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Published: September 1st 2006Oceania » Australia » Northern Territory » KatherineAugust 28th 2006
Our road trip was cut short and there is a long story to it... so here it goes...
Saturday morning we finally left Darwin, 2 hours behind schedule but so excited about what lay before us. Our campervan was sooo cool!! It slept 4 people but there was only two of us so we had lots of space. We had stocked up on food and even had two mascots with us, Garfield and Willieroo the rabbit. I drove first until we got to Katherine. We bought a cd to keep us going "Songs for my rig", possibly the most awful trailor trash cd ever!!!
Anyway Laura then had a go at driving and considering she hadn't driven for a year she was pretty good!!
We had planned an itinerary that would see us camp at a town called Kununurra, hopefully arriving there at ten, after all we left Darwin later then we hoped. I was driving as it started to get dark. Then just after 7 disaster struck!!! Or should I say a kangaroo struck!! 3 kangaroos came out of nowhere and jumped right in front of our van, going 110mph. Unfortunately one was hit. Me and Laura
just looked at eachother in disbelief and pulled over onto the side of the road. I got Laura to get out to have a look at the van (as I was in shock!) and the front was dented and water was spiling out. (the fan beat had pierced the radiator!) Ok, so take into account that two girls were standing in the pitch black in the middle of the Australian outback with a busted car and you'll have some idea of the panic we felt!!! We saw a truck coming towards us and I've never been so scared but relieved at the same time. Hopefully they would stop and help us out or take us to the nearest town but on the other hand they could be some random wacko who would rape and kill us and no one would know where we had gone (sorry to scare you mama!!). Anyway we didn't have to worry cos they stopped where the kangaroo was turned around and drove past us again!! How rude is that!!!
The engine luckily worked so Laura got in the drivers seat and started crawling the van. We were so scared that another kangaroo would jump
out and get caught under the car!!! About 5 km into the crawl we came to a campsite and small town called Timber Creek and thats where we were in luck because Timber Creek was the only town in between Katherine (where we had come from) and Kununurra (where we were headed and was a few hours away). So if we hadn't have been so close to it we would have been stuck in the outback all night!!!
We called the company to let them know what had happened but they said we had to wait till morning to get someone to tow it. We had also lost our $300 excess. We parked up the van and headed straight to the bar to drown our sorrows!! We were the only customers and after telling the bar manager what had happened he gave us free drinks and shots all night. My god me and Laura were so drunk and ended up dancing on the bar and rocking out to "Walking in memphis" !!!!! Theres also a few documentries I filmed on my camera that are so hilarious but awful to watch yourself drunk the next day!!!!
The next day


Our mascots
Garfield and Willieroo
me and Laura plus two stinking hangovers dragged ourselves out of bed and called the company again only to be told that they didn't have a van available so we were on our own and had to find our own way of getting to Broome. We were so disheartened and even considered hitchhicking with some Canadian dude but turns out he was going to Darwin. Our only option was to get the daily bus to Kununura and get to Broome from there. So at 4pm we waited for the bus.
So we got the bus and thought we were safe for a while but 5 mins into the journey I remembered we left our mobiles in the glove compartment of the campervan, so I begged the bus driver to go back to get them, luckily he felt pitty on us and did so. Once we arrivied at Kununurra another disaster happened. I swear we have bad luck following us. Anyway, Laura then left her bag on the bus, her bag with all her official docs and passport!! We did end up retrieving her bag back in the end!!
We are now safe and sound in Kununurra, and will


The damage
THe fan beat went through the radiator..
be doing some fruit picking work for a week or so and then move onto Broome. We met a bloke from South Norwood on the bus and his mate so we are all looking for work together so we'll see how it goes.
Me and Laura are still smiling and although things didn't turn out as planned we have laughed soo much the past few days that it hasn't mattered!! We're also not dettered from getting another campervan so those kangaroos better watch out!!!!!
Hope I didn't bore you lot too much but its a story that I had to let everyone know about cos its the most random and hilarious thing that has happened in my trip so far!!!!
Big hugs
xxx
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Mer
non-member comment
hahahah
sorry girls, I cant stop laughing. This is so realy something for you to happen. Glad your ok though;-) Big hugs
From Blog: Tie me kangaroo down sport.....