Kimberley 2023

Well… shit.

Speaking to our trusted mechanic before coming here, there have been maybe 3 failures of the suspension springs in all the cars he services (which is in the hundreds). All were old and had done hundreds of thousands of km when they let go.

Now he gets to say 4 failures.

An extremely rare, and very unlikely failure, but we managed it, and of course in the most remote place possible, and on a weekend. This, despite replacing the suspension before we left with brand new parts! There’s bad luck, and then there’s this situation.

The car is basically undrivable - we have limped to a “day use only” spot and set up camp. (We were stranded there for 3 days in the end).

We have managed to get a message out to home for help, and if you are reading this, we have been able to get to somewhere with reception. No need to worry, though the rest of the trip is looking shaky…

Meanwhile, we have had lots of fantastic interactions with people stopping at ‘our’ lookout. Highlights include a supply truck for APT (tour company) that leant us the use of a satellite phone, a happy couple that delivered our note for help to the rangers, a couple that had travelled all over Australia in an old Hilux and handed the kids a muesli bar and told stories of their experiences, another couple in a huge off road RV (similar to a unimog) that gave us a tub of ice cream as well as the use of their satellite phone, a pair that had a boab nut to offer, and many more that gave solidarity, offers for lifts or water or fuel.

There were plenty of experts on how to fix it too of course, including ‘just jam a block of wood in there, you’ll be right’. He did give me a beer though, so we’re still friends :). Inevitable comparisons between the Disco and a Land Cruiser too - though the people driving this road regularly point out that every type of car fails.

We have slowly become pretty good in picking the type of car by the noise it makes on the corrugated road (we hear them coming long before we see them) The worst are any of the tray utes with canopies, not much better are the Land Cruiser wagons (100, 200 and 300 series), the big American trucks sound pretty good, as do the medium wagons like Prados and Pajeros, and the brand new Defender 90 was quiet as a church mouse, making it look like asphalt. Pretty sure the driver was sipping a latte actually.

I’ve had time to fix our little USB bug zapper for in the tent too - silver linings :-)

I’ve updated this footprint as we go, so can now tell you we got out by way of a massive coordinated logistical effort between Bodhi, Cameron, Ian at Drysdale Station and the RAC. We got updates by way of letters from Ian passed to people driving up, together with the occasional phone call via satellite or starlink when possible.
The car and trailer will get a piggy back ride on a tow truck to Kununurra, with the rest of us flying there on Max’s 5th Birthday. We will get the car back a day or two later. All up, a horrendously expensive exercise, on account of our breakdown location being a non-gazetted road. We will have covered some 7,000km on this trip, of which 140km was non-gazetted - remember the level of luck we had? :-)

We’re not out of the woods yet (only out of the bush), with the car still broken, mechanics apparently fully booked for weeks, and a long way from home. The kids’ school recently added ‘resilience’ to their values, which I feel is being tested here.

I considered the risks involved in this trip of course, and this situation is the ‘worst case scenario’ I came up with, short of an urgent medical emergency.
Yet despite everything that’s happened, a reality check is sometimes needed: we are all safe, well fed and watered, recovering quickly from the stress of the ordeal, and have a pretty epic chapter to add to our diary, albeit an unwanted one! Now to find a pool and a cold beer!Read more