A Road Less Travelled

Part 5

photo: from my travels

A roadblock

The Georgina River, just outside the town was in full flood, with the only bridge closed to traffic when I left Darwin. However, it was expected to be reopened by now... I could really use a shower and felt like a hot meal.
But there was no bridge when I arrived at the river. However, several trucks of different sizes, one caravan, and a couple of civilian cars were randomly parked on and off the road, and a group of people was sitting around a campfire. The road simply disappeared under the fast flowing water of a very wide river. I could see the town on the other side, ...but no way to get there.
Everyone exchanged surprised looks, as if they have seen a ghost, then they got up, introduced themselves, handed me a cold beer and wanted to know "where the heck I had come from...". It turns out, they had all been stranded there since a couple of days before Christmas, with water behind and in front of them, and nowhere to go. This meant they had missed out on celebrating with their families, but spirits were high non-the-less, and there was a great and very welcoming atmosphere in the camp. Trust the ingenuity of the Aussie country people... they were set up well. Someone had gone hunting the day before and had brought back a bush turkey, which was roasting on a home shift spit, a billy was boiling, and let's not forget someone had a massive big esky filled with ice, some goodies and of course lots of beer. I was too stunned by the totally unexpected set-up here and from being bombarded with questions, that I never wondered why they have ice, or beer for that matter...? But I do remember thinking that my hosts were right – showing up with a carton of beer was exactly the right thing now.
Soon I had a turkey sandwich in one hand and a cold beer in the other, and was telling everyone 'how the heck I had gotten there'... - well, you already know the story. Everyone was astonished and I believe more aware than myself at that time, just how risky it had been for me. They definitely didn't expect to see anyone, after being cut-off by water for almost a week now.
Apparently, as expected, the water levels had dropped last night to below the bridge, but by the time the person who discovered it woke everyone up, a damn wall further upstream broke, and a new amount of floodwater was gushing back into this river. The bridge was now further under water than ever before with a prognosis of staying this way for another week. I felt really sorry for all the other guys, who had already missed out on Christmas at home, now it looked as though we were still going to be here for New Year's Eve as well... It was the afternoon of the 27. December 2000.
I had the privilege of getting to know an amazing group of people. They were looking out for me, and as one of only two women in this camp, I appreciated this. After receiving a few 'offers' to sleep in a truckie's air-conditioned cabin (insinuating- with him), I had others reassuring me, that I only have to tell them, and they will 'punish' this individual if he sets one foot wrong... "we have our own laws here in the bush", I was told. I felt very safe at all times.
I soon learned that the friendly police came for a daily visit from the town side of the river. They came in a boat and offered us rides back to the other side, so we could go and have a shower at the caravan park, a hot meal at the pub and/or buy some necessities – hence the constant availability of ice and beer in the camp - after all, these are main necessities in a place like this ;-).
After a sleepless night of watching mosquitos literally trying to fight their way through the net in order to get to me (and plenty of them succeeding), I was more than happy to have a shower. In an attempt to not expose any skin, I was totally rugged up and felt very sweaty and sticky by morning. It was not only the hottest time of the year, but also very humid due to all the rainfall. I also wanted to call my son and the family he was staying with in Darwin and let them know where I am. Robin had a such a great time that he didn't seem to miss me at all, and he was well, which was a great relief.
I loved the days; camping, fishing, talking with others, ... but the nights – well, I can't say, that I enjoyed them as much as I did other nights before, when I was gazing at the amazing night sky. We endured a humid sticky heat that was never broken by the slightest breeze nor a drop in temperature, and nothing was able to stop these mosquitos after dark.
But never-the-less, it was experiences like these that made me fall in love with Australia and the wonderful people here. Everyone is looking out for each other, which was in such a stark contrast to some experiences I had back in Switzerland. I felt more and more at home in this country, and would say that I took to the Outback like a fish to water!
Three days later, on the 30. December, one of the big trucks decided to attempt crossing the river and thought the water had receded enough to allow him to pass... I couldn't even see a shadow of the bridge through the water yet, and no posts or railing had emerged from the flood yet. How do we know that the bridge didn't get washed away or is damaged...? It was quite a sight, to see this truck plow into the water and somehow 'find' the bridge. No doubt, this driver would have crossed the river hundreds of times and obviously knew what he was doing. But the fast flowing current rose higher and higher on the side of the truck and eventually pushed it off track – the right front wheel went over the edge and the truck leaned dangerously deep into the water. Others were quick to respond and pulled this truck back out of danger with the help of their own vehicles. Well, that was interesting..., but unfortunately unsuccessful. The wait will have to continue.
Late that night, word got around, through radio contact with other truckers, that a big road train with three empty decks is on its way and is going to cross tomorrow morning... The driver offered everyone in a small enough vehicle to meet him at the Avon Downs loading ramp at dawn and hitch a ride across on his trailers. What a decision to make. It was only a few hours earlier that I saw such an attempt go horribly wrong, and there was still no sign of any bridge at all. On the other hand, I was getting awfully tired of my losing battle with the swarms of mosquitos here. There were a few of us in small enough cars for loading, and they convinced me to give it a go as well. And why not, I am on an adventure here, so let's be adventurous!

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