Many years ago when I worked in Paraburdoo , it was understandably the practice to leave the isolated Pilbara for all points south for Christmas.
My two friends Brian and Cheryl and I packed Brian's yellow Holden station wagon with every conceivable piece of luggage for a long summer holiday in Perth.
We jammed every little corner with bags and pillows and rugs until the Yellow Peril as it was affectionately known, was full to the brim with just enough room for Brian to see through the rear view mirror - not that that piece of vehicular equipment was that necessary on the long dirt road to civilisation.
We cheerfully set off one warm unto baking hot December day and ventured out onto the red dirt road with the daunting horizon blazing in the outbreak heat shimmering away in the distance .
We enjoyed our usual casual banter reflecting on the school year that had passed and mulling over the holiday to come.
We hadn't gone very far when the unmistakeable hiss of a flat tyre could be heard from the rear. Grudgingly Brian got out and moved the luggage to scratch around for the jack and tyre lever.
With Cheryl and I patiently watching and encouraging , the back breaking ordeal of changing a tyre on a seriously over weighted car was done - fevered brow mopped and rehydrated we were back in the road - when yet again that hisssssssssss
The other back tyre - who could believe it !?
With only one other spare, which was a luxury reserved for those who travelled the rocky , corrugated roads of the north , Brian got out once again heaving a sigh at the thought of yet another workout.
We decided that we best unload the car this time as it may relieve some of the strain - disaster averted - job done we were back on the road.
It was a far distance to bitumenised road as dirt road was the first 100 kms out of Paraburdoo.
We tentatively repacked the car and hoped that we had enjoyed the last of our misadventures when ...........
TYRE NUMBER 3!!!!!!!!!
Devastated and without any real options at hand I recall us all looking at each with an expression of undiluted consternation - what to do - no spare tyre - and no sign of life for who knows how far.........
Next thing as we are looking like three puzzled guppies the heavens opened and the rains came - we had settled in a creek bed and it was all we could do to grab any pot,pan or container and bail out the water which was rising at an ever increasing rate. As suddenly as the rain started it finished as all we could do was ponder our run of bad luck and the forces of nature combined.
Our prayers were answered when a rickety old truck appeared on the horizon like some guardian angel of the outback. The driver agreed to tow us to dry land on a nearly hillock.
Well to add insult to injury but was becoming the expected, our well meaning saviour had managed to wreck the under garriage of the car and it appeared beyond repair, at least in the middle of nowhere!!
Nothing to be done except - go for help.
No one was stopping as everyone was heading down south and keen to avoid bad weather and missing the start of the next cricket test at WACA, were not about to stop.
Brian decided to head to Nanutarra , a road house some 100 kms away and see if he could get help, leaving Cheryl and I to hold the fort.
To make a long story short, Brian couldn't get help from Nanutarra and so had to head further to the next road house.
I drove the 20 hours from Pilbara to Perth many years after wards and NEVER stopped at Nanutarra preferring to carry spare jerry cans and have a spare petrol tank!!
Cheryl and I stopped on the side of the desolate Pilbara road for 3 days , playing 'I spy' to the sights of hills in one direction and the equivalent of tumbleweed in the other !!!!
Word had spread to nearby stations of our plight and we were brought sandwiches and water which was a much appreciated gift.
Eventually Brian returned with a tow truck and we made the long harrowing trip to Perth - a trip that should take a few days took over a week.
We have experienced changes over the last 50 years like no other in history
This story for me illustrates one of the most compelling differences in society.
With no mobile phone to call for help and no other technology to speed our rescue we had to be patient , resourceful, grateful and resilient.
The mobile phone has become a constant call to action. It has helped increase a sense of urgency and busyness that has made life hectic.
I sometimes feel frustrated because I can't deal with all the demands of my technological life and am grateful that I enjoyed a time when I had to use my wits and stay calm - not to say we should all spend time meditating on an isolated road but I am certainly grateful to know that I had the experience and actually revel in the fact I am still a bit of a techno dinosaur 😀👍
#pilbaralife
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