Day 214: ‘Kinchega National Park 9th Day’

‘Kinchega National Park 9th Day’

If it’s Tuesday I must be in Broken Hill.

It was 20 degrees outside – in Broken Hill – and the grey sky went as far as my eyes could see. I figured that 120 kilometres from here the weather might be fine, so I set my sights on Kinchega National Park because I wanted to see Lake Menindee. I took the Lake Drive and then the River Drive and found myself bogged in the outback in my Subaru Outback, AWD, the tyres cemented in clay from the tyre’s surface area to the chassis to the axle. I was in first gear in my AWD and my rear wheels weren’t rotating, the smell of a burning engine more and more noticeable, begging me to give it a rest, so I flipped it into neutral and let the engine cool and tried to call my wife with the limited coverage that Kinchega, Menindee and Telstra have agreed upon and allowed. A bloke called Tyrone Helms turned up and offered to dig me out. The local service station told them a – my words – stupid city-slicker had got himself bogged and need digging out. Ty it turns out was Ty-the-tiler, whose email address was ty_tiling@bigpond.com.

Naturally, with a lot of experience dealing with grout, he was able to identify my problem – too much grout between the tyre, the chassis and the axle – so he dug the grout out until my wheels could spin. Before he left he casually tossed a business card through the driver’s open window onto my lap saying, “Just so you know who rescued you.”

I don’t know what he’s like as a tiler but I highly recommend him if you live within a 150-k radius of Broken Hill for being a good guy if you’re stuck for Bathroom Renovations. He does good grout, starting at 400mm all the way down to 1mm, mobile 0429 914 426, and he rescues city-slickers for free.