After going through some plans, I had decided on strapping up the axle with the missing wheel and driving on 3 wheels into Marree to see if we could get repairs done there. I also dropped the water from the tanks to lighten the load.

 

We headed over to the Mungerannie Hotel to say farewell to Phil. As we were chatting a empty semi trailer arrived. The driver got out and he was wearing a Caravan Repairs shirt on.

 

I quizzed him about whether he could repair the van. Peter said he owned the Augusta Caravan & Campers and could do it back there. I then asked whether he could take the van on his truck and he asked whether I could reverse it onto the back.

 

Peter had dropped off some gear at a nearby station and only called into the Pub to drop off his business cards that he forgot to do yesterday.

 

There was a cattle ramp nearby and with only 5cm on each side between the wheels and the edge of the semi tray, I soon had the van reversed on. It was then chained and we were soon heading down the Track towards Port Augusta.

 

It was an eight hour drive to Port Augusta with a stop at Hawker to measure the height of the semi with the caravan on the back. There was a railway bridge in the Pichi Richi Gorge area with a clearance of 4.8 metres. No problems, we measured in at 4.5 metres.

 

We had a moment just before the bridge where we nearly took out a kangaroo but apart from that we were soon in the freight yard of Clift Freight Service unloading the caravan.

 

Peter allowed us to camp overnight in the yard then take the van to the Repair Yard in the morning. It was blowing a gale. There were no showers tonight as I had drained the water this morning.