The first section, about a third of the journey, was usually the scariest and most dangerous as the road was just a dirt path running through the bush. Often the road had trees fallen blocking the way or boulders moved in place by landslides. Today unluckily wasn’t any different with several trees blown down by yesterday’s winds and a couple of boulders in the way which forced us to make an entirely new path due to their size. All the trouble meant we were falling behind and we had lost all the time we had gained by the early start. This was disastrous as we were now set to drive straight into the morning traffic and end up arriving home late! Nevertheless my dad was determined to beat the traffic and do whatever it would take.
With the remaining section of the journey being newly paved road my dad slammed on the accelerator putting us right in front of the morning traffic. Our goal was achieved and now it seemed like nothing could go wrong and we were to get home as soon as possible. Then it all happened, within a couple of seconds, all too fast for anyone to know what exactly occurred but everyone having their own story in some way or another different from the other stories.
Roughly twenty minutes after we started on the second section of the journey I was half asleep when I heard it, a loud explosive sound coming from the back tyre. It was terrifying! All I saw was small pieces of shrapnel behind the car as the tyre disintegrated with the speed of the car and friction from the road. I grabbed on to anything I could see as my dad lost control over the car. The back rim scraped the tarmac gripping into it and in turn sending the car spinning frantically while it was travelling a staggering 160km/h. My body was flung violently around the car as though I was a crash test dummy on a rollercoaster. It seemed as thought it would never stop spinning when the car hammered into the road and crushed. Despite the boxed up figure of the car, it kept on rolling on the ground when the tremendous force threw me out the back window tossing me to the side of the road. After this all I remember was watching the car grind to a halt on the road and then I blacked out.
As I woke up the next day, in a hospital, all I could feel was PAIN running throughout my body. I saw stitches on my arm and my shoulder was full of bruises from the fall. Later on I was filled in on the situation of my parents and the helpers who accompanied us explained what happened after the crash in more detail. It was horrifying! The car was broken up into sections and everything inside the car was stolen by the people around the area.
After several weeks we were all much better and back home. Ever since that day I learned to cherish every moment in life because today, right now, I might not have been here.
