Revheads to the rescue

The Canberra Times

On a lonely country road at night, a Canberra family and their dog were stranded after their car hit a kangaroo. Lots of cars didn't stop. But then two Canberra revheads came along and showed some wonderful kindness

Transcript

00:00So it's Friday night and our kids are both in ski school up at Perisher on development squad on

00:07Sundays and so we're all tired it was you know after work and we packed the car and the dog

00:13and everything we needed for the weekend and off we went and then yeah we're traveling along just

00:17past Coomber at about nine o'clock and then yeah bang out of nowhere I didn't even see the kangaroo

00:23until we had already hit it he was driving and he did the right thing didn't swerve or anything but

00:29we suddenly collected it and looked like it had taken half the front of the car off um so yeah so

00:35then once the initial shock subsided we're like oh what do we do now stuck in the middle of nowhere

00:40with uh literally no lights just us for a dog we're all okay the dog's okay um looked for the

00:48kangaroo um but then yeah lots of cars did whiz past um the first one behind us stopped and just

00:54but they didn't really know what to do and we were still in shock but then probably about a

00:59how late was it when you guys found us it was a fair bit after 11 you know 10 10 10 30 we'd been

01:06out there for a while trying to work out we had no idea if our car was still drivable yeah we're

01:10just sitting there water or something leaking out of the front of it uh this looks like beyond our

01:16mechanical skills to decide what to do what does one do when someone hits a kangaroo

01:22rang the rnrma and just said hey do we need a tow can you help us yeah and i said no we don't do

01:29that we're roadside assistance you're on the road and you need assistance but it's a crash

01:35that's an insurance thing go away go talk to your insurance company yeah so then we did that we rang

01:40them and they lodged a claim immediately which is lovely they booked the assessment for the car to

01:45get looked at in a fortnight's time and said they were sending a tow truck they said get a

01:52tow truck for us um and in the meantime while we're waiting for a tow truck two lovely lads

01:58stopped by we're very concerned and the best bit was they said get a taxi or an uber and

02:04between cumber and berrydale with a dog and two kids uh to get ourselves home so they were trying

02:10to be helpful but it wasn't really going to happen so we're all just sitting there going

02:14we might be sleeping in the car and then yes cue the heroes and what made you guys stop um it's

02:24me it was living out on back roads it was it's just fairly second nature to stop when you see

02:31somebody and there was a good debris field behind behind the car so you see in the lights you can

02:37see this stuffing around which means which means it's fresh i could see quite a few faces in the

02:41car so oh i'll stop and have a look see what's going on so where are you where have you guys been

02:46so we're just on a late friday night run off to work from here canberra down to my dad's place

02:52near the victorian builder we picked up a race car we're bringing it back to work on it and um

02:59yeah so yeah we were traveling in two vehicles at the time uh the transit and the uh and the

03:06and they were towing a rally car and yeah we were towing the race car at the time as well

03:11and yeah just pulled over to help see what was going on and then yeah this happened these two

03:17big uh like spotlights come out of nowhere we like we can't see them we just see these spotlights and

03:22they went past and then they came back and they're like oh good day and this one got all excited

03:27about all the the mess and got his cable tires out and it's like oh we should be able to you

03:33know jimmy this together enough and and they did because no no tow ended up coming so my husband

03:40the front end of the car was hanging off um with uh very little still holding it back together

03:45and then pulling out all the bits that were just loosely flying or um sitting in the engine bay

03:50and then just cable tied a whole bunch of it back together

03:55yeah made sure it was actually safe to drive so there's no um what transmission oil or any

04:00sort of oils leaking out so it was if if it was to be driven that it would have been safe

04:04to drive even though it was missing a headlight um but yeah being that being a bmw and there being

04:10so many electronic things as soon as you have some electronic faults that would have been

04:14a bit of a hassle to drive but it was quite apparent that since no tow truck arrived

04:21that it uh because we were there for a while doing all of this oh and then these guys had

