After Durack we took the Kalumburu Road toward the Mitchell Plateau and the Mitchell Falls. The Kalumburu road can only be described as extremely nasty 4WDing. This road puts any 4WD to the test. One Nissan 4WD lost all its wheel studs on one wheel and left its owners stranded. Another Toyota 200 series 2 year old vehicle had its power steering fail and needed to be trucked back to Kununurra. At Drysdale station the mechanic diagnosed an oil leak Peter discovered as a leaking power steering seal. He said it would be OK to drive as long as we topped up the oil regularly so we continued on our way.
Another two hours of 10 to 15 cm corrugations found us at the beautiful King Edward River, where we camped over night. Next morning we set off for the Mitchell falls only to get 10 kms down the bumpy track to hear loud clunking noises under the car.
Crawling under the car Peter discovered a snapped stabilizing bar as well as a leaking fuel tank (a long story for another day). 60 kms we made the decision to return to Drysdale Station where the mechanic suggested we get back to Broome for repairs. A full days drive from Drysdale to Broome found us at the Toyota repair shop, parts ordered from Perth and a relaxing weeks wait for the parts to arrive in Broome (what a hardship!) We hope to resume our trip on the weekend when Sarah flys into Broome to spend the next three weeks with us. Till next time, sayonara from Broome.
No comments:
Post a Comment