08.10.2015 Gibb River Road, Brankos Lookout

Brankos Lookout, Car in repair shop

Yeah, we reached the eastern part of the Gibb. The campsite where we wanted to sleep looked really nice, shade, a bar, a repair shop, steakhouse, huge camping areas, and even small cabins that were set up like a bathroom. We felt right at home in the bathroom, it was somehow total luxury.

Since we arrived at 12 o'clock, we couldn't see much anymore and decided to first take a look at Brankos Lookout, the sunset here should be great. The ranger said that if our car is in good condition, the routes there won't be a problem.

But the 4WD track was anything but easy... we had to cross a stone path with huge rocks and that was really difficult! The whole time you could only hear something cracking or popping in the car, we were really afraid for our car and would have liked to turn around.

The Branko Lookout was really nice but the route there was so difficult to drive that it really wasn't worth it to go there. On the way back, we talked to our car and said that we will never drive such a track again if it can handle it here :-D. Well, we thought if we made it on the way there, we can manage the way back.

On the last meter before the destination, there was a loud crack under our car and when we reached the 'normal' path, we rather took a look underneath. Well... SHIT we had a hole in the oil pan and were in the middle of nowhere :-( oh my god what could have been worse for us here.

We immediately tried to somehow plug the hole with a bolt-like object but that didn't work either :-/. Luckily, three cars came by and we were helped by really nice Australians. First, we wanted to continue to try to plug the hole, it didn't work.

Then we tried to plug the hole with rescue tape and a screw so that we could at least drive to the campsite (6 km), but that didn't work either. Mike had to hold the hot oil with his hand or fingers the whole time and burned himself.. but it didn't help :-.

The Australians had an emergency phone and contacted the campsite. We were then towed there and had to sleep in the car next to the repair shop. The mechanic said he didn't know if he could fix it and would have to take a closer look at everything tomorrow morning (it was already dark). If we're unlucky, we have to be towed to the next place 'kununurra' and the oil pan will have to be replaced there if they can't fix it here. The day was just ruined :-(.