6^th Leg.

ANOTHER CAMEL STORY

Hello all. It’s been a very eventful few days since I wrote to you last. We did indeed leave Borroloola at about 7:30 am on Wednesday the 13^th of November. We had fuelled up at the petrol station and then, in the very highest of spirits, we were off. The car misfired a couple of times on the way out of town,.. but we made very little of it and continued out to the main road and onto the gravel. The gravel was unpleasant but certainly for us, not unbearable.

Tom was not really happy about the way Matilda was performing and stopped and checked the points. All appeared well and off we set again. This was a sequence of events, which happened not once but several times and set a very uncomfortable feeling in the back of our minds.

We reached the first real crossing, Wearyan River. I know people had told me, but somehow nothing really prepared me for the sight of a permanent river running across Australia’s Highway One. Nevertheless courage in out hands we drove Matilda on, through the water and onto the far side. Success, we had made it and with no apparent ill effects.

Well that was what we thought, but Matilda was running oh, so poorly. She misfired regularly and Tom just could not identify the problem, but what really worried him was the possibility that his head gasket was just not standing up to the test. But regardless we ploughed on hoping to make the next town and be able to have a little time to sort out the problem.

The next crossing, the Foelsche River and Matilda was obviously unwell. Down the bank we went, across the water, but not, up the other bank. I jumped out and Matilda surged ahead and up the hill she went.

And still on we went. The car was loosing power but we were unable to see why. The Robinson River arrived and again Matilda went down to cross her. Across we went, but up she would not go! I jumped out, but still she would not go. Finally I pushed to assist her right up that jolly hill and I tell you it was no mean feat.

Oh how we later wished that we had stopped there and then but we felt that we must try to get to the next town and reassess the situation there. The main tank ran out of fuel about this point, which meant that we had travelled only about 100 kms on our tank of fuel. It should have lasted us at least 160 kms even under these conditions. We had calculated that we had fuel for about 380-400 kms but this changed every thing. We were in a quandary but decided to forge ahead. The traffic which had been scarce at any time now became non existent. We travelled on for another 2-3 hours in a car that was failing rapidly.

We stopped again while for the umpteenth time Tom tried to find out what was happening to our little lady. Just as we stopped along came, although we did not at first realise it, a most magnificent camel by the name of Volkswagon. We chatted to its driver named Till, and codriver, Gerlinder and then, (Tom being under some strange misapprehension that all was suddenly well with our Matilda) we waved them goodbye as they drove off into the distance. Tom started Matilda again and we started but we were going nowhere. Matilda just did not have the power to drive up the hill in front of her. We felt pretty sick. We had just farewelled the only traffic we had seen in hours and Matilda was absolutely stopped. Tom decided to turn her around and try to back her up the hill. It was a really dumb idea. Sorry Tom, but trying to turn a car on a hill at best is dangerous and if the car is very, very sick it’s down right suicidal. Right in the middle of this manoeuvre a car arrived. However, rather than running us over, it was in fact our wonderful ‘camel’ and it’s two very wonderful owners who had decided that all may not be well and had returned to check up on us. I can not remember a moment in my life when I was more grateful for being rescued. Till towed us to the top of the hill and then we sat down to a very welcome cup of tea and a chinwag.

Dr. Till Darnhofer and his wife Gerlinder are an Austrian couple who, having retired from a fascinating life of work in research into meteorology in Africa have now decided to see the world and, luckily for us, the piece they are seeing right now is the Northern Territory of Australia.

Till had a veritable workshop in his ‘camel’ and together he and Tom decided that they would make a new head gasket.

This would have to be the most carefully cut out head gasket in all of history. We had just one piece of fabric and so Tom and Till meticulously drew a pattern. Night fell before the cutting began and so we sat around and ate a delicious meal of spaghetti bolognaise (made by Gerlinda) and drank wine (supplied by Till). It was a most enjoyable evening. Finally we rolled out our bedroll and climbed into bed.

