He explained what had happened an hour earlier and was off to get help . As it was now the middle of the day and the temperature was hovering in the low 30s , we suggested that wasn ’ t a good idea . We said he should return to his vehicle to see if we could help him out .
REPLACING THE TYRE
Being unable to accommodate a third person in our vehicle , we offered to take Nick ’ s shredded tyre to the Mungerannie Hotel for a replacement while he stayed with his vehicle . We thought it would be a long shot the hotel carried that sized tyre , but hopeful they ’ d stock something that would be good enough to get him out of trouble .
We threw the wrecked tyre up onto our roof rack and gave him our names so he could at least chat with any passing vehicles for updates we could relay to travellers heading his direction . We made sure Nick had plenty of water and could sit the waiting time out in the shade .
An in-car UHF is your first line of comms
Before we took off , Nick mentioned he had a mechanic go over his vehicle before undertaking the Birdsville Track . Four new tyres had been fitted and the spare was given the once over and been given the all clear !
The extent of the damage proved to be a problem , as expected . As far as outback services go , the Mungerannie Hotel is right up there and carries a good range of popular tyre sizes used in the outback . But the wrecked bitumen road-style tyre wasn ’ t one of them .
The oversized new tyre being fitted to the front
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