Mud, Mud, Mud!!

Wed, 24th Apr 2019

Today our 'Mystery Adventure' turned into an action-packed 'Nightmare Adventure'. The road to Broken Hill (BH) was "Open" according to the sign in Tibooburra so we departed at 9 am planning to drive to BH.

We turned off into Milparinka for a little exploring but the wind was so cold and strong we only stayed long enough to chat with another couple who had left TB around the same time as us. They were also travelling through to BH and Silverton. We will have to return to explore the history of the area.

Milparinka Hotel

Silhouette at Milparinka

   They departed ahead of us but stopped at the end of the bitumen to chat with another van driver. We were surprised to hear from them via the UHF that the road was closed about 50km south of us. Expecting the road to be closed around Packsaddle we elected to continue. Big mistake!

  The road to BH has sections of bitumen and sections of dirt - today it was mud, mud, mud. The first section of mud after Milparinka was a trial for the OWO as he tackled the sliding of both 'Peter Prado' and 'Ada Avan'. At the end of this section, back on the bitumen, we stopped for a breather, hoping that was the worst of it! One can always hope!! 

Dirt Again

   

It was at this point that our "Angel", in his small truck, pulled alongside us and we had a chat about the road ahead. It was not good news. We let him go ahead of us and we followed in his wheel tracks. On this section we passed the car, we had been told at Tibooburra  the previous day, that had overturned. 

Our "Angel"

Wrecked Car

  Although it was had work keeping 'Ada' on track the OWO did a great job. Then we hit a really bad patch and 'Ada' decided to go her own way instead of following the "Angel's" directions. End result "BOGGED" - we were not going anywhere from here without help.

 

Thank goodness we had a guiding "Angel" who towed us onto the side-track, the way we supposed to go in the first place. Of course by this stage there was little traction because of the build-up of mud on our wheels, but we continued to follow our "Angel" guide.

End of the Dirt

Mud

 
The next section of unsealed road was actually dry, good condition, and only a short distance onto the bitumen which continued all the way to Packsaddle Roadhouse. We stopped for a much needed break and breakfast. Whilst here we noticed the road information sign - Packsaddle to Tibooburra - ROAD CLOSED! Oh yes, definitely closed. Why didn't the Tibooburra end say road closed?
What an action-packed trip that was.