ROCK AND ROLL

Around this time last year I was living and working in the remote Aboriginal community of Ngukurr, which is located in East Arnhem Land in the northern part of Australia. It is a wild and beautiful place that is isolated for around five months of the year due to the heavy rains of the wet season.

The road that leads into Ngukurr is the same road that leads out. To get to Ngukurr is somewhat of a task. Usually you would approach Ngukurr from the Northern Territory capital of Darwin and head south 400 kilometres to the town of Katherine. From Katherine you travel down the Stuart Highway for a 110 kilometres or so until you reach the Ngukurr turnoff.

At the turnoff you have a 190 kilometre single lane road all the way to Ngukurr. The last 60 or so consists of rich, red earth, filled with potholes, corregations and creeks. Beside worrying about the road conditions you have to be on the lookout for the abundant wildlife that appear hell-bent on jumping, slithering, flying or in the case of water buffalo's standing in front of your vehicle.

My personal record for wildlife hits on this trip is three kangaroos and a flock of gallah's.Not nice at all! In this part of the world bullbars aren't for decoration, they are a necessity.

I usually did this trip at least every two weeks, either to Katherine or all the way to Darwin. It was a hard drive, hot, dusty and tiring but a privilige all the same.

But I digress.

I was returning from Katherine after picking up personal effects that were stored there. I had also done my grocery shopping for the next fortnight so the car was laden with all manner of things. The wet season had just started though the sun shone as I dodged various critters along the tarred road.

Music was blaring from the stereo as I approached the section of road where tarred road gives way to dirt. Just a 100 metres or so before I hit the dirt the heaven's opened up and heavy pellets of rain cascaded from the sky. Visibility went to almost zero.

I hit the dirt at around 85kph, with no visibility I wanted to slam on the brakes to slow down but I knew if I did the car would start to buck and slide. I had no idea where the road was it was basically hold onto the steering wheel and hope. 

Well, hope doesn't always suffice as the surface of the road became like an ice rink and the rear of the car started to slide. I tried to correct the slide but this only encouraged the rear of the car to tailspin. Soon I was going done the road sideways just waiting for gravity to take over.

And it did.

All the while this was happening I couldn't do anything, it was out of my control. I knew the car was going roll over, it was just a matter of when. I wasn't scared, the thought that was going through my head was, "I am going to be in deep shit now." The my Government vehicle was almost new, it had less than 3000 k's on the clock.

It all happened in slow motion as the vehicle had arrived at a point where it couldn't sustain traction and balance and it just rolled over. Once, twice and then a third time.

Slow motion it may have been but it also felt as though it was over in a milli-second. The thunderous roar of metal tearing and things breaking was replaced by the sound of rain and heavy breathing.

I felt okay a bit shaken but nothing too terrible. I was alive so it seemed. Wait. There was blood. Now where was that coming from? I checked myself over......it was coming from a cut at the top of my ear. Nothing too dramatic at all, just lots of blood.

Luckily the car had come to rest on its wheels some 25 metres off the road. I looked through the shattered windscreen that barely hung in place. Rain pelted me and helped me regain my senses.  All around me lay chaos.

I undid my seatbelt and had to put my shoulder against the drivers side door to open it. The door clunked open with a groan. I climed from the car to survey the damage. The first thing I noticed was the trail of personal belongings that lay strewn about the place. A sodden pillow over there, a shoe there. Someting shinny poked from the mud, I bent for a closer look. It was my iPod.

I turned to survey the damage to the car. One tyre was blown whilst the other three looked okay. There were dents and scrapes all over the front of the car though the main damage was at the rear of the car where the roof had been badly dented and most of the windows were blown out. The words 'write off' sprung to mind.

So here I was, wet through, bleeding with belongings strewn everywhere with a vehicle that looked like its wheels would never turn again. I was 60 or so kilometres from Ngukurr on a road that on some days may only greet a handful of cars. It was late, pouring with rain and would be dark soon. Shit!!!

(to be continued)
akmacca08@live.com.au