This post written by Mick Daley of Lismore a true account of survival on the road, a band tour with a horror end.
It’s dangerous out here in the Northern Territory.
It’s dangerous out here in the Northern Territory.
The bullock materialised in the middle of the highway, sauntering brazenly through the twilight like a small elephant. I happened to glance up from my book in the middle back seat, and instantly I knew we were doomed.
The impact was one thing, a mighty explosion that shot glass and debris in deadly showers all over us, but then we were plummetting off the road and into the scrub, a wild ride that ended with another sickening crash, a final shuddering lurch, and silence. We three in the back were unharmed and sprang into action, wrenching Dave’s front passenger door open so he could drag himself out and collapse on the ground – but straightaway we could see his hip was bulging unnaturally and his right leg was pointing in about three directions at once.
But Grunter, who’d been driving, was wedged behind the compressed front end of the van – the brand new roobar having snapped like a sapling, the steering wheel was jammed into his belly.
He was wheezing with pain and shock and demanding that I pull the crumpled dashboard off him – one look told me it was hopeless, but I wrenched and pulled and tried to get him out – to no avail.
Help came swiftly, but it was four hours before an ambulance finally drove them away, back the 140 kms to Tennant Creek, where they’d be airlifted to Alice Springs.
In fact we were lucky – four people died on Territory roads that week, and where we’d crashed into the scrub we missed by a foot on either side great deadly clumps of boulders.
But it ended our 2007 National tour in about 10 seconds, and now we’re in Alice Springs figuring out how to get home. That’s the sweat of country rock and roll.
find a way