Aramac adventure!

Our original Elmer the Blue used to have issues with his front, passenger side wheel.  It seems Elmer the Gold has similar tendencies with the rear wheel on the same side.  

We left Muttaburra without buying bread, so were looking forward to lunch at Aramac.  

About 5km out of town, there was a loud noise and Nick slowed to a halt beside the road.  We got out and saw the tyre had blown.

There was no shade but frequent gusts of wind prevented us from putting out the awning. (We had learned that those conditions could cause damage).

It was hot and the ground was soft with lots of prickles. I didn't envy Nick! 

I wasn't much use for the tyre changing, so stood beside the trailer box (bracing the lid with my hand at each wind gust) and worked on making corned beef sandwiches with the last of our bread - two slices and two crusts, shared equally.  I was also very brave and lit our little fuel stove, to boil the kettle!  Given the circumstance I rummaged in one of our big green storage boxes for a pack of shortbread biscuits.

While I was organising lunch, Nick worked on changing the tyre.  As well as the heat and prickles, there were other issues.  The jack sank into the soft ground, so my excellent "half a road train" was commissioned as a base plate.  Fortunately it survived the experience unscathed!

Once the spare was on, another landcruiser stopped to check if we were OK.  The nice fellow chatted for a bit and then left us to it.  We packed up fairly quickly, thinking to inflate the spare at a servo in Aramac.  (We were doubtful of there being a mechanic in town to buy a replacement spare).  As we drove into town, we saw a mechanic's shed but it looked quite closed, so we continued to the service station.

As Nick inflated the trye, it became obvious that the valve seam had split.  It's possible to change a valve but only by removing the tyre from the rim.  The service station didn't have those facilities (but did have recovery ice-creams) and an attendant directed us to the Council chambers, in the belief that the works depot might assist.  The admin assistant at Council was a bit bemused by our story but made some calls and found someone to help.  

We were advised to meet Nev at the mechanic's shed in an hour.  While waiting, we saw some of the town, the tramway museum and a lot of the little white bulls.  

It was actually Nev's nephew who assisted us.  He quickly removed the tyre, replaced the valve, refitted the tyre - and wouldn't take any payment, just wished us safe travels to Barcaldine (where we'd meet Bashy, another fine fellow, to organise a replacement spare).  We do meet some lovely people when things go awry and we're very thankful for them and all assistance received.

Day 6 = 468 kilometres (Hughenden to Blackall)