About 2:30 am I was woken by a very impressive display of lightening which just went on and on and became more and increasingly ominous as the minutes passed. Tom woke up and we lay in the dark whispering our fears to each other. It wasn’t long before we heard Till and Gerlinder packing up their bedding and moving back into their van. Working on the theory that Till, being a doctor of meteorology, would Know about these things, we decided to pack up our bedroll before the rain hit. And so, from about 3:30 am, I sat in the car and had visions of creek beds filled to over flowing with water and us sitting in a little car slowly starving to death after eating our last tin of baked beans while Tom worked quietly on the head cleaning it to a state pristine perfection. We were never gladder to see the dawn break. Till and Tom started work on the gasket almost immediately and Gerlinder and I talked about our lives past and future.

Finally about 11am the gasket was completed and the moment of truth had arrived. Tom and Till climbed into our little lady and drove off for a test run. Gerlinder and I waited, and waited and waited! Finally she walked off in the direction the car had taken and I stood, transfixed to my position, filled with the most horrible foreboding.

Finally from my lookout I saw Matilda driving back and then just behind her (almost keeping pace) walked Till and Gerlinder.

Tom’s face said it all. It was no good. She was still a very sick little lady.

We sat down and discussed the situation and then Till and Tom worked on her little engine all afternoon. They just could not identify the problem. Everything they tried failed and we were beginning to feel very concerned. Finally at about 4pm in the afternoon a huge wind blew up and caused us to race around and pick up all of our belongings and store them safely in the vehicles. The weather had made the decision for us. We would accept the kindness of our new friends and we would go back to Borroloola under tow.

What an undertaking, for both Till and Gerlinder and ourselves. We started Friday afternoon at about 4:30 in the afternoon. That day we traveled exactly 28kms from our breakdown point 150kms east of Borroloola. We stopped and had yet another wonderful meal cooked by Gerlinder and then retired fairly early for bed. WE were up early and set off pretty much straight away. When we reached the Robinson River we chanced upon a young lad called Asha and his parents. Asha was swimming right there in the middle of Highway One and so we changed into our bathers and joined him. We felt fairly safe from crocodiles as the water was only about a metre deep and we had good vision of the areas all around. Tom took out his monkey organ and walking into the river played a tune. It was a surreal experience.

Refreshed, we pressed on. We stopped again at the Foelsche River and sat again in the middle of our Federal Highway and cooled our bodies and then on the banks of the Wearyan River we stopped and had lunch.

How many times during that trip we regretted how far we had managed to drive our little car. It was a very difficult drive back to civilisation. Twice the rope snagged around the tyre as the rough corrugations bounced it around. Gerlinder did however manage to find my portable toilet set, which had bounced, out of its carry bag the previous day.

Finally mid afternoon we drove back onto the tarmac and into Borroloola. We decided to get a room at the hotel and reassess the situation as soon as possible. Till and Gerlinder also stayed and so we were able to have a very pleasant evening together sitting out in the garden and eating a wonderful meal of fresh barramundi and salad (at least all but myself who really has problems with fish and so I had steak).

Back in civilisation, Tom measures the spark plugs and found that three of them were virtually dead. He is convinced that some of the additives to the fuel we picked up in Borroloola had caused the problem. This morning (Saturday) he managed to pick up new spark plugs from the local mechanic who has the most amazing workshop filled with everything you could imagine in an incredible state of disarray. The car ran beautifully straight away. We fairwelled our wonderful new friends as they left to continue their adventure. Tom and I decided to stay and get our belongings in order again and set off refreshed tomorrow.

ANOTHER DARN(HOFER) CAMEL STORY

I was sitting in our little room sorting out our goods when Tom arrived at the door. "Guess who just booked into room seven?" he asked.

"How would I know, just tell me!"

"Till and Gerlinder, the van has a problem with her front left brake."

I quickly made my way to see our friends and their lovely big ‘camel.’ Gerlinder and I decided that Volkswagon had injured his front left leg and so Tom and Till were able to resume work together on the ‘camel’. The end result I can’t tell you as it is a work in progress.

Well it was disappointing that we did not make it. It was such an intermittent problem, just as we had witnessed on the cars in 2000, but we had avoided Super petrol for this reason. Sadly we do not feel we have time to retry the route again but must head for Mt Isa and then got East It is so maddening because the car could have done it. Now we have had a day off to clean everything. I now have 6 spark plugs and will use them sparingly till we reach the east coast. The problem is still there and is exacerbated by the carburettor being so rich. Maybe we can fix this on the east coast.

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