Journey to the Centre of Australia
By the time we left Dalhousie Springs, the roads were mostly dry, our tyre pressures were lowered for more protection, both for them and us, (we were running out of fillings to shake loose 😊) and we were eager be on our way.
We had been following the mud map we had picked up in Oodnadatta. We knew it wasn’t to scale, but it hadn’t led us astray so rather than heading back the way we came, we thought we’d follow the map to Kulgera.
Kulgera is just a small town on the Stuart Highway, not a lot there, but we loved the sound of this word… highway. Any highway would do and this was the closest. We were keen to get off the dirt roads and back on the black. It was a slow drive from Dalhousie, the cars that had gone before us had made a fine job of churning up the dirt, but we soon made it to our first stop; Mount Dare.
I’m not saying Mount Dare is small, but after a coffee in the pub, we had seen it all. So, back on the road we went. We had only been driving a short while when we saw a sign we had not expected to see.
It seems that our little mud map didn’t show state borders and shortly after leaving Mt Dare, we crossed over the Northern Territory border. It didn’t really matter, this route would still get us off the dirt roads quicker and by now we both wanted that. Since leaving Port Augusta on the 14th of August to arriving at Kulgera on the 4th of September we had travelled 1,646 kilometres and of that, 1,240 were on dirt roads and some of these roads really were the worst we have ever seen!
But I digress. Still following our mud map, we drove quickly past Finke, an aboriginal settlement that didn’t look particularly welcoming. This is aboriginal private land anyway and you can be fined for going in there – so we drove on towards Kulgera. Then we saw another sign.
The road to Lambert’s centre was a very narrow, rough, dodgy track, and the skies were promising rain again, but we didn’t turn back, mainly because we couldn’t. We got a lot of tiger stripes (scratches on the car and van) as we squeezed past trees and bushes, but in the end, we did make it. I don’t know, maybe we’re strange, but it felt really good to be at the Geographical Centre of Australia.
However, that really good feeling didn’t last long. While taking photos, I happened to notice something wrong with the van. I called Peter over and said,
“I think we have a problem.” And indeed, we did.
One of the steel straps that held one of our water tanks in place had snapped. Judging by the drag marks behind us, we had been dragging it for the last hundred metres or so.
Now for a man who isn’t mechanically minded, Peter is fantastic at fixing problems on the go. After assessing the situation, we decided the best course of action was to sacrifice the tank. To do this he had to disconnect the water hose from the damaged tank, but that of course would result in loosing all of our water as the tanks are connected. So, Peter fashioned a plug from a tree branch, cut the remaining strap on the tank, disconnected the hose, rammed the plug in tight, and applied a liberal amount of gaffer tape. Job done! And we still had one full tank of water left.
Because these posts are back dated, I can tell you that we have been travelling like this for over three weeks and his repair is still holding strong.
We weren’t going to leave the tank (we pick up other people’s rubbish, we don’t leave any) but the tank weighed a ton. We thought it must still have some water in it, as I helped Peter lift it up so we could empty it I heard something, but it wasn’t water sloshing around. While it was being dragged it had split open and was collecting sand.
Apart from the tank, the lock mechanism on the drawer on the back of the canopy had shaken loose. That was an easy fix and the bolt that held one of the caravan chains in place had shaken loose, so we had been dragging that. I decided we needed a cuppa, that was when I noticed the water pump didn’t work, (so much for one tank of water left) I also noticed the table leg was missing. I found that on the floor, beside the bed. Stuff the coffee, we had a beer! When we finally made it to Kulgera, yes we did indeed make it, we discovered that the inverter wasn’t working. So, no power, unless we stayed on a powered site and of course…we didn’t.
And that is why we will be spending quite some time in Adelaide. Once more WA will have to wait.
Conclusion – corrugation and caravans can’t coexist. Well, they can you just have to keep an eye on things. 🙂
You might be thinking that we were perhaps a little silly to take the caravan on a Journey to the Centre of Australia, and perhaps we were, but consider this. Had we not made this detour, we would have been travelling faster on dirt roads to Kulgera, or worse, travelling at high speed on the highway when the tank strap decided to break. Now that would have been a whole different story.
See you out there somewhere
On tow and on the go!
