Murphy Joins the Team!!

Flinders Ranges from Brachina Gorge road - so close, yet so far!

 Now this Irish man seems to have been tagging along with us for a number of days -- you may know him as MURPHY -- been keeping the OWO company for awhile, and here he is again!

Only one km along the Brachina Gorge track and the trailer locked up. OWO gets out expecting to find a flat tire - easy fix, just a little inconvenient in the middle of a narrow section of a very rocky 4WD track? No one around so should be a doddle to fix.  Not so. No flat tire, so why have the trailer brakes locked up?  Seems the bolt holding the spring had sheared off and had broken the shockie mounting - no way to fix THAT in the middle of the bush!!!

OWO huffed, puffed, used some calming language - not - and just had a complete melt down. After his rant was over good wifey gingerly suggested calling on the UHF to see if anyone might be on the track or in the area that could give a helping hand. One response, and around the bend, across the dry creek bed, arrives a very helpful " Westralian" named Trevor. After on the ground surveys and intimate discussions, the OWO and Trev devised a way to lift the trailer, remove the hanging shockie, and release the brake.

No flat tire?!! So what do we have here?

Did I mention that this was a narrow rocky section of a 4WD track?, and that there was no one else around? Yes, of course I did. I also mentioned our uninvited travelling companion Murphy, and here he was again. Whilst OWO and Trev were working on the situation, we found ourselves in the middle of "peak hour" traffic! Murphy's Law - damn that man! Within twenty minutes we had four oncoming vehicles lined up unable to pass our vehicle in the middle of the track - and I have never seen so much "man power"  gather in such a short time (outside of pub hours!) and all offering advice, naturally!!!!!

The OWO and the wonderful 'Westralian' finally got the trailer moving again, at least enough to allow the gathering crowd room to manoeuvre around us and continue on their way. Trev and his companion, who were from Albany in WA, our ultimate destination, bid us farewell and we were once again mobile. But Mrs OWO didn't feel the situation was stable enough to continue on to the camp grounds at Aroona and almost (not quite) pleaded with the OWO to have some common sense and reconsider our options. It took awhile but finally common sense prevailed and the OWO agreed that our best option was to head off to Port Augusta for "R&R" - Rest and Repairs for both vehicle, trailer, and the occupants.

Decision made, we drove slowly out of the Park, off the 4WD track, and back to the bitumen highway. By now we were both totally stressed, hungry and very disappointed over the change of plans, but secretly inside Mrs OWO was relieved that common sense had prevailed and repairs could be made before venturing into more isolated regions.

We arrived in Port Augusta around 5pm and booked into a cabin at the Shoreline van park. Very basic and could only stay 2 nights but tomorrow the OWO would find somewhere to get the trailer fixed and the fuel hose fixed on the vehicle. Hopefully we can be on our way again in two days time.

Flinders Ranges viewed from Port Augusta - maybe next time.

Oh my gosh. This was only day 12 of our Big Adventure and we had a long way to go yet. Let's hope we can leave bleeding Murphy behind when we leave Port Augusta in two days time.