4WD: Safety in numbers
I've long been an advocate of four-wheel-drive clubs - sharing good times, knowledge and experience with like-minded people and, perhaps most importantly, the safety of travelling with others should something go wrong.
On my recent travels we came across two young Canadian lads stranded some 50km from the nearest town in 45C heat, with no shade other than the roof of their incapacitated 1989 Ford Falcon and with half a carton and three packets of crisps to sustain them. With no means of communication, you can imagine the looks of relief on their faces when my wife and I happened to venture down the same track with a satellite phone to call for a mechanic.
We found two young English girls in the exact same predicament only a few weeks later, even further off the beaten track. The girls had had the forethought to pack extra water and food but with no communications and warmer temperatures predicted, things might have turned nasty. Again, the sat phone proved its worth with a call to a station owner they knew some 100km away to get them picked up and safely returned home.
The next couple we encountered had run out of fuel on the Tanami Track.
Recently, Gordon Cole from the Toyota LandCruiser Club shared with me a heartfelt thankyou letter sent to the club from some very fortunate travellers they met on an expedition to the Simpson Desert.
Despite being experienced travellers and having a well-set-up vehicle, their automatic 4x4 became stranded with a dead starter motor and they were running out of supplies. After providing some moral support to ease tensions, the bush mechanic of the club validated the vehicle's ailment. With even sat-phone connectivity dubious, contact was eventually made with Birdsville and arrangements made to source a new starter motor from Melbourne.
The club pooled its resources to ensure the safety and comfort of the stranded couple. Their vehicle was towed to a shaded position, water tanks were replenished and vehicles' batteries recharged to keep the fridge running for the donated fresh food.
Comfortable that the stranded travellers were safe with a good supply of water and food, the club pressed on, to be reunited three days later when their new-found friends arrived in Birdsville with their 4WD on the back of the desert rescue vehicle.
The cost of the transport over 170km of sand dunes was $7000.
The happy ending could have seen a very different outcome if not for the generosity of the TLCC members. Even the most experienced four-wheel-drivers and best-kept vehicles can and do have problems from time to time.
Being involved in a club provides the peace of mind that comes with travelling in a group for your own safety and that of your family.
