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| OUR BIG TRIP MARY & OLI GOING AROUND AUSTRALIA |
WEST COAST - Page 9
16 September 2007, Sunday
Today we had an easy drive from Carnarvon to Denham which was only a little more than 300 km's. Leaving Carnarvon was
easy, however we had a nice breaky and left around 9.30 am. On the UHF radio, we heard some comments about Caravans
and cars being in the road and just thought that this was the talk of the truckies not being able to overtake them. Suddenly,
after a corner, we saw what they meant. A car lost control of the caravan and rolled it. Normally a ball coupling means that the
car also rolls and the outcome is not very good. However, this time, the occupants of the Mitsubishi were lucky and the
mount of the coupling including the bar ripped and bend like I have not seen before. The caravan was on its roof and the car
about one meter in the air at the rear - Thanks God - nothing happened to the couple in the car. Some cars and caravan's had
already stopped and pointed towards my car or better my Hi-Lift Jack when we were driving slowly passed them. Therefore
we stopped and thought they might need additional help. The caravan was destroyed the driver was still shaken from the
accident and the husband was already inside the caravan trying to get some stuff out of it which was not yet destroyed. The
people standing around asked me to take my Hi-Lift Jack out and trying to lower the car and disconnect it from the caravan.
This seemed quite interesting and maybe dangerous, but I took it off the car and walked back to the accident scene when a
truck stopped and said he would take the car of it. He unhooked his trailer and used his first trailer and truck to drag the
vehicle to the side and off the road. The second attempt saw the vehicle being dragged of the road and the caravan fell
further apart which allowed the vehicle to drag down the front of the trailer and come down onto the road again. Now, we just
needed to take the ball out of the coupling and the car would be drivable again. After some brute force this was possible and
the main recovery was done. The two truck was called and would arrive in about an hour. People helped to pack up what
was coming out of the caravan and after a little while we left. The amount of people stopping and helping was quite good to
see. Thanks God that those guys were o.k. and it was only damage to the caravan and possibly the car - but nothing
happened to them except the shock from when it happened. We hope they are o.k. and that the insurance will pay up.
Arriving in Denham we settled into the caravan park and had a quick look around town including the visitor centre. The area
is quite nice, a little warmer than Exmouth and maybe not as much wind. Lots of things to see, so we booked in for four
nights and maybe even stay longer if needed. After setting up we had the first wildlife encounter with a lizard and Mary saw
another huge Goanna when going to the Toilet area. Hopefully, that will continue during the next days. Below are pictures
from the accident and the wildlife around the trailer.
16 September 2007, Sunday
Today we had an easy drive from Carnarvon to Denham which was only a little more than 300 km's. Leaving Carnarvon was
easy, however we had a nice breaky and left around 9.30 am. On the UHF radio, we heard some comments about Caravans
and cars being in the road and just thought that this was the talk of the truckies not being able to overtake them. Suddenly,
after a corner, we saw what they meant. A car lost control of the caravan and rolled it. Normally a ball coupling means that the
car also rolls and the outcome is not very good. However, this time, the occupants of the Mitsubishi were lucky and the
mount of the coupling including the bar ripped and bend like I have not seen before. The caravan was on its roof and the car
about one meter in the air at the rear - Thanks God - nothing happened to the couple in the car. Some cars and caravan's had
already stopped and pointed towards my car or better my Hi-Lift Jack when we were driving slowly passed them. Therefore
we stopped and thought they might need additional help. The caravan was destroyed the driver was still shaken from the
accident and the husband was already inside the caravan trying to get some stuff out of it which was not yet destroyed. The
people standing around asked me to take my Hi-Lift Jack out and trying to lower the car and disconnect it from the caravan.
This seemed quite interesting and maybe dangerous, but I took it off the car and walked back to the accident scene when a
truck stopped and said he would take the car of it. He unhooked his trailer and used his first trailer and truck to drag the
vehicle to the side and off the road. The second attempt saw the vehicle being dragged of the road and the caravan fell
further apart which allowed the vehicle to drag down the front of the trailer and come down onto the road again. Now, we just
needed to take the ball out of the coupling and the car would be drivable again. After some brute force this was possible and
the main recovery was done. The two truck was called and would arrive in about an hour. People helped to pack up what
was coming out of the caravan and after a little while we left. The amount of people stopping and helping was quite good to
see. Thanks God that those guys were o.k. and it was only damage to the caravan and possibly the car - but nothing
happened to them except the shock from when it happened. We hope they are o.k. and that the insurance will pay up.
Arriving in Denham we settled into the caravan park and had a quick look around town including the visitor centre. The area
is quite nice, a little warmer than Exmouth and maybe not as much wind. Lots of things to see, so we booked in for four
nights and maybe even stay longer if needed. After setting up we had the first wildlife encounter with a lizard and Mary saw
another huge Goanna when going to the Toilet area. Hopefully, that will continue during the next days. Below are pictures
from the accident and the wildlife around the trailer.
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| The car still being attached to the rolled caravan - the ball coupling deformed rather than turning the car over - lucky!!! |
| How do we get the car down to the road again? |
| Truckies are more practical - he just dragged the caravan a little trying to get the car from the road. |
| Second try and the caravan fell a little more apart and the car was able to drag it down and land back on all 4 wheels. |
| Trying to unhook the car from the caravan - the ball was wedged into the coupling and was hard to get out. |
| Car is finally disconnected and now we took the towbar off to make it drivable again. |
| The amount of people helping was incredible. David inside his caravan to try and selvage anything from the destroyed cupboards. The guitar was still o.k. - music was on tonight again. Hope they are doing well and get over it - this can be replaced and nothing happened to them, which is what counts. |
| Another Emu on the road towards Denham. We missed a few today. They are not as predictable as Roos or Cows, so lucky that none of them ran towards the car. |
| Nice fat lizard, lots of them around, saw at least two around the campsite when setting up. |
| Our set-up at Denham. |