We got to Palm Creek, and all got out for a Bo Peep. The crossing was characterised by a deeply
cut, steep drop down to the creek, and then a reasonably steep, slippery climb
out. Getting down into the creek meant
slowly creeping down, trying to avoid a number of big rocks in the track, and
then once down, crossing the little creek, and giving it some ‘wheeties’ going
up the hill.
Most of the recovery team had already crossed, with Duggie’s
car being the high powered machine to lead the charge. After watching Mark, the trip organiser,
getting across, which included him getting held up on a rock on the way down,
we headed back to Slim to make our way forward.
It was at this stage that particularly Savannah decided it wasn’t such a
great idea to participate. Who would
want to be in the car when you do THAT!!!.
After quite a few screams and “No, NO, NO”, we decided to ask one of the
other mum’s to look after the kids, and walk them across the creek. Everyone seemed happy with this.
Glenn was happy to drive, and after lining up, we started
the big drop-in. One of the recovery
team was directing the path, however given the angles, washouts, and rocks, we
still ended up taking a reasonable hit on the bull bar, let’s call it a “love
kiss”. We also did some trowelling with
the rear bar... all part of the fun.
With the climb out, we gave it a very good go, and got the
front wheels to the lip of the top, but just not enough to get over. Duggie was there, willing and able to give us
a quick snatch over the edge, something which pretty much everyone had done.
It was a nice relief to have the first crossing completed,
and after a quick assessment of the minimal damage, we collected the kids, and moved
on down the track. The next crossing we
came to was Ducie Creek. A number of the
team had moved on to this crossing, and there was someone directing the
approach. Glenn again jumped in the
driver’s seat, and rolled up to the edge.
The entry to the creek was inconsequential, and we came to
the edge of the creek. We were given
direction to keep to the right, and then on exit, “take the left tra... on hang
on, no, right track” out of the creek.
So in we went.
We had seen a car go ahead of us, however we didn’t quite
realise just how DEEP it was. All in a
day’s work for Slim, but interesting. We
could see the bow-wave splashing at the lip of the bonnet. These cars are amazing, being able to travel
through water like that.
At the other side, we rounded the bend, and took the right
track... (hmm.. was that right??.. think so, anyway, we are committed). This is where a little of the nerves and
tension come out. We hit the rocky,
rutted climb a little too fast, (un-necessarily), and bumped and bashed up the
track. We got up no problems, but
definitely took some hits. The front
right panel took a nice punch, resulting in a neat, round ‘love kiss’, and the
left side step has a slight, ‘high lipped’ look. Most interestingly, we managed to ‘bead’ two
tyres.
Beading is where the tyre is forced off the rim, usually due
to low tyre pressures. In the nervous
wait back at Bramwell, Glenn went around letting the tyres down three times
trying to figure the best pressures. It
would have been ok, but we hit the left rut too hard, and caused the
beading. Luckily, the tyres re-sealed
themselves, so we didn’t have to change them at the time. After putting some extra air in the tyres, we
headed off again, a little bruised, but still on the go!!
Whilst Amy momentarily struggled to process the fact that we
had damanaged Slim, we followed the two wheel track through the bush, weaving
in-between trees and bushes. It was
lovely bush, but admittedly, we didn’t spend any time admiring it, we were just
focused on driving the track.
It wasn’t a huge drive from there, with only one more easy
creek crossing to get through, before we arrived at Dulhunty River, our camp
for the night. This was a beautiful
campspot with some lovely swimming.
We quickly found a spot, set up in the heat, and then raced
down to the water for a swim. It was a
great relief to jump in the water and wash away the dust. It had been a busy day. We unfortunately couldn’t swim for long, we
had dinner to cook, and an assessment of Slim to do. Glenn changed the worse of the beaded (and
re-sealed) tyre, just in case. We
managed to put dinner on hold for a bit given an invite for pre-dinner drinks,
which was lovely to catch up and re-live some of the days activities. It was then eat, clean up, prepare for
tomorrow, and bed.
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