We were up at first light and hit the road. Oh my goodness the road to the next station was horrendous. It took us 3.5 hours to drive the 160 klms.
As we drove this very rough road we both said we really need to go back out the way we came give the Gibb River road a miss towing the caravan. But in reality the road back out is just as bad and by all the information we are getting the road gets better and better as you get to the western side. And it did start to get better we just hope it stays that way!
So we got to Mount Elizebeth Station and the owner was very nice and accommodating, pointing me to the work shop and said use what ever you need! I couldn't believe a person could be so trusting.
It literally took me less than 15 minutes to fix this crack. I also braced it with some steel they had laying around. There welding gear was very primitive, it was like the gear I used 40 years ago when I learnt to weld haha But I was very grateful.
With suspension fixed or dodgied up would be more to the point, it wasn't pretty but it should be ok if we keep an eye on it and drive stupidly slow until I get home and sort it out with the manufacturer or fix it properly myself.
I fueled up at the station and went to ask the owner what we owe them for allowing me to do this and again I was shocked when she wouldn't take anything from us. Good honest hard working Australian people right here.
We spent the next 3.5 hours bouncing our way back to our camp ground questioning if we should or shouldn't attempt to continue this track with the van in tow.
Once back I put the suspension back in which again is a terrible job rolling around on the ground under a 3 tonne van with only a small jack, the vans corner steadies and couple of wheels under it to hold it up in case it fell! But I got the job done and I was feeling a lot better that we had caught it early and we went to the trouble of at least attempting to solve the problem.
We have been carrying around 250 kgs of water extra that we really dont need because as it turns out the stations all offer a good water supply. So we will get rid of that for a start to help easy the load on the suspension.
I also must say all these camps grounds in this area has carnage everywhere. You do not need to go far to see people laying under 4wd's and vans fixing things or the amount of tow trucks with vans and 4wd's or workshops. The infamous Gibb River Road caravan and 4wd killer is real. Yet there are still people online telling others that are asking what the road is like that it is smooth and fine!! For the most part they get called out but its hardly smooth, it is badly corrugated in places so much so that you can only go walking pace without risking breakages.
We decided that rather than get up early and head out tomorrow morning we would stay another night and spend tomorrow relaxing!!
So we had tea, watched some footy and went to bed to sleep a lot better than the night before!