DAY 17 - JUPITERS WELL TO PUNMU +100KLM 06/05/16 520 KLM

Again it is an early start…..l7.30 SA Time according to Tony’s time clock but actually before 6.00am WA Time.  It is still semi-dark requiring use of our driving lights.    We were wondering what lies ahead for us today in the way of van issues, given our horrendous day yesterday.

We encounter some light rain and at one rest break stop, Tony’s fantastic eyesight identifies a large group of camels, some 400 – 600 metres away on the edge of the road.  Michael and I cannot see them, but trust Tony based upon previous experience.  We lead off and sure enough camels on either side of the road, so out come the cameras.

The road is generally very straight, but on occasions the road bends around the odd sharp corner.  On one of these corners Tony obviously hit the corner at speed and ran around the steep bank incline…..we thought he could introduce a new sport of caravan towing on a US Nascar banked track.   Tony admitted his heart was in his mouth!!!

The scenery and landscape is changing all the time a great pleasure to be experiencing it all.

We cross the famous Canning Stock Route [CSR] and then head into Kunawarritji Community for fuel at $3.40 per litre….same price Tony paid for in 2013, when oil prices were much hire.  As we finished fuelling up a couple of fellas came to get fuel and got to telling us they had come up the Canning Stock Route from the South, bragging they had not let their tyres down and basically had no serious equipment with them should they have difficulties.  They asked where we had come from with our vans……..Tony informs them that we had come down the Canning Stock Route from the north, as it was now tarred.  They said is that right, meanwhile the pump attendant is wetting himself with laughter.   They were really taken in, but they will have experienced heaps of problems later in the day as they head north.

The Community is very clean and has basic accommodation with showers & toilets for CSR travellers.   Michael decides to get a pie for morning tea, but is delayed as he has to microwave the frozen pie.  Upon his return to the car he discovers bad news………a driving light has lost a nut and has been  flapping against the bull bar and pitting the paint on both….One of the managers hunts up a suitable nut and assists Tony in attaching it…..not much hand space inside the bullbar……..Also the winch control box has lost the 2 holding screws to the base bracket on the bullbar.    Cable ties come to the rescue, while Michael’s blood pressure is rising.

We are conscious of the weather approaching, so head off quickly to drive the Wapet Road’s 45 klm in order to get across and around Lake Auld’s claypans.  We successfully negotiate the area and get to slightly high ground and stop for a lunchbreak.  On the way, Michael spies a dingo, but I am unable to get photos when we stop.   Tony spies another healthy one some klms ahead.

Tony & Michael are rechecking their driving lights and Tony finds one of his has become loose.  They have to interrupt their checking and get moving, as we have a cloud burst that is turning the edges of the road into mini rivers, and the road base is becoming soft……..a sign of things ahead unbeknown to us all!!!

Next fuel stop is the Punmu Community some 73 klm up the road, where fuel has dropped back to $3.00 per litre.  A friendly local couple attend to our fuel needs and suggest we get out of here fast as serious rain is expected and we could be there for days if we don’t. Paying at the Community shop the attendant advises that they have not had a shipment of basics for 3 months and had run out of most stock, so Tony & Michael missed out on an ice cream…..their next shipment has to come from Perth, but not sure when.

We head off with an eye on the very threatening sky above and manage to get approx. 15 klm before the skies opened up, resulting in the next 2 hours being the most terrifying time of our lives…..the road base had become  very soft, with the sides of the road becoming lakes and the road becoming a flowing river. Michael was fighting with the conditions, as at times the van started going sideways behind the car.  We drove through large volumes of water which came up over the windscreen and Michael was unable to see the road for 2-3 seconds.  He just hung on and hoped that he was steering straight to the other side and still be on the track.  I was so scared I started to feel sick (but it might have been hunger! hehe). Tony claims that his van has the toilet at the very rear, and at one stage he could have stepped out of the car straight into his WC if it had a direct external door.  The men did an amazing job to get us through.  I was on the CB at one stage and said “I’m scared!”  Apparently Jennifer nodded and said that was the word.

We pass a group of 4 young Aboriginal men heading to Punmu Community in an ordinary sedan, (the second vehicle we have passed all day) which would have serious difficulty in negotiating the road ahead.   We know the grader will be required to restore the road after our efforts of fish tailing all over the place.

Finally after 2 hours and approximately 85 klm, Tony locates a roadside gravel area on a high ridge that we can pull into for the evening.  What a relief, at least the water is flowing away from our  location!!

Michael & I are too stressed to eat so resort to a sandwich for tea……..however Tony and Jen tuck into pancakes and fruit………then I discover I have one bar of telephone coverage in only one seat corner, so ring our sons.  

Tony gets the bedding ready in his van only to find the Dust Pressurisation System in the van, which is located in a cupboard above his bed has been sucking in water from the roof and all the bedding is wet…..Not Happy!!1      The heavy rain has not let up and continues on until late in the evening.

What a big day covering 520 klm, the last 85 klm being ones that we will never ever forget.  We head off to bed and wonder whether we will be stuck here tomorrow or even a few days if the road has been closed.