1 jack, 2 tyres, 1 USB, 13hrs of driving, and 7 unhappy people... and were still not there.

Stopped and waiting No.2 time

So the plan was simple. Get from Derby to Sandfire. Simple, and then everything went wrong.

Our original plan was to leave at 5 o'clock, and reach Sandfire Roadhouse before the road got extremely hot, thus saving tyres. It all went well until just before we left, when we realized our door no longer closed, and stayed closed. Something to do with the catch had broken, and we had to rely on a latch to hold it closed. We then headed off without any more dramas.

Changing No.1

We drove for several hours, while listening to talks and napping alternately. Soon however, the road began to heat up, and our tyres began to heat up badly too. Then the fatal pop came, and we had one tyre down. This tyre was the same one that we had popped before, and it was a new one. We started to change the tyre, but we had a stubborn nut and a lot of grunting and heaving went on to loosen it. One of the worst things is that the tyre gets so hot you cant touch it and hold the tyre still. We finally got it free, and we had one tyre changed.

Mucking around while waiting

We headed off (again) only to get ten minutes down the road and pop another one. We were only carrying 2 spares, and we were all praying that we could get away without any more spares. When we came to put the second spare one, the on just yesterday received, was flat and we couldn't drive on it. Still 100km from a roadhouse, with no spares. We made the decision to leave the caravan and the two boys and go to Sandfire and pump up the tyre. Leaving the boys with some water and the caravan, we headed off to Sandfire.

Our broken Jack
(sitting on a flat surface)

While at sandfire we grabbed some lunch and pumped up the tire. Dad also called NRMA, to check that the caravan was covered for towing and what they should do if something was wrong with the tire. Luckily we have premium (covers all Australia) and the caravan was covered as well as accommodation and towing costs. The drive back was uneventful.

Our first flat tyre

We got back to the boys, fine and dandy, and the boys were all living, so we counted it successful in picking up a spare. Then the trouble started again. The caravan rolled as the handbrake wasn't holding properly and our jack broke. Luckily (saved us more than once) we have two jacks, and the tire was successfully put on. We then realized we had lost a USB with movies on it, and we had to go back to try and find it. The USB had vanished into thin air.

The cattle at Sandfire Roadhouse

So, 1 jack, 2 tyres, 1 USB, 13hrs of driving, and 7 unhappy people was the total of all our misadventures!!

Sunset, just after arriving

So, halfway there! How's our next half going to be? We have no spares, and a slow leaking tyre that we have to drive on to Port Headland. Come again for a trip report.

The road awaits............