Mt Isa, Queensland to Tambo, Queensland - 962 kms, 10:15 hours.
Having skipped dinner last night, I was looking forward to the breakfast that came with the room. It turned out to be cereal and a few cold boiled eggs. I managed a bit of fruit juice and tea. Last night and again this morning, I overheard people enquiring about some road problems. At checkout, I asked if there was a problem. Turned out, there was. The road to Winton was closed due to flooding. Telling them I may be back, I headed out. The sign board on the way seemed to indicate that the road was closed. An alternative route was via Richmond but that also seemed to be closed.
Just past Cloncurry, where the road split into two, the road was closed. A motley crew of truckies, grey nomads and families (with my presence rendering it motlier) were parked around the Road Closed sign. I got out for the latest goss but the news was not good.
The road to Tambo had been damaged by rain. The alternative route was via Richmond. But a train carrying sulphuric acid had derailed around Julia Creek, spilling 20,000 litres of the nasty stuff. Nobody seemed to know when the road to Tambo would open. Apart from light traffic from and to a local mine, nothing went in or out. Nothing changed over the next few hours and some gave up and turned back to Mt Isa. My Plan B was to retrace my path back via Alice Springs. I was well past the halfway mark and it sounded like an awful plan. A local chap said there was more rain expected and that Mt Isa could get cut off and we could run out of fuel and food! A grader made its way into the road - I was hoping it was to fix the road and not headed for the mine.
I decided to stick it out till 2:30 PM before I gave up. At 2:25, a pickup truck working on the road came out of the closed section. The news was that the road might... might open in a couple of hours. Half an hour later, a platoon of road trains thundered out of the hitherto closed road - and came to a screeching halt. A car was parked right in its way.
The car hurriedly got out of the way and the road trains rumbled past.
A steady stream of road trains started coming through. The road remained closed for us but half an hour later more road trains appeared from our side and made their way through towards Tambo. If they were letting trucks through, cars can't be far behind.
Soon everyone went rushing to their vehicles and the throng of cars soon untangled itself and I was heading down the newly opened road. It wasn't long before I overtook most of the cars and I was on my way. There were small patches of damaged road that seemed to have been hurriedly fixed.
There were occasional patches where the road was underwater. I gingerly inched forward to cross them. My ground clearance was minimal and anything deeper would be an insurmountable problem.
But all in all, it was pretty smooth sailing all the way to Winton although I was several hours behind schedule. I hadn't eaten for hours so I stopped for a liesurely meal.
Heading out of Winton, I found myself in the one situation that I have been assiduously avoiding all this time. Kangaroos on the side of the road! Actually Wallabies, the smaller version of kangaroos. They were everywhere. Occasionally, there was a dead one on the road itself. It was starting to get dark. By 8 PM it was completely dark and the drive became nerve wracking. My speed dropped from 100 kmph to 60 kmph. I was overtaken by several 4WDs with massive bullbars who favoured the lawn mower approach to the problem.
As for me, I would come almost to a halt every time I spotted a roo. This happened every few minutes. Sometimes, I had to swerve quickly to avoid a dead one right in my path. My support team, contacted by satphone had already alerted the motel in Tambo to arrange a very late checkin. I started considering a Plan B again. Perhaps I could pull over and sleep in my cramped car seat. Then I could wake up in the morning, head to the motel, freshen up and then get on my way.
But soon I was overtaken by a small red car with no bullbars to protect it but with a very cluey driver. He/she just drove on the middle of the road - there was no traffic in the opposite direction. This gave us enough notice of roos on either side of the road. Whenever a roo or two were spotted, the driver would flash their hazard lights. All I had to do was blindly follow the car and keep a wary eye on roos whenever the lights were flashed. I continued following the Good Samaritan at a decent speed with much lower stress levels all the way to Longreach. After Longreach, I was on my own.
By this time, I had the modus operandi figured out. Drive as close to the middle of the road as possible. Scan the left verge and then the right verge for roos, all the time keeping an eye on the road itself for dead roos. Smartly swerve around the dead ones on the road - go over one and it may take out the front or underside of the car, immobilising it. If you spot a roo or a group of them on the side of the road, slow down and keep an eye on them till you are past. Usually they just look up or scurry away. Occasionally, they get the urge to bound on to the road. In which case, let your instinct to brake violently and curse profusely take over.
As you get close to a town, they slowly disappear. Past the town, you would be jerked out of your relaxed state of mind by the sudden appearance of a dead roo on the road or a bounding one across. Here is a video that was originally about 15 minutes long but now with the less hair raising bits sped up.
You can spot a roo or many on the side of the road. Occasionally, they bound across the road. I tried honking at them but that rarely worked. I made no contact except for this one sickening moment which is not on the video. A roo bounded in front of me too late for me to stop. I hit it with a thud and it flew across and over the car. I continued in the darkness hoping that the car does not grind to a halt. Crashing into a roo, besides taking it out, can seriously damage your car leaving you stranded in the middle of nowhere all night till your car gets towed god knows where to be fixed god knows when. Or it could crash through the windshield and you could visit the Pearly Gates together. I will never look at a roo the same way again. They are not roos - they are 50 kg rocks thrown at your car at 50 kmph.
I finally reached the tiny town of Tambo at 2:45 AM. Tambo is the smallest of the towns I stayed in and the motel was clean but modest. No shampoo in the room, no internet connection, no mobile coverage but the rugged outdoorsman that I had become, I took this in my stride. I went straight to bed. My schedule is in tatters but I have only two more legs to travel. Tomorrow is another day. It is the day I wake up in the morning to see the rego plate on my car bent in two places and a deep dent on the bonnet to assure me that last night was not a dream.
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