Monday 18 May 2015

Travel Fails


Over at 'I must confess' with Kirsty, it is all about travel fails. Oh boy do I have a few of them.

Ah, there was that time I went to visit Mr Sparky only to have to turn around and go back home to The Station. I did blog about that one, way back when in 2012.

There was also that time, way back before I was blogging, on the first station I worked on when I managed to get a flat tyre on the trip to town and one on the way back again. That meant for a bit of rushing on Saturday morning to find another tyre before good old Longreach shut down at midday for the rest of the weekend and lead to me ordering tyres on the mail so I always had two spares. I can certainly prove I can change a tyre or two. Why is it that helpful people always come along when you are already screwing the nuts back on?

There was that time Mr Sparky and I decided to go on an overnight camping trip in 2013 to Mount Mulligan and the car decided to not co-operate very well, meaning the overnighter part was off. That one is also a previous blog post.

Oh, I forgot that time when I went to a friend's wedding and then got rained out of The Station in 2012 which resulted in much stressing and then reorganising of flights to get back down south. I only found out I couldn't get back to work when I arrived at Townsville Airport ready for the return drive wet. That bit of a pickle is also a blog post of its own.

Just to finish off I'll take you back to the 26th of November 2010 when my trip off  The Station for the Christmas holidays was a little more eventful that intended. I kind of got stuck after following the advise of sticking to the wheel tracks already there. That set of tracks wasn't a good pick but luckily another lady came along and dropped me a a station a bit further down the road and I was able to call up The Station on the UHF and let them know where I was. They were coming behind me but were a fair distance away. Boss R pulled me out of this mess and we both headed on our ways for the holidays.


Then just to top it off on returning to the station, January 2011, I had some more issues involving wet roads and flooded creeks. That was when a fair amount of QLD ended up flooding at some stage or another and my road choices for the return trip were limited, with many closed heading north. When I got closer to The Station my first choice of turn off meant coming back to the highway and heading for the second choice. It was going fine.






Well, that was until it wasn't any more.

This is from my personal facebook, posted on the 29th of January 2011.

'here is the lovely "creek" I sat beside for a few hrs on the way back ... hmmm not my most intelligent moment .... apparently you can't use the shortcut anymore, I just didn't want to turn around and go back ... I have come to the conclusion that when the thought crosses my mind that it might not be a good idea ... it REALLY isn't. At least I wasn't like the person who was bogged there before me, they went back for a second go this week ... same result!'

 
Further up the road
Sunset

My 'creek'
'The bosses came to my rescue ... they smartly deducted where I was as there where only 2 passable ways into the property and this was the only one someone had been bogged on ... Boss H scared the jeebies out of me when he woke me up with a torch and his face at the window. Oh by the way, my lovely new white recovery strap is no longer white but is did a great job!'

 

Basically, I got bogged and did it with style (if you can that is). I tried to call up the nearby stations on my UHF (new addition after the last bogged incident) but they were all away at the Australia Day cricket in a nearby town which was very inconvenient of them. I got sick of waiting so went to sleep in the back seat. Boss H and Boss R found me at about 9:30pm. They tried getting my car out but their recovery strap broke so my new one, a present, got some use. They got my car unstuck and we all headed back to The Station which was an interesting drive on its own account with darkness and all that really tall grass. I certainly slid in to the new school year with a bang. 

And that my friends was the infamous story of the day I went missing and it does the rounds of our family every now and again. It is also a good reminder of why I do call people and let them know where I am, that way they notice I am missing sooner.

Oh I am sure there are far more I could share, but maybe I forgot them or maybe I have buried them in my memory or maybe trips where underwear or pillows have been forgotten just didn't rate. By the way the underwear one isn't my story to tell but rather one of my sisters. I am sure the longer the think the more I would think of.

Have you had any spectacular travel fails? 

Linking up with:


I Must Confess
 
 
 

7 comments:

  1. I would have been terrified!! Kudos to you for having the calm head to get some great photos.

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  2. I don't think I've ever had to change a tyre. I might need to put that on my one new thing list.

    You've certainly been in some interesting binds.

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  3. You have had some adventure Anne! I'd call them adventures rather tahn fails ;)

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  4. You've definitely had some adventures! I would be completely useless in these situations, I don't even know how to change a tyre! I'm certainly not a country girl, much to my husband's disgust. He loves the country and the outback!

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  5. Wow, you've had some "adventures"! Pretty sure they're no fun at all, but at least you got some good stories out of them.

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  6. Never a dull moment! You have loads of great tales to tell your kids, and the photos to prove it!

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  7. Frustrating how the weather can play such a roll in our travel fails! Have had my fair share of sitting by the road watching the water go by...never fun

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