MONTHLY CHALLENGE|ROAD TRIPS

The Road Trip That Almost Never Was

Girls just wanna have fun

Stacey, my eldest daughter, had the use of her friend’s van for a few days so decided a trip to Carnarvon Gorge would be a perfect break away from the city. She thought it might be fun if Keeley, my youngest daughter, and I joined her for a girls’ trip.

Keeley and I were to drive my car across to Stacey’s house on the other side of the city, and load up the borrowed van with the camping gear and head off from there. Our planned trip was 739km and would take 8 hours 52 minutes according to google maps.

My car was packed tightly with the camping gear, food, wine and other essentials and off we went. Keeley wanted to drive so I settled back in the passenger seat for about 250 metres when suddenly a car pulled out in front of us. I could not believe it. Keeley hit the brakes but not hard enough or fast enough to avoid a collision. We had a green light. Why did this woman pull out right in front of us? Did she have a death wish? She was lucky I wasn’t driving. My reflexes are not as fast as they used to be. She thought she had a green arrow! (There are no arrows at all at this intersection.) Note: This didn’t count as my sixth car accident as I wasn’t driving! 😜

No one was hurt. There was a tow truck there in seconds — he was actually travelling behind us — so he moved my car off the road and into the shopping centre carpark. I contacted my insurer who okayed the tow operator to tow my car to their nominated car repairer and we could be on our merry way — theoretically.

But we had a car full of camping gear! Fortunately, Carl, Keeley’s husband was home so he came straight down and we transferred all of the gear to his ute. By this stage, there was a crowd gathering to have a sticky. ( stickybeak = look) And the most embarrassing thing for all the world to see was my large pack of Depends (adult diapers) just sitting on top of the gear. I had never used them before but I wasn’t taking any chances on this camping trip.

Back home

What to do? We called Stacey, drove the 250 metres back home, unpacked his car and waited for Stacey to bring the van to us. We smelt her coming! When she pulled into the driveway, flames and smoke were pouring from the tyres. The smell was awful! OMG! What’s wrong with the van? She had driven all the way across town with the handbrake on — well, not completely on obviously, but enough to have the brake pads burn.

I wasn’t going to drive anywhere with no brakes, so I suggested she stay the night, I’ll take it to my mechanic first thing in the morning to see if the van is safe to drive hundreds of kilometres of country roads. Yes, it should be okay. Not very reassuring but anyway we were off, a day later than planned.

A different route

We decided rather than drive through the city and out west through Toowoomba, we’d head north to Caboolture and then west. We were still hoping to make it to Carnarvon by dark. What were we thinking? It was July — our winter and just past the shortest day of our year.

We drove and drove and drove — Stacey and I shared driving, swapping every couple of hours. Keeley sat in the middle seat between us. Neither Stacey nor I could fit in that seat!

Overnighting in Injune

Just on dark, we reached Injune. For those unfamiliar with Australian country roads, it’s unsafe to drive at night. Not because of tigers, or lions or bears…but kangaroos! They don’t know road safety and will jump straight out in front of you, killing themselves and possibly you in the process. Your car won’t escape injury either.

“Located 89 kilometres north of Roma, and only 153 kilometres from Carnarvon Gorge, Injune is a small country town full of character, history, spectacular views and breathtaking natural landscapes. It is the perfect place to plan and prepare for your idyllic visit to Carnarvon Gorge National Park, renowned for towering white cliffs, huge rock overhangs adorned with ochre stencils and engravings from an ancient and ongoing culture.” — www.outbackqueensland.com.au

We had the choice of staying at the Injune Hotel, pictured above, for $120 for the night or a cabin in the Injune Caravan Park for $135. I chose the caravan park — the cabin was quite spacious and had a kitchenette as well as a separate bathroom. Also, the pub had a big bird — a macaw maybe — flying free around the bar — I don’t like birds inside, and Keeley would definitely freak out if she saw it.

After a quick breakfast, we headed out to explore the Injune Lagoon Walk before the drive to Carnarvon Gorge. This peaceful lagoon walk is only a stone’s throw from the centre of town. It was beautiful in the early morning — a good start to the day.

The next couple of hours flew by. We were quite excited when we saw the first signs of the Gorge but we still had a fair way to go to get into the camping area.

Carnarvon at last!

We had lost two nights of our planned 5-night stay so we were going to make the most of the time we had left. We set up camp and went on the first recommended walk along the creek. It was winter but a very pleasant temperature. I think maybe because we were down in the gorge and protected from the cold westerly winds.

After the creekside hike, I decided I’d stay and “mind the campsite” which was just as well as they arrived back just on dark after more than 20 kilometres hiking through the gorge visiting the various sites along the way. I would never have been able to last the distance. I walked to the visitor’s centre and took photos of what I had missed out on.

The girls arrived back at our campsite completely knackered and we spent the next day just chilling. I read and dozed in the hammock, while the girls explored closer to home and took more photos. We finished off the last of the wine and food. We were up early the next day to tackle the long road trip home.

It may have taken us three days to get here, but only one day to drive home.

You may have missed this road trip I took with my eldest son.