Day 42 - Wolfe Creek

We arrived at Wolfe Creek mid afternoon and as we were setting up camp, it started to rain.  Not just light rain, it absolutely poured and poured all night.  Wolfe Creek is famous for its meteorite crater which was formed 300 million years ago when a meteorite crashed to earth.  We huddled in our trailer and our friends huddled in theirs - no-one slept because of the steady noise on our canvas roofs.  We had a conference the next morning and decided that as the rain had eased off a bit, we would go back to the Tanami Track (about 20kms) and head down to Rabbit Flat and camp there.  Unfortunately during that 20km drive, they developed engine problems - a warning light came on and when he looked in the manual, found that he had to consult a Toyota dealer asap.  So they headed back to Halls Creek and we continued to Rabbit Flat.  Well what a day.  We slipped and slid in parts, were constantly changing to 4wd high and low range when we hit really sticky bits.  The photo shows the road when we left our friends but unfortunately we don't have an 'after' photo of the car and trailer.  Called into an Aboriginal community to top up our fuel - $2.30 per litre - and on we went.  Saw no-one else all day except for two camels who were standing in the middle of the road.  After crossing the border the road improved a little and we reached Rabbit Flat at about 4.30 in the afternoon.  For those of you who don't know about Rabbit Flat - it is a strange building surrounded by trees and one petrol pump at the front and it is run by a very eccentric couple who sometimes won't serve fuel if it doesn't suit them.  Well we were not the best sight - car and trailer plastered with red mud that sticks like concrete, and we were wet and bedraggled too.  Unfortunately we interrupted the owner's wife in the middle of an overseas telephone call - when we said we would like to camp for the night we were told very firmly that the campground was flooded and we couldn't stay.  So we drove back up the road about 5kms and set up in the mud and slush on the side of the road.  Another night of not much sleep!  At 1am we heard a car approaching and we both lay there hoping that it didn't stop.  It didn't, but goodness knows where they were going as the roads by then were impassable.  However the rain stopped at about 7pm and the wind blew all night so we ended up with dry canvas to pack up.   We drove back to get our fuel, hoping that they would be nice to us this time!!