Flooded the car on our first day in Oz! 30th Mar

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  Cape Tribulation, Australia
Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Wow, what a day today has been! We've been up since 03:30 and already we've flown from Auckland to Brisbane, then Brisbane to Cairns, hired a car and managed to flood an almost brand new Toyota! So the plan was to hire a car or camper van to do the East Coast run down to Brisbane. After much debate, we decided that a car would be more practical and faster and seeing as we had our own tent, the only extra hassle would be pitching the tent up everytime. Excitedly, we set off on the Captain Cook highway, the world our oyster! Without a set agenda or any accommodation booked, we could go wherever we wanted. We decided to check out Port Douglas and the northern area before heading down to Brisbane. The guy who worked at the car hire place recommended a good campsite at Noah Beach, which is up in Cape Tribulation, the rainforest region, so we thought we'd head up there first. We drove along the coast and passed through the odd town or village along the way. When we ended up in Daintree Village, we realised we'd gone to fast and should have taken a turning further back. So we turned around and finally ended up on the right tracks. By this point, it was dark and raining but we kept going, driving through deserted, country lanes. We passed a few campsites but as it was only 19:00, we thought we might as well carry on. The rain became heavier and heavier and was banging loudly on the car roof. But so long as we could drive it was ok, so we thought...
The rain became so heavy and the roads were just getting wetter and wetter, that it was quite frightening. We were in the middle of nowhere, the roads were small and we only saw one or two cars an hour. In the end, we had no choice but to stop at the nearest accommodation as the roads were completely flooded and impassable. We pulled up at a campsite, which instructs you to beep your horn and wait. After several loud beeps and no sign of anyone, we knew it was a lost cause. I don't blame them for not wanting to venture out in that rain! We were tempted just to pitch there anyway but wasn't sure if we would get in trouble for trespassing, so we moved on to the next place, called Lync-Haven, which offers cabins. The road outside the haven was looking pretty flooded and we spent some time trying to work out how we could pass through the drive way. The road was full of muddy, fast flowing water and it was very difficult to distinguish where the driveway was. Eventually Mike began to cross  and the next second, SHIT!!! We were in a ditch and the water was seeping through the car! At that moment I was panic stricken. I just couldn't believe what was happening. We were trapped in a car half submerged in an overflowing ditch. As the water was fast flowing, I was concerned that one wrong move would result in us flowing down the ditch, which at that point resembled a stream. My immediate gut reaction was to open the door and get out but fortunately, common sense kicked in. My feet and legs were sitting in a pool of muddy water. Mike kept beeping the horn, in the hope that someone would hear and come and rescue us. Soon after, a man with an umbrella came walking over from the haven. After he saw what had happened, he went away and came back with a truck and his wife to help. He had difficulty in attaching a rope to the car as there were no obvious hooks so in the end he had no choice but to attach it to a wheel spoke. Once attached, he pulled us out in no time at all. I was so relieved but also shaken up from the experience. I've been in a similar situation before and so was aware of the consequences. I wasn't sure if the car would survive the flood damage. The car miraculously worked to drive us into the haven but then it stopped working and I thought the engine must be flooded. There was nothing we could do about it. It was about 21:00 so too late to call the car hire firm. We tried to empty the car of water with a bucket. The husband and wife gave us a room for the night and we decided that we'd just go to bed and deal with it in the morning. We are fully insured but I can't help wondering if we'll have to pay for what is likely to be thousands of pounds worth of damage! I guess we don't have too long to wait to find out...

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