ROCK AND ROLL (PART 2)

How was I going to get out of the mess I was in? I looked at my damaged vehicle and all of my belongings that were strewn in the mud. The rain continued to tumble as the light started to fade.

Decisions had to be made.

Now it would have helped if I had my satelite phone charged and ready but it was packed away unused. My first task was to pick up all my bits and pieces that were waterlogged and caked with mud. So I retraced my role path picking up this and that and stowing the items in the shattered car.

That done I stood in the rain and waited for inspiration that wasn't forthcoming. In frustration I got behind the wheel and turned the ignition key......to my suprise the engine burst into life, albeit with a few clanks and clunks. M'mmmm a few possibilities here I thought to myself. I wonder if the car will drive?

I placed the car into gear, revved the engine, released the clutch slowly and gave the car some gas. It lurched forward and stalled. But it was promising the car moved!

I tried again this time engageing four wheel drive and gave the car more gas. The vehicle moved forward and slowly clawed its way through the mud. It was a rough ride but we made it to the roadway. Amazing!

Thoughts and theories rushed through my mind. Could I possibly make it all the way to Ngukurr in this shattered vehicle? It didn't take me long at all to work out the answer....why not give it a go, nothing else was on offer. 

So off I set to drive 60 kilometres in a vehicle with three tyres, a shattered winscreen and a wonky engine.

My biggest problem was visibility, I couldn't see a thing through the windscreen, so I had to poke my head out the drivers side window. Every time I hit a puddle I would get a facefull of mud and slush. But I didn't have to worry as the driving rain soon cleared the mess away until I hit the next puddle. It was slow and taxing work.

Even though I was driving on a dirt (mud) road the front rim made a horrible noise, especially when I had to ford concrete floodways. But I was making progress and that invigorated me. 

Soon after I started I saw a car coming in the opposite direction and as it approached it slowed down and stopped beside me. A middle aged Aboriginal woman was driving the car and when she saw me her face almost went white and her eyes were as large as saucers. She grasped at something around her neck which she later told me was a talisman to ward off evil spirits. 

This lady thought I was one such spirit sent along the road in a battered car to take her off to the unknown. 

On reflection I can not blame her at all for this attitude.

First of all was the battered and muddied car.  And behind the wheel of the car sat a man with ragged, curly hair and a bloodied face that was coated in blood, mud and eggs. Yes, eggs. As I said earlier I had done my shopping in Katherine and for safekeeping I had placed two dozen eggs on the front seat. Of course a rollover isn't at all kind to eggs and they were launched all through the car but most unbeknownest to me had landed all over me. Add to this visage a stupid grin. Yes it was a face from hell and that's exactly what this poor lady thought. I was here to take her to the back and beyond.

Before I could even get out a greeting, she stomped on the gas and got outta there away from the crazy white man.

I was somewhat startled by this turn of events. What was wrong with her?

No matter, I soldiered on through the rain and the mud, once passing another vehicle whose occupant somewhat reluctantly offered help and who appeared delighted when I turned him down. 

It was a truimph to reach every five kilometre signpost, slowly I wound them down. A few times I almost ran off the road through a lack of visibility or potholes in the road. The hairiest part of the trip was getting the car through a swollen river. A few times I thought I may have pushed my luck too far but somehow I got across to the other side. 

Darkness was falling and I was around eight kilometres from Ngukurr when I was stopped in my tracks by an oncoming police patrol vehicle. The policeman got out of his car had one look at my vehicle and another at me and told me that this was far enough. I could go no more. I pleaded with him to let me continue but he said it was too dangerous, perhaps not so much for me but for other vehicles. He told me that one of the cars that I had passed had reported my plight to him.

So that was the end of my epic journey. The policeman's wife was in the car with him and she stayed with my battered vehicle as the policeman drove me to the Ngukurr clinic to have a checkover. On the way he informed me that I was the third vehicle to rollover in that same spot in the last week. Comforting news. 

I got a few stitches in my ear and whilst at the clinic I had the first opportunity to look at myself in a mirror and what looked back at me gave me a fright. I understood now why the woman took off at such speed.

The policceman and his wife transferred all of my belongings from my car to the police van and ferried it to my accommodation. This was a really nice thing to do. 

As for my car it stayed on the side of the road for several days before it was towed into Ngukurr. Whilst it was left unattended no one touched the car. I am sure if this occurred in a city or town the car would have been stripped of everything of value. The car spent the rest of the wet season in Ngukurr and ended up being sold by the insurance company to a local for a pittance. 

akmacca08@live.com.au