Where The Bloody Hell Are They ? Broken down in Derby

Mon 21 what a day, reached 3000 km since leaving Cairns and over 300 on the Gibb River very rough but not as bad as the Roper Bar Track in the NT but tough enough to bugger our poor bike. Rachet in rear hub stopped driving so the pedals turned but the bike went nowhere. No way to fix without special tools. Worked out tapping with spanner engaged rachet until the next time we had to stop then a few ks down the corrugations the pedal went crook and we tried everything to screw it in, thread totally rs even a used green can failed to make a thread. Really stuffed now 450ks from Kununurra 500 odd from Broome and 50 from Mt Barnett. I hitched a ride to Mt Barnett and left Anja with the bike, nobody would help me at Mt Barnett so I pleaded with a local who organised a mate to go back and pick up Anja and bike for 3 dollars a kilometre, so it cost $300 to go 50k and back. We had no option at least we were together near food and water. Tues 22 local bloke drilled a tek screw into pedal to hold it on. We rode about 20ks and rear hub played up then pedal came loose and rear wheel broke a spoke. Time to give up as we had an offer of a ride with Paul who we met way back near Burketown when he stopped and offered us a drink and caught up with us again yesterday. So here we are in a 4wd heading for Derby only 200k of unsealed road and 320k of sealed road to Broome we would have made it by August 1st if our gear had been as tough as our bodies. Really pissed off that we got so close but feel a great sense of achievement in riding 1650km on the roughest roads in Oz and 1370km on sealed roads, Total 3020km. Only 585k left maybe if we can get the bike fixed we’ll get a rid back to where we broke down and finish the job. Great road too. The universe was reconfirming 2 stop!

Text from Anja at Mt. Barnett WA "Whilst I sat in the stix waiting 4 Dean 2 return with a vehicle 2 rescue the broken bike...I prepared 2 set up camp 4 myself...i had time 2 amuse myself. So i was 2.7 km from the nearest water & 49 km from the nearest coke vending machine. Quiet...exept '2' crows cawwing...waiting 2 pik my flesh. felt somewhat defeated but its only desire to finish this trip at Broome is why i was feeling defeated. Those that live in moment such as aborigines & backpackers always welcome new options when theres a breakdown. So maybe it was time 2 surrender. I wondered if Murdoch would pass by & give me a hand to set up camp incase Dean didn't come back that nite. Its now 3 hrs since Clappy took off....."