Moneybox
Philip & Sandra Box
Im new in town and on day two I see a guy sitting outside the service station with his blanket, coffee and smokes. After a chat I find out that hes a prosecutor bogged in the bush 12km out. It rained the night before and there was more rain on the way so I decided it would be nice to help out - and who knows? I might get a tip to some good prospecting spot.
I went into the service station/post office/store and selected a pack of casserole dishes so that Sandra could cook me dinner. The previous property owners had left food in the house but taken the saucepans. Anyway, I forgot my wallet, havent needed it for weeks. I got the guy, Jimmy into the ute, went home and told Mrs M that I was off bush to pull this guy out of the bog and I would get the casserole dishes on the way back.
We took the trailer off and swapped to the Isuzu. 19km down the road he pointed right and said Its over that way. There was no track so we bush bashed our way until we got to the edge of the first lake. His vehicle was stuck in the edge of the lake somewhere but we couldnt see it. After skirting lake after lake for 4 km I made the mistake of trying to cross a narrow patch to get to the other side of a bigger one.
When I got bogged I called Mrs M to get our new neighbours who offered their help yesterday with anything to come with their LandCruiser. I gave her the coordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds. I said to my passenger, who was sure that his ute was just over the other side, to take off on foot and locate his vehicle. That was at 12:50pm. My neighbor called on the CB to say he was at the coordinates but I was nowhere to be seen. I was only using a hand held CB so he couldnt hear me respond. He must have his GPS set on the wrong format so ended up miles away.
By then I had the bus jacked up enough to snatch free but nothing to pull it with. I cut a lot of low shrubs and lined my path and drove it back out. Then the neighbor called on the phone and I told him I was ok and I would see him back home. My passenger was still missing and by the time Id made a cup of tea three hours had passed.
I decided to report it to the police. It took ages for the responders to locate me on their computer using coordinates but eventually they asked me to wait there for a call from the cops. When I got the call the cop said What do you want us to do? I said perhaps they could launch a drone from my location and possibly find him or his vehicle. He said they didnt have a drone so there was nothing they could do at this stage. I was going to leave my passengers blanket and coffee cup on a stake at the bog site but the cop said to take it with me so I headed home.
On my way out Mrs M called to say that the power had gone off. I just sent a text to say that I would start the generator when I got home. I forgot the casserole dishes so after getting the generator going on the fridge I went back in the Hilux. I stood there with the bowser in the tank waiting for it to start before I saw the sign on the door closed - no power. I drove back home thinking that without power she couldnt cook dinner anyway
Jimmy is still out there somewhere. The locals advised me that he often disappears for weeks at a time and he'll turn up like a bad penny one day when he needs something.
I went into the service station/post office/store and selected a pack of casserole dishes so that Sandra could cook me dinner. The previous property owners had left food in the house but taken the saucepans. Anyway, I forgot my wallet, havent needed it for weeks. I got the guy, Jimmy into the ute, went home and told Mrs M that I was off bush to pull this guy out of the bog and I would get the casserole dishes on the way back.
We took the trailer off and swapped to the Isuzu. 19km down the road he pointed right and said Its over that way. There was no track so we bush bashed our way until we got to the edge of the first lake. His vehicle was stuck in the edge of the lake somewhere but we couldnt see it. After skirting lake after lake for 4 km I made the mistake of trying to cross a narrow patch to get to the other side of a bigger one.
When I got bogged I called Mrs M to get our new neighbours who offered their help yesterday with anything to come with their LandCruiser. I gave her the coordinates in degrees, minutes and seconds. I said to my passenger, who was sure that his ute was just over the other side, to take off on foot and locate his vehicle. That was at 12:50pm. My neighbor called on the CB to say he was at the coordinates but I was nowhere to be seen. I was only using a hand held CB so he couldnt hear me respond. He must have his GPS set on the wrong format so ended up miles away.
By then I had the bus jacked up enough to snatch free but nothing to pull it with. I cut a lot of low shrubs and lined my path and drove it back out. Then the neighbor called on the phone and I told him I was ok and I would see him back home. My passenger was still missing and by the time Id made a cup of tea three hours had passed.
I decided to report it to the police. It took ages for the responders to locate me on their computer using coordinates but eventually they asked me to wait there for a call from the cops. When I got the call the cop said What do you want us to do? I said perhaps they could launch a drone from my location and possibly find him or his vehicle. He said they didnt have a drone so there was nothing they could do at this stage. I was going to leave my passengers blanket and coffee cup on a stake at the bog site but the cop said to take it with me so I headed home.
On my way out Mrs M called to say that the power had gone off. I just sent a text to say that I would start the generator when I got home. I forgot the casserole dishes so after getting the generator going on the fridge I went back in the Hilux. I stood there with the bowser in the tank waiting for it to start before I saw the sign on the door closed - no power. I drove back home thinking that without power she couldnt cook dinner anyway
Jimmy is still out there somewhere. The locals advised me that he often disappears for weeks at a time and he'll turn up like a bad penny one day when he needs something
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