June 29th: Today we part ways with Craig and Jill, and we said goodbye over a coffee at the EcoRetreat! I admired the Spinifex all over again! 

We set off full of promise to reach the Yannarie 24 hour stop on the way to Carnarvon before nightfall. We were about 110 km east of Nanutarra roadhouse and I was driving at only 85 km/ hour when I looked out the rear vision mirror and saw rubber stripping off what turned out to be the drivers side caravan tyre. I was able to pull off the road and the caravan remained very stable, however the tyre and the tyre rim was totally destroyed!

We tried to change the tyre ourselves but the machine tightened wheel nuts were too difficult to undo and our jack proved to be totally inadequate! We tried to call for help but no phone reception so the recess emergency apps did not work. We tried to set up Starlink but our inverter didn’t like being shaken up and refused to turn on! A kind couple stopped but they had no tyre repair equipment but would have rung RAC WA for us once they reached Karijini NP.Then our luck changed! “Dave from Tom Price” stopped with his children. He had the muscle and the know how but He didn’t have a jack and he found our jack to be hopeless! Then Paul stopped and he had a great bottle jack which he gave to Dave to use! Before long our spare tyre( albeit with the cut near the rim in it) was put on! It turned out Nic had played > 70’s cricket with Paul!fortunately I had some cash to give both Dave and Paul. We then proceeded to a 24 hour rest spot driving very slowly! We had a cup of tea and tins of salmon and proceeded on to Nanutarra rest house travelling very slowly and gingerly  and serving with our tyres intact by 7pm. We took a powered site and had a meal at the cafe, then fell into bed, ready for a 6 am start in the morning! 

That magnificent Spinifex!
Scenery along the way! 
Drama over!
Another view post recovery! Innocuous Stretch of road in background where puncture occurred!
Tyre Drama was too all encompassing to take photos of our good samaritans! 













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Comments

  1. PaulJuly 1, 2025 at 4:17 PM

    Sounds like you need a wrench extension aka a length of steel tube and a new jack! I suspect it may be a challenge for mr amazon but you are in the right place for that kind of shopping

    ReplyDelete

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