Cunnamulla, QLD - Australia
Two weeks ago, on Friday July 8, while driving along a winding outback dirt road between two opal mining fields in Koroit, I came across a scene I hope to never experience again. I was the first to arrive at the scene of a head-on collision approximately 60 seconds after it occurred. It involved two vehicles and three people.
I'll spare you the details, but there were broken bones and blood. I did the best I could to assess and stabilize those involved and quickly drove to the nearest phone to get help. Police, ambulances and a fire truck eventually arrived. Many other miners from the area pitched in and helped. Luckily Jack Barnes and Ross Barton from the Department of Mines office in Quilpie happened to be nearby and offered help and the use of their GPS and satellite phones. Many thanks to Jack and Ross.
The Flying Doctor landed a plane nearby to fly the two most seriously injured people to a hospital in Brisbane. The third person was taken by ambulance to Cunnamulla and then later flown to Brisbane. All three people will be ok, although two of them are still in the hospital after having multiple operations.
This accident occurred on an outback mining road. If I had not come by it could have been well over a day or two before anyone found them.
Our time here is beautiful and brief. We are such fragile creatures. Give your loved ones a hug and a kiss, be grateful and wear your seat belt.
On a lighter note - some pretty rocks have been coming out of the ground. Opal production in Koroit is down, but not non-existent. . . and in a month or two I expect it to be increasing - details later.
In many ways this has been the strangest trip I've ever had to Australia since I first set foot here in 1987. Some of the story can be shared and some of it will need to remain unshared . . . I will try to put some of it into words soon.
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