04:26to help us take apart everything in our car because they're like oh well the kids still

04:29need to ski on sunday don't they so at this stage we thought the tow truck was coming and

04:33they said we'll only take one person one person so we decided i need to stay with the car and

04:38these guys offered since they were going back to canberra to unload our whole whole car that's got

04:43all of our stuff the whole lot two kids all the loads you needed for a whole weekend

04:52yeah coffin coffin sized roof box on the uh on the roof and you're unloading that

05:00yeah so so you you guys were the ideal guys really to stop like you hadn't got a better

05:07guy to restructure everything in this van to fit all that stuff in the back and me and the

05:12dog in the front with making herself very friendly um and then yeah my two girls like

05:19they just met brock um yeah they're only 12 and 14 and so he totally rejigs his whole car to make

05:25sure that they're safe in the back seat and so yeah and then they were like on the radio all

05:29the way back together making sure that we're all okay and we did stop for some um some energy drink

05:34at one point we all needed it and ice cream what time did you get home um and after after we dropped

05:42everyone off um i walked in my front door at 2 30 in the morning it was a very very late night

05:47it was going to be later if i uh ended up having a ride home um but um yeah got lucky that it was

05:53starting to rain when we got back and it poured down as soon as we left um where the bmw was

05:58actually poured down but yeah then we got a bit of rain back in canberra and yeah got home at about

06:032 30 in the morning yeah so it wasn't an easy ride easy drive for these guys coming back either

06:08and how do you how do you feel about them your knights in shining armor

06:13yeah we got a little celebration inside we have a few snacks and stuff so

06:18no they're welcome anytime

06:21saved by two nicer lads or two more capable because we didn't just get you know people

06:27with enough space to take all that crap and get it back home for us but they gave the car a full

06:32mechanical inspection so i sat there waiting for the tow and when i realized an hour or two later

06:36that they weren't coming we were talking to these guys in the car and you said it's probably all

06:41and the fluids that were leaking out of it it checked went no it's not the transmission fluid

06:46or radiator fluid you should be all right so i did just crank over the engine warning lights

06:52came up because it's a beamer it's like i wanted to let you know that my wiper fluid was low oh

06:57well that's a big thing i found the washer jet for the headlight just couldn't find the rest

07:08i found my headlight my right the headlights weren't working according to the electronics

07:13good that it picked that up the engine so you made it home so yeah this cranked her up

07:19it's the things you don't think yeah it drove very well and none of the bits fell off the car

07:25because they'd be nicely cable tied together so and then your post went viral and then you guys

07:30are sort of famous now yeah so like i had the thought just to take a quick photo with him and

07:35one of their details so he gave me his business card and i thought oh i just want to thank them

07:40because i was just so grateful the next day that i was just sitting there i'm like i'm just going

07:43to write this as a little you know personal event on my pages and i thought you know what they've

07:48done such a lovely job i'm going to put it up as a positive story because you see so many negative

07:52stories um everywhere on these notice boards and all and i thought like you know what's the chance

07:57that to i mean i don't know exactly how old you guys are 20 year old guys who are out with their

08:01rally car on a friday night are going to stop and help a family of four and their dog

08:06and get us home like i just went nah they deserve a big thanks but i don't think any of us expected

08:11it to go quite as viral as it did and the girls found all their teachers had read it at school

08:19i had a lot of uh the higher-ups at work personally come down to the workshop and

08:23actually thanked me for what i've done and it was definitely just a massive surprise

08:28throughout the whole following days of seeing who's actually read the post

08:32and getting tagged in it without before i even knew that it was posted people

08:37some of my friends had seen it before me and it was definitely quite the experience

08:41yeah and i was like i i think i was doing work that day and so didn't um

08:48didn't check in and i think i did see it early in the morning and then it was like

08:52right past lunchtime when i checked back in anyway i probably should have like warned you

08:57i've got your consent but i was just like trying to say thank you and i didn't expect

09:01oh well you deserved it yeah

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