Only problem was that at Stubbs Waterhole a couple of huge boulders had been washed down into the middle of the creek crossing. I had to get out my tape measure to see if we could get through and found I would have an inch left each side. After spending some time filling in large holes under the water with more rocks and finding the best route across I drove down the bank and slowly made my way to the gap between the boulders and started to squeeze the car through which was alright until I had to start turning to miss another one in front of me. This caused the rear wheel to grind into the rock and then it caught the trailer well and truly. I tried to go back but it only made things worse, so I built up a small mound of rocks under the water in front of the trailer and partially to one side with the hope that the trailer would climb up it and slip off to one side away from the rock in front.

Stuck between a rock and a hard place

Just then 'international aid' arrived in the form of an Australian showing a couple of French girls and a Dutch guy around in a Landcruiser Troop Carrier. They thought this was a great adventure and stripped off into their bathers to help any way they could. So into the water they went and I got them to push the trailer sideways as it climbed the mound I had made and it moved sideways quite a lot until it hit the other rock on the other side. It was decided that the only way out was to unhitch the trailer and I would drive out and then we would all push and pull the trailer until I could snatch it up out of the creek and up the bank. Well with a lot of laughing and a few falling over we managed to do it and was out the other side 2 hours after we entered the creek. He wasn't prepared to give driving through a go as he said he has enough repairs on his 4WD already without  looking for trouble. Well 8 1/2 hours and only 40 kms ( 25 miles ) later we made it back to were we started ( we could have walked faster ).

Snatching the trailer out of the creek

They had got so worried that they had sent out a rescue party in a Nissan to find us. They were even more amazed when they found out we had towed a trailer through as no-one had done that even when it was in good repair. They quickly radioed to say we'd turned up and they said they would turn around and come back the way they came as the going had been too hard. Well they felt so guilty that they gave us free camping that night, but it had been great fun anyway. Off we went heading out past Frome Downs and had a look around an old gold mine and homestead on the way down to Yunta and some tar roads into Broken Hill which mines gold, silver, copper and lead all from the one mine. The tar was left again as we cut across on a good sand road below Lake Tandou to Bindara cattle station only to find our way south blocked off by the Darling river in full flood. The water had cut the road and when I tried to walk across I disappeared up to my knees in mud and the next step even higher. So we turned around and called in at Bindara Station to see if there was another way of going. Well we have never met such a hospitable couple in our travels before and were invited in for morning tea which became lunch which became afternoon tea as we spoke about trips that we both had done with plenty of swapping of ideas going on. The station was built in late 1800's and had 200 staff to service the 1 million acres. They were now setting it up as a place to go camping, bushwalking, fishing, yabbying, bird watching etc. and I would highly recommend it to anyone to come and meet Bill and Barb who you can ring on  (08) 8091 7412. By this time it turned out that his son and friends were coming up and we were to meet them at the crossing to pull them through and they could pull me through the other way. But we were a little late and met them on the road on the other side already after they had got themselves through by continually ramming at the mud and water with a Hilux that had a rear diff lock and kept pulling him out backwards until he had got across and could pull the others through. They then turned around and followed me back to the crossing to make sure I would get across by charging through back to the other side with the Hilux and got the strap ready as we thought I had no hope as they had struggled with no load let alone with a trailer in tow as well. Well I'm pleased to say that with the Detroit True Tracs doing their thing, I made it through with mud flying off all four wheels and got to the other side with even the whole bonnet going underwater and ripping my number plate off with the force of the water. That was the only damage and we said our goodbye's and camped on a clay pan further down the track. That was our last camp before we followed the Darling River all the way to Wentworth and across the border back into our state of Victoria and home. 10,000 kms later ( 6200 miles ) we arrived home without a single problem except a small axle leak when the vent hose got blocked from some diff oil sitting in a low section of the vent hose, and one small puncture in the trailer on the second last day which I plugged without even removing it from the trailer or jacking it up. So I have a lot of mud to wash off and cleaning to do and then I can start planning the next trip!

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