07-Apr-2004 -- Continued from 33°S 137°E

We fuelled the car and started driving. It was already past 11pm, so I decided to catch some sleep on the backseat while Andrew and Hilary navigated us towards the second confluence point(32°S 137°E) on unmarked dirt roads in the middle of the night. The guys did a great job, and we found ourselves at the "Stony Tank", a water tank and a cattle pen. According to the map, this was as close(7 km) to the confluence as a car could go, so we stopped for the night. After a couple of beers we caught a few hours of sleep in the car.

When the sun rose the next morning, we got up and started walking. Following a fenceline we made good time towards the confluence and we arrived there after approximately 1.5 hours. Scattered bones of long dead sheep were the only things even remotely interesting in the landscape. Pictures were taken, and we celebrated by drinking a bottle of Fosters each at the point. After a moments rest we walked back to the car.

The trip back along the dirt roads went fine. We found the main highway and started heading back towards Port Augusta. Then, 20km from the nearest town, disaster struck. The engine in Andrew's car started making a funny noise. We stopped, let the engine cool down, and tried starting it again. No luck. After a few attempts, the engine seized completely; even the starter motor wouldn't turn. We hitched a ride to Port Augusta, Andrew got a tow truck to get his car, and paid for the towing by giving the car to the tow truck company. Apparently he had paid $350AUD for the car and it wouldn't have been worth it to repair it. We decided to take a bus back home. Unfortunately, the next bus was due in 8 hours, so we had to wait around for a while. Without further incident, we got on the bus and managed to get back home, over 30 hours later than the original plan...