Lake Eyre SA

Left Marree along the Oodnadatta Track and turned left onto William Creek Rd. The Track was rough. I was concerned about the van but we had traveled too far to go back. Stopped at Lake Eyre South. In the distance,as far as the eye could see was white, with a small patch of water to the right. We stopped at Curtain Springs for a rest and swim in the Thermal Pool. Continued on until about 60-70 klms out of Coober Pedy and all of a sudden, we felt a jolt and Stephen said "Oh F**k", I replied, "what have we done". He said "not we, me". We had lost a wheel. We jumped out and inspected the damage. The front caravan axle had come undone and speared onto the rear wheel causing it to shear off at the studs and go careering down the road. Of course at times like there is no phone coverage, so I left Steve with the van and went to Coober Pedy to ring Roadside assist. They arranged for RAA to contact someone in the area to come to our aid. I got some water and went back to Steve. About an 1 1/2 hours later along come the tilt tray. He gets out and looks at the van and we could tell from the look on his face, it wasn't good. He told us that there was no way he was going to get it in the truck. He came up with another idea to put the front hub onto the rear and take off the wheel on the other side and tow it back to town. That part of the trip was 2 hours. We pulled into the first place we could find for accommodation and it was a Big 4 but no cabins were available so we had to take a king apartment. It was lovely but the price. Whooo... Hopefully get it back from RACV.Read more