Good Samaritan
So I was driving my van alone across Australia. I was doing one of my many 1000km days to get me from Kakadu national park down to the dodgy highway 66 to Mount Isa. I was pushing hard as it was getting late and I really didn't want to stop early in Katherine I wanted to get to Mataranka. Petrol stations close at dusk, the roads are more dangerous as cattle, camels, cows and kangaroos are more active at night. I had bull bars but that will make bugger all difference if you hit a camel. The only people who drive at night are the road trains (will fuck up a camel and keep going) and the nutters.

So its gone dusk and I'm breaking my rule about driving at night but I'm nearly there, another 30 miles roughly.

Anyway, the lights start to dim and I'm thinking hmmm thats odd. So I wake out of my daze and look at the dash, the battery warning light is on. Shit the battery is dead, the alternator isn't charging it or the fan belt has gone.

Pull over and open up the engine and peer in with the last few rays of sunlight. Yup I've snapped the fanbelt driving too hard to get into town tonight.

I have a spare and some cheap tools so go get the bits and set up the warning triangle 50 yards up the road.

Its now dark, I'm alone in the same spot that those two backpackers were murdered a few years before...

Anyway, the bastard bolts won't come off of the tensioner for the belt to get the new one on. I'm cursing away when an old ute turns up and this guy gets out and asks whats up. I point to the broken fan belt by my feet and mention I'm trying to fix it.

He says there is a station over there and they probably have a UMTS phone with a signal out here (my GSM one didn't get coverage out here). So I grab my valuables (abandoned vehicles tend to get stripped if left un attended) and sit in the back of the ute with his dog and we rattle up to the station. I get to call the breakdown services on their mobile and they won't accept any payment for the call.

So back to the truck and I'm going to have some food and wait. The guy refuses to go and says he'll wait with me.

After 45 mins I'm getting nervous they are not coming as they should have been there by now.

So I decide to have a go at the bolts again with my cheap tools. We both work at them and still no sign of the breakdown truck.

Eventually brute force and some additional leverage we got the new belt on and tight enough to run the alternator. The engine starts and I'm all set. I realise I'm out of cash and all I have of value is a pack of beer in the fridge in the back of the van.

I offer Steve to come into town with me and I'll buy him dinner at the main hotel. He is working on another station and if he is late they will think something has happened to him and start looking to see if he's had an accident so he wants to press on.

I gave him my beer, a big handshake and a thank you for saving me from a night by the side of the road camped in my van and off he went.

Its this spirit, kindness and honest integrity that makes the Australian people awesome. I experienced many other examples on my travels too, but this was a big one.
( b3tz, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 18:07, 3 replies)

have you ever hit a wedge-tailed eagle?
apparently, they fill up each night on maggoty roadkill and are then too heavy to take off quickly. in the morning, when cars start coming down the roads again, the eagles smash into the windscreens, covering the drivers in glass, bird guts, roadkill and maggots :(
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Sat 4 Oct 2008, 19:31, closed)

Shame
I saw a lot of dead eagles by the side of the road / middle cos of just this. They put up signs saying please pick up your roadkill and put it at the side of the road so you don't kill the eagles.

Sad but true...

I saw wild camels but didn't hit one thank god. I also invested in a $10 thing you stick to your bumper that creates a ultra high frequency whistle as you drive and scares the animals. It saved me from killing a few emus, wallabies and other wildlife on my roaminground a few dirt tracks in national parks.
( b3tz, Sun 5 Oct 2008, 2:06, closed)

i bet
there aren't that many people willing to stop the car and drag a freshly-squished roo off the road.
i wouldn't like to run into a cassowary, i've heard they're vicious buggers!
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 6 Oct 2008, 2:40, closed)