Reports from people who had in from The Painted Desert was that the road was in excellent condition as it had only been graded 2 days earlier. Brilliant!
Inside to destress with a coffee, off to the loo, fuel up and then off to The Painted Desert, so we thought. About 3 hours later we finally managed to depart. Greg pulled the caravan up
to the bowser and as he filled with fuel, he noticed you guessed it a flat tyre on the caravan. We were sure it had not been like that when we arrived.
The very helpful proprietor, was quick out and help. Perhaps it was the thought of another puncture to fix, or perhaps it was that we were blocking the bowsers so no one else could access them. He was actually really nice and typical of country folk, very friendly and helpful. He had run the William Creek Hotel for 15 years before moving to Melbourne where he ran a number of hotels and then more recently when The Pink Roadhouse came up for sale he decided on another stint in the outback.
On our last trip, our friend Brian showed us this great caravan tool he had just bought called the Trailer Mate. It replaces the winder jockey wheel with a pump action lever and a pressure release valve which is much easier and quicker to use when coupling and uncoupling the van. But its real benefit is that it is a jack for changing a tyre on a
van. We didnt even get to try this out as the roadhouse guy brought out a much bigger gun so why wouldnt you use it.
Greg and him had a lot of trouble getting purchase on the wheel nuts to undo them. Fortunately, it was our tool that eventually got the job done.
After what seemed like forever the job was done and paid for. A mere $75! But now it was lunchtime so we poured a few more dollars into their coffers and stayed for lunch.
After that we finally escaped and were on our way through The Painted Desert to Arkaringa Station where we would stay the night and hopefully catch some nice sunset shots of the range.
