.Day 68- 2/8/07 - Still 93kms from Wilcannia Steve's Report: Delays at the start due to puncture and a broken bearing. I dug into my heel about 5mm and punctured the blister. This was great relief after about a month. Saw five cars today, six yesterday so didn't quite make a dozen for two days. One car stopped with a familiy who said they were from Toowoomba, on their way to a national running meet in Perth with their daughter. Turns out they had lived in Karalee where we live but Jonathan found that out when they stopped and chetted with him. They have me a pear, a mandarin and some ginger which I wolffed down before continuing. A few showers turned up after lunch. In the end Jonathan had to come and get me because the build up on the kayak wheels stopped me from moving. He was still in 2WD but I was stuck. As rain had not been forecast we just stayed on a clay pan on Trevallyn station and waited to see what the dawn would bring. At 1.00am it was still raining quite heavily with lots more rain than anything we had seen since Toowoomba. I was worried what another six hours of that might do so we packed up and headed off. Getting off the clay pan was no problem. The road was very slippery but Jonathan did a great job of keeping us going. The highest gear that worked was low ratio 4th gear but we didn't get into that very often. About 20km out of Wilcannia the road was a lot drier and we got into high ratio 4WD but did not get into 2WD until we hit bitumen. The road house at Wilcannia did not open until 7.00am so we waited 2 1/2 hours being cold and wet until two cups of coffee and bacon and eggs fixed us up. There was no water in Wilcannia to wash the vehicle and gear so we headed off to Broken Hill where we spend $12 in high pressure blasting at the car wash just to get the worst of the mud off. We are staying here until Sunday to clean everything and take advantage of the facilities of a big town. (and communications work here as well) Jonathan's Report: Yesterday I saw Steve off in the morning like usual, however He didn’t get more than 5 metres from the camp site before he punctured a back tyre and was delayed for 15 minutes while he changed it. After the quick change over, He then started his 15km stint where we would meet for lunch yet again He didn’t get more than 50 metres this time before the front tire decided not to cooperate and was forced to change it due to bearing problems. From there things went smoothly and he showed up at lunch comfortably where we spoke to and interviewed a farmer who was actually an ex mayor of the local area. We then took a drive down to the river because the farmer informed us that there was a little bit of water in it and thought Steve might be able to get back in the Kayak to continue the journey. There was a fair amount of water in the river however there was algae all over the surface and the water would probably only last for a few kilometres. With this observation Steve decided it would be more appropriate to get back on the road again and keep laying down some km. At this stage of the day the clouds above were starting to look rather grey. After looking at a local forecast on the internet which displayed no indication of rain we decided to camp on the side of the road again. We both woke up at midnight from a very light sleep as we were both listening to each drop of water get heavier and heavier and Steve made an executive decision to pack up camp and head for Wilcannia. We slipped and slid our way there on and off the dirt road, which was now sloppy mud. I thought this was fun and enjoyed the 4 wheel driving and excitement. We now have to wait until the roads dry out and I can drop Steve back out where he can continue pulling the kayak to Wilcannia. Until then we are staying at a caravan park in Broken Hill where we can get all our clothes and equipment washed and charged. .