The great Australian tradition of getting lost.

Australia is a big country with plenty of places to get lost in. We hear from someone whose narrow escape could have meant never being able to face his dad again.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
There are lots of ways to get lost in Australia.
Take a wrong exit on a lonely highway, turn down
an unsealed road to see a landmark with a funny name,
get stuck on a roundabout in Canberra. Losing our bearings
is easy in a country this large, and we all
have a story to tell. I'm Amanda Keller, and I'm
looking for directions with brain fuel great as his stories

(00:23):
from the Road fueled by Ample, Australia's own. David was
a university student in nineteen seventies Adelaide when he and
his wife decided to head out to Wilpena Pound, a
rocky tourist spot in the stunning Flinders Rangers. It seemed
straightforward enough. Get in the car, drive in a straight line.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
We set off with great enthusiasm, high plans, chance just
to relax, no stress, with the intention of being the
good old Australian tourist. The car was Dad's pride and joy,
and I'd managed to talk him into learning it to

(01:06):
me for the weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
After spending a couple of nights camping with friends, the
pair pointed Dad's beloved holden south and headed down the
coast towards Wyala. They drove through sparse countryside, traversed the
coastline of their air peninsula, and avoided a kangaroo or two.
By the time they arrived it was dusk. They wandered
around the town for ages, trying fruitlessly to find the

(01:31):
caravan park, until they finally came upon eight Mile Creek Beach.
It was completely deserted. Out of options, well, they pitched
a tent.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
It was lovely. It was Easter. When we went to
sort of bunk up for the night. The full moon
was out reflecting off the gulf, and it was absolletely beautiful.
And what we didn't realize was the nightmare that was
going to happen. After we went to bed, they.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Slept soundly, perched on their sandy mound, dreaming of a
morning coffee and fryer. But when they woke, an unexpected
sound was coming from outside.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
We pulled open the little door of the tent, expecting
to see the sand and the beach in the distance,
and I can't believe the shop when I saw water
lapping at the door of the tent. We were completely
and literally surrounded by water and were sitting on the

(02:26):
only part of roughly dry sand that existed in the
whole beach that last evening had seen so barren, so flat,
and so safe.

Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yes, with a little more research, David and his band
of Mary travelers may have learned that eight Mile Creek
Beach is notorious for flooding, probably the main reason it
was deserted.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
You'd think, I think that the locals certainly knew, and
I was a bit surprised there wasn't an amphitheater above it,
watching people getting stranded in the water in the morning.

Speaker 1 (03:00):
Still in the tradition of the Aussie road trip, they
made the best of a bad situation.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
In the minute amount of sand that was let, We
erected our barbecue, cooked ourselves some bacon and eggs, and
waited for the tide to go down.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
And Dad's treasured eh holden. It was safe. But even
in his seventies, David still wakes in a cold sweat
from time to time.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
The fear I had trying to imagine telling Dad that
his eh holden, his pride and joy, his reward for
all of his hard work, was last seen floating in
Spencer's Gulf.

Speaker 1 (03:41):
From hang on, where the heck are we to whatever
your journey. Ampole is the fuel that gets you there.
Make sure you follow our adventures for free and your
favorite podcast app. I'm Amanda Keller and this is brain fuel.