Report from the road - Community First aid truck to Timor.
What a saga. I am writing to you from Adelaide having hitched several rides
back from the Northern Territory. The truck is parked outside a truck stop
at Kulgera, some 400 kilometres south of Alice Springs. At some point there
will be news that the road is open again and I will pick up where I left off.
I left Canberra on Sunday February 6 and drove the truck loaded with aid to
Bairnsdale in Victoria where the students of the Bairnsdale Secondary
School had collected educational materials for the Community First truck.
That was a real buzz. I got to stay with two very inspirational teachers,
Virginia King and Bob Carter and took the truck to the school where the
young people loaded their collection and I talked to the year sevens about
Timor. On to Melbourne in the heat, picking up a Timorese man and further
supplies. The Timorese comrade had not been home since he was eight, his
father having been killed in the civil war leading up to the Indonesian
invasion. Since then he and his brothers and sisters had lived in Lisbon
and then Melbourne. Finding the way out of Melbourne to the Great Western
Highway was a nightmare, heat traffic, a gear selector determined to rebel
and the truck running rough.
Worse to come. Half way to Adelaide on Monday the exhaust noise increased
dramatically. My friend and I resorted to stuffing our ears with pieces of
paper and pushed on. We came down the Adelaide Hills at 2.30 in the morning
and the whole city must have heard us. Broke and broken I contacted some
old friends, being an old South Australian myself. My friends responded
magnificently and soon we had the truck fitted with a set of exhaust
extractors and had sufficient money for fuel to get us on our way. We had
lost nearly 2 days out of a very tight schedule. The plan was that we had
to be in Darwin by the 11th or 12th at the latest for loading onto HMAS
Jervis Bay and then on to Dili.
Just south of the Northern Territory border the truck was running rough
again and this time the problem turned out to be contaminated fuel. Fuel
lines cleaned at Marla Bore we continued on through ever-heavier rain to
Kulgera just over the border with the NT. And that's where we stopped,
roads flooded in front and behind. There were heaps of heavy vehicles
stranded and lots of tourist coaches. All available accommodation occupied.
My travelling companion slept on top of the load in the truck on a thin
mattress on a perilous angle and I settled for the front verandah of the
police station. Hope of meeting the ship was rapidly waning. I got a lift
up to the next town, Erldunda to have a look at the road, which had
reportedly been badly damaged by the waters. Sure enough, the left- hand
side of the road had lost all support and concealed a freshly dug cave
several metres deep and wide.
We had no hope of getting to Darwin on time. Reluctantly my companion
decided to leave the truck and catch a Greyhound bus back to Adelaide. From
there he would fly to Darwin to meet the boat deadline. I would stay and
wait for the road to open. I was determined to sit it out even if it took a
week, however, when I heard the police telling some truckies the road may
be closed for up to 3 weeks my resolution dissolved in the pouring rain.
Hence back to Adelaide to wait in relative comfort
It is now Friday and nearly 2 weeks after the Community First truck left
Canberra for Darwin. How long will the wait be? I can't answer that but I
am anxious to get back on the road. No doubt there will be further
difficulties to be circumvented before the aid reaches its destination. 400
Kilometres to Alice Springs and then a further 1,000 to Darwin in Monsoon
season. I will keep in touch.
Regards,
Peter O'Dea,
Convenor
Community First.
Friday February 18 2000
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