The End of the Road

The outback bucket list ends with a massive, deadly bang

When I left the road side overnight free camp and headed towards Katherine something felt not right. There was a sense of something ominous in the air - a feeling of impending doom.

I had just set the cruise control to 120km per hour (speed limit is 130) and out of nowhere a buffalo runs across the highway. There wasn’t even time to hit the brakes. WHAM. The vehicle air bags activated and a I guided my wounded beast to the side of the road.

Now I know what sudden death feels like. It’s looking out the windscreen and seeing a huge animal fast approaching and knowing there is no way to avoid it. A last second instinctive swerve to the right resulted in the passenger side of the truck taking most of the impact.

If only I’d woke up 5 minutes earlier, or had another cup of coffee or not forgot to take my phone out of the swag before I stowed it and taking five extra minutes to unpack it to get the phone out.h

On the other hand, I had made the decision to head onto the Canning Stock Route next week, the most remote desert road in Australia. This is normally a journey done in convoy - I was committed to making the 1850km trip solo and just added a few upgrades to my vehicle in Kununurra yesterday in preparation. I can’t help thinking that this crash was meant to prevent that trip from happening.

This is where we as a species and a civilization are headed. There is no avoiding the collision. Unlike with my collision, there will be no survivors.

Now where the fuck is that tow truck?