When fate strikes and puts you in trouble.

10th-13th May 2019

As fate would have it, we drove last night in the dark, even though we didn't drive to the sand dunes anymore. We just wanted to reach the free campsite, we didn't want to just stand on the roadside.

So, a kangaroo jumped in front of the van from the opposite lane. A loud crash and it bounced to the side. According to the others in the van, it twitched afterwards. We couldn't brake hard because the car behind us was tailgating, otherwise we would have braked harder. Rest in peace, dear kangaroo!

We wanted to leave early in the morning as usual. We drove a few meters on the campsite until one of the girls noticed that there was some part on the ground where we were standing earlier. We stopped and checked. Something had crashed from the engine onto the ground. Probably because of the accident. But we drove 70 km after the accident, didn't we?!

Very strange. Anyway, we lost oil. We asked other travelers on the site for help. Not very successful. And the cell signal was hardly there. And now what? Just stay calm. A man said it was probably part of the radiator. We could drive towards the nearest town without it and they should fix it there. Idea put into action. We drove 500 m to the road at least. Then the van didn't accelerate anymore. Great!

A Frenchman took two of us towards the town where there was cell network. They came back after a while. We were supposed to be towed. We waited and waited. You're in a foreign country somewhere in the middle of nowhere without cell signal, where hardly anyone passes by. That idea was weird. At least we still had supplies and we weren't lacking that.

Eventually, the tow truck reached us. It only had two seats, so I and one of the girls went first. As a cautious person, I had previously removed the key from the van's lock so that no one could tamper with it. Now I had ended up in the next town and the tow truck went back to the van. Now I felt really bad too. Janina had already felt guilty before that the accident happened because of her. But she didn't convince the kangaroo to jump on the road.

Eventually, they did find the van. So apparently it worked without the key. Somehow. The van was unlocked and with the older model, the gears could also be engaged without the key and the wheels were straight. At least some luck in misfortune. He pulled out the marker post on the roadside and then lifted the van up that way.

But now we had ended up in Ravensthorpe, a small town in the middle of nowhere. Repairing wasn't possible right away, so we were supposed to camp on the workshop grounds. At least there was a supermarket. Although very expensive. We explored the whole town in the following days. But there was definitely not much to see. We contacted all the mechanics in the area, none could repair it at such short notice and on the weekend. We were trapped.

So the three girls decided to take the bus to Esperance in the south on Sunday. I just wanted to go back to Perth. Enough adventures. And after all, it's uncertain when it will actually be repaired and we can go back. Our trip was only supposed to last 5-6 days. I then took the bus back to Perth on Monday. Now I wanted to focus on job hunting. I had been in this city for weeks already and nothing worked, I was just living my life. Now back to the serious life with work obligations, that was the goal!

The end of the story was that on Wednesday, the girls from Esperance went back to Ravensthorpe to personally check if someone could repair it. The van was no longer there. They went to another workshop where they found the van. They talked to the mechanic and he actually looked at it. He took his time for the two of them. He said he might be able to repair it so that it can be driven at least.

Within 10!!! minutes, the van was running again. Why did we get stranded in this town for so long if the problem could have been solved in such a short time? We couldn't understand the world anymore. Just because no one took a proper look at it for a moment. Such a hassle! In any case, they then drove back to Perth with it, where the rental company professionally repaired it, since the mechanic made the van drivable again.