Break down on the Oodnadatta Track

---

With our spirits high and confident the road conditions were favourable we set off for the famous Pink Road House in Oodnadatta. Road conditions were pretty good for a while. They never really got bad … but it was abundantly obvious we were driving across Sturts Stony Desert. There were gibber plains to the left and gibber plains to the right. The colours were sometimes, black, sometimes white and sometimes red. It was quite beautiful. We saw the odd small group of cattle standing under a tree at the roadside of course.

Out on the plains the gibber stones appear quite small, but in reality, they were much larger, varying in size enormously: from golf ball, to fist, and even the odd football. As the road graders do their bit to improve road conditions taking out the corrugations and moving rocks from the road, they also grind a few and fracture a few exposing some nasty sharp edges and points. It is these that cause many of the tyre issues on the Oodnadatta Track. We were under the impression that damaged tyre side walls were the most likely risk. But have found out since, that punctures are more common.

Needing a coffee break and finding a lovely creek bed where lots of people obviously free camp, we pulled in for that well earned break. Not too deep off the road but far enough in that we weren’t really obvious. It was here we noticed our first flat tyre. Coffee could wait, we needed to change the tyre. This was about 11.30am. Out with the car manual to find all the required equipment, spare tyre located and removed. Car jacked. Wheel nuts off. But the wheel wouldn’t free itself from the hub. Try as we might we could not get the wheel off. We bashed, we banged, we twisted, we WD40’ed’, we kicked, we glared. We tried everything we could think of but it still would not budge.
About 1pm we decided we needed to have some lunch, even though neither of us were particularly hungry, but this would give us a break and time to rethink what we were doing and what other things we could try.
In the time we were there only about 5 vehicles had passed by and they were in groups.
After lunch, by which time it was getting pretty hot, we needed to get something sorted. Greg continued trying various things to no avail while Joan kept an ear out for approaching traffic with the view to possibly waving down some help.

Finally, about 1.45 a group of 3 4x4s came our way, obviously travelling together. Joan waved her arms madly. The first vehicle sailed by but the second one slowed down and pulled up asking if she needed help. Joan explained that we had a flat tyre but that the real problem was that we couldn’t get the wheel off the hub. “There’s a couple of engineers amongst us so surely we can get it off.” came the reply.

Turns out it was a family group from Adelaide: Dad and Mum, daughter and son-in-law, son and daughter in-law and 2 young kids asleep in one vehicle. Can’t vouch for this but we didn’t see the last 3 mentioned. They were returning from the Simpson Desert where they had visited a family grave. Dad was obviously very experienced in outback travel and was keen to share every detail of what you must or must not do, can and can’t do, how to solve almost any issue, and that he does not take anyone with him that does not carry his approved list of equipment. I think all this was partially for our benefit but also his boys. You could almost see a few eyes rolling.

But he did know his stuff. Still that damned wheel wouldn’t move. He tried all the things we had tried and then some but still it wouldn’t move. Eventually the young perhaps, 30year-old, said, “Just let me give it a good kick.” “Tried that,” Greg says. You could see a bit of scepticism from Dad, but finally he was allowed to give it a go. So, with an almighty kick, then a crack the wheel came loose. Woo hoo!
By this time about 45mins had elapsed. Dad insisted on helping with putting on the spare tyre. He wasn’t going to leave until they had repaired the puncture. “Done!” said the young guy. He was put through the 3rd degree before Dad was convinced he had done it right. We then told them we could do the rest.

We asked if they were wine drinkers. Dad pipes up, “I’m not but the others wine every night, sometimes they even w.h.i.n.e. a bit and then at other times
w.h.i.n.g.e. a bit. Dad joke. Forgiven it is almost Father’s Day. He insisted their help was freely given and that they would not accept anything for it.

We were soooo grateful for their help and managed to slip a bottle of nice red into the young guy’s hand while Dad wasn’t looking.

By this time, it was about 3.30. It was not a hard decision to stay at this place for the night and push on in the morning when we were fresher and feeling a lot less stressed. Good choice!

---

Photos

Perfect spot for coffee!
Honestly! What’s happened here?

The windmill, the tank, so iconic.
Mind you the windmill was not connected and the tank empty.

Lots of sand in the creeks.
The rocks must have all been on the road.

All good to go.
But let’s stay a while?

Finally time to sit down with a drink.
Is that with 1 fly or 3?