Having been through the
Flinders Ranges, Visited the
Cooper Creek Ferry,
Oodnadatta Track,
Simpson Desert,
Birdsville and having spent a couple of nights camped at
Innamincka we packed up and left for
Tibooburra.
Sadly we only got 20kms out of
Innamincka when we heard a strange noise coming from the engine, pulled straight over lifted the bonnet to find the coolant boiling in the overflow bottle. We waited an hour for the motor to cool then refilled the coolant before trying to drive back to
Innamincka. We only got 1km toward
Innamincka when it overheated again.
Fortunately we were with another car that was able to tow us back to
Innamincka. While the mechanic in
Innamincka was away his assistant was able to have a bit of a look with the general consensus being that the car had blown a head gasket.
Now the main reason for this post is just to highlight the fantastic people from
Innamincka who went above and beyond to help us out. So here goes
Huge thanks to everyone from the
Innamincka Hotel and especially Michelle and David. These guys helped to arrange flights for my wife and kids to get them home. Suggested I talk to their freight supplier about back loading the car to
Adelaide, rang all their usual fly in operators to see if they had spare seats to fly me out and ended up using their contacts to arrange a flight for me from Moomba to
Adelaide so I could deal with the repair to the car.
They also let me use their internet so I could arrange a mechanic and accommodation for once I got to
Adelaide and looked after me with a room and made me feel very welcome. By the time I left I felt like part of the community. All up I spent 6 nights in
Innamincka (2 planned and 4 unplanned).
A huge thanks to Geoff from
Cooper Creek Homestay who helped me with towing the car to the loading ramp and helping to load it onto the trailer. Also for your hospitality in taking the time to sit back and have a chat and a beer.
Thanks also to the ladies at the
general store for also suggesting the freight company and your hospitality and help.
While the circumstances of my extended stay in
Innamincka were not ideal, everyone went out of their way to make me welcome and helped out in any way they could. I cannot thank them enough.
So next time you are there, can I ask the ExlorOz community to have an extra beer at the pub and spend a few dollars throughout the town. They are great people worth spending the extra time to get to know.
Geoff