End Times…

That’s right folks! The end is coming and it’s closer than expected! We last posted from Halls Creek, leaving to get to Fitzroy Crossing some 290 kms west on the Great Northern Highway. Well, long story short – the engine in the car has blown up and we are forced to cut our trip short. Shocking, we know! And yes, all true. So the details for those who want to know…

We left Halls Creek after midday after thinking we’d be driving on the smell of an oily rag (oil burners* can do that) when the Shell had run out of diesel. There were many vehicles with caravans circling like vultures and there was a hungry atmosphere developing into a mild panic as people like ourselves searched for another fuel outlet. The other service centre didn’t sell diesel, however we found a Toyota service centre that was also selling fuel so we filled up there. Soon there was a line of vehicle waiting behind us. We said ‘Thank you’ prayers and continued to say how it was great we’d no issues on our trip (so many other people’s accounts of multiple flat tyres, mechanical failures etc.) and had said to Liz’s parents the very same thing and Dan had also said this when talking to our four wheel drive mechanic Matt on the phone, both that morning. We are not superstitious in any way, but what about the timing eh?

*oil burner being a diesel vehicle

So we hit the road with a full tank of fuel and about 60 clicks down the road the air conditioning stops working. Dan pulled over in some shade which was a rare commodity indeed, but after checking fuses and belts etc couldn’t see what was wrong. We pressed on feeling a little cooked but thinking that with no phone service until ‘The Crossing’ we’d be best to get it looked at there. Best guess was that the AC needed re-gassing or something. For the mechanics reading this, ‘Dan might be handy, but he’s no mechanic’ hence the reason the vehicle has an extended warranty and gets serviced by Toyota.

Then it happened. Only 40kms out of Fitzroy Crossing the service lights came on, then shortly afterwards the motor simply stopped and we rolled to a standstill on the side of the road. Some helpful folks stopped and helped us move the vehicle and van off the shoulder, then gave Dan a ride closer to town for mobile service. Total Care is totally awesome! We had a truck pick us up, along with the car and van and drop us at a local caravan park within 90 mins.

Friday morning was spent figuring out the ‘what now?’ The answer is that the motor is definitely ‘baked’. Local service centres in the region are so busy with the extra load of the tourist season however this is also due to the larger number of breakdowns in the area due to the harsh conditions. Toyota in Broome said they couldn’t even look at it for 3 weeks and then it would be 4 weeks to get the work done. Based on this RACV will recover the vehicle to Berwick for us, and will cover our costs to get home (a flight out of Broome).

We’ve decided to make the best of a bad situation and stay another week in Broome. The disappointment is setting in a bit now, however we are grateful that we are safe and that we weren’t more remote. In fact we had planned to travel to the Wolfe Creek Crater which is off the northern end of the Tanami Road south of Halls Creek. Had we done this we’d have been 150-200kms away from a town with less passing traffic, no phone coverage and most likely copping a much higher recovery cost.

The other part of the saga is that we haven’t made it to see the Hicks family in Meekatharra and that was the major reason we set out to plan this trip in the beginning! We explored a number of options like renting a car to continue on with our plans or even to just get to Meeka, or even flying there. Flying isn’t an option unless we fly to Perth first so we didn’t even get a price for that, and the car is just too expensive. If we could get a car (and there’s not much available) we’d need a large one to tow the van, but being a regional area there’s a limit of 100kms a day then 30cents a kilometre on that. It adds up. Don’t forget the fuel cost on top. We are getting a pounding we won’t forget when it comes to understanding the size and nature of our country when it comes to exploring it by road! So we are very disappointed to not be able to visit the Hicks, but it does give us an excuse to get back out here and attempt a visit again soon!

We’ve managed to find some reasonably affordable accommodation in Broome (still a ridiculous $200 a night which was the cheapest!!) that took Liz all afternoon to organise as the Broome Cup is on and the town is overflowing. We’d heard it was busy anyway and we had the same thing with the Darwin Cup! This means we’ll stay a week and fly home Saturday the 20th.

We catch the bus from Fitzroy Crossing 1:30AM Sunday Morning and arrive in Broome at 6:40AM. Yee-haa! That’s going to be fun. But thanks to some lovely fellow travellers, they are giving us a lift to the station at 1am! Now to get some cheap stripy bags to pack our gear in…