Our trip to Gurrumurru to visit our Yolngu family for the day turned into an adventure worthy of an episode of Man -vs- Wild. It was DeRooy's -vs- Wild! Let's start back the beginning so you get the whole picture.
We left Nhulunbuy at about 8:30am for the 3-3 1/2 drive inland to Gurrumurru. We had food and water and all the bits and pieces for Miriam, plus lots of fruit for our family. A couple of Gatorade's from IGA and we were on our way.
The first part of the track was pretty good, but about 1hr or so out there are some BIG ruts in the road from the wet. Some are marked others are a lucky dip! Apart from avoiding potholes and ruts the driving is spectacular.
The Arnhem Highway
After about 1 3/4 we reached the turnoff to Gurrumurru. The road was great, for about 5 or 6 kilometres then we hit a problem! A huge bog. After checking which side would be the best to drive on, Al put us into 4wd and we were off. Unfortunately about halfway across the drivers side tyres slipped off our track and down into the mud. This left us lopsided and sinking into the mud on the drivers side.
Al and I got out and dug out the tyres and tried to reverse out but we weren't going anywhere! We were bogged and bogged good.
The next decision was which way to go for help. We knew one direction would take us back to the track where we could wait for a car to go by. There isn 't a lot of traffic but someone would go by before dark. This would mean leaving our car behind and coming back for it the next day.
The other option was to walk ahead to Gurrumurru and get help. If they didn't have a car to pull us out at least there was a phone and we could call for help.
Allan wanted me to stay at the car with Miriam but I was stubborn and said we would walk too. We had the baby sling (thanks Benita!), water and food and surely it couldn't be that far. It was, however, at this point that we realised we had left some of our food and Miriam's bottles at home. Al thought I had put the bag in, I thought he had done it....oh well, not much we could do about it. Thankfully I am still breastfeeding a bit so Miriam just had to survive on booby-cino for the day.
So, off we went into the wild blue yonder! We walked for an hour and then rested by a stream with the nicest water you have ever seen. We wet our hats and washed our feet (we were both walking in thongs!) drank some of our water and then kept going. At almost two hours of walking, I started to slow down....we stopped again and I fed Miriam in the shade. It couldn't be that much further?
Another half hour and I was having thought of passing out and dying somewhere in Arnhem Land, never to be seen again. And then we heard it.....A plane. If we could hear a plane the airstrip couldn't be that far which meant we weren't that far away from Gurrumurru. Another half hour and we saw the tops of the houses. I nearly burst into tears. After 3 hours of walking I was well and truely stuffed!
The community had seen us approaching somehow - how silly we must have looked - and sent the quad bike out to get us. The bike took me into town and then went back for Allan and Miriam.
Needless to say our family was surprised to see us and couldn't believe how far we had walked. We rested in the shade while they sent all the boys in town to fetch shovels and the tractor. They were mounting a rescue mission.
It would have to have been one of the funniest rescue mission's I have ever seen (not that I have seen that many). First they got the massive tractor - with a shovel on the front and a box trailer at the back - organised. Togther with the quad bike we headed out. By 'we' I mean, Al, Miriam and I plus about 30 people including around 15 kids, plus 10 dogs (no joke). It was a hilarious site.
The tractor and the trailer had to make it through 4 smaller bogs and two creek crossings before getting to our car. Each time we all had to bail out of the trailer so they could negotiate their way through the mud.
Miriam and her yapas
Thank goodness in Yolngu culture everyone helps with the children so I had many yapas (sisters) to help me with Miriam. They could tell I was exhausted from walking and took any chance they could to look after her for me.
Once we got to the car (about 1 1/2 hours in the tractor), it took about half hour to dig enough under the car so thetractor could even get attached.
The crew helping to dig
The tractor pulling us outAs soon as they completed their rescue mission the team headed home as it was getting dark and the tractor didn't have lights on it. We handed over almost all the food in our car to our hungry helpers and they waved us off.
We got about 100 mtrs down the road when our other rescuers (Thanks Ben & Em!) turned up in their landcruiser from town. Al had called them when we arrived at Gurrumurru and they insisted on coming out to help. Ben was disappointed he missed the actual rescue but they were happy to see we were alright. They had brought supplies (food, ice coffee, solo) which we scoffed down quickly!
Another couple of kms down the track, Al noticed the temp on our car was up high. We decided to stop at the river crossing to check it out. What was bad day just got worse. There was a leak somewhere in our engine.... maybe the radiator, maybe not. The boys decided that Ben would tow us so they set about attached the snatch straps as tow ropes and off we went. About 10kms down the Arnhem Highway the strap was looking mighty worn so we pulled over.
We then decided we were going to have to drive, stop every 15 mins or so, re-fill the radiator and keep going. And so we did. at 9:30pm we rolled into town after one of the longest days of our lives.
Our wonderful friends Rob & Kim had made dinner for all of us so we headed round to their place where Kim served us roast chicken, vegies and lemon meringue pie. They also fed Miriam - she practically inhaled it! Thankful to be home but exhausted we all fell into bed about 10:30pm.
Needless to say we are waiting for a few months, well into the dry, before we attempt a trip to Gurrumurru again!
