The bitumen stopped at Maree.
We had driven our Holden Kingswood sedan, towing our camper trailer, to the only fuel outlet in town. Our friends, in their borrowed much-travelled Land Cruiser, waited behind us for their turn at the pump. We drew some comfort from travelling in company with a four-wheel drive vehicle as we wondered how well our car and trailer would handle what lay ahead. North from here were hundreds of kilometres of unforgiving gravel, sand and gibber—next petrol stop Birdsville.
Soon after, two couples and six kids, we with our four, they with two of theirs, sat on the curb sharing sandwiches on the main street of Maree. A third vehicle was travelling with us, a tiny Suzuki four-wheel drive. We didn’t really know its driver Ray, but he had arranged through a mutual connection to join and travel with our mini-convoy as far as Birdsville. Safety in numbers. Now he had a fuel issue: the Holden and Toyota used leaded petrol, which was available in Maree, but his car used unleaded, which wasn’t. A tanker was due in an hour; he would wait until it came, refuel and join us at our planned campsite on Cooper Creek.
Dividing the party seemed a bad idea but after conferring over maps, we were reassured. Somewhat. Our elder son, aged 10, wanted to travel with Ray; it would be fun in the little Suzuki and Ray would welcome the company, plus it would allow a little more room in our car with just five passengers. It was agreed.
We and our friends set out onto the rugged track. By late afternoon after changing a shredded tyre on our camper trailer, we reached our intended campsite beside a muddy pool on the ephemeral Cooper Creek.
We set up camp and awaited the arrival of Ray and our son.
Burnside Writers Group 