20190113 – Sunday – Toolangi to Wail National Forest

20190113 – Sunday – Toolangi 

I am beginning to forget things. So much has happened recently that I am not able to keep it all together.

However, Sunday night I ended up in Toolangi State Forest for the night.

It turned out to be a beautiful camp site but was rather crowded.

There were a number of German men in two cars with tents on the top of their cars.

There was a couple of other young men who had put their tent down on an adjacent oval where the toilets were.

Another couple were in a combi van and slept inside the van and the back lifted up where they had all their “stuff.” 

I parked away from the others a bit further down beside the entrance road.

I was very quickly set up.

Everyone else were having barbecues, so their dinners were taking a time to prepare.

I sat in my deck chair and spread all my food out on the tail gate and then sampled the food from each container.

I made myself comfortable inside my trailer and was soon asleep…. for a while.

The heat was bothering everyone else and there was a lot of shutting and opening of car doors, so I got out and sat in my deck chair and listened to the conversations that were going on.

Well, I couldn’ really because they were all in German or Swiss, or whatever.

I slept very well and in the morning, Monday, 14th January 2019,I got up and was ready to go at about 8 am. 

I drove on towards Bendigo, but Just before I came to the outskirts of Bendigo I came across a new development of land, maybe 10 – 20 K out of Bendigo.

And there was the most amazing new housing development. 

Beautiful NEW houses, all of them large homes on very large blocks of land. 

I turned my car around and drove throughout the development and took a lot of photos of some of these homes. 

The people obviously commute to Bendigo for work but have a “country lifestyle” on these luxury sites.

I was most impressed.

Then I drove on the Dimboola/Minyip road, and although there were a number of nice places I could have parked for the night I decided to go into the Wail State Forest for the night.

As it turned out this was a BAD idea!

I keyed into my GPS “Wail site 1” and then clicked on “get directions.”

I followed the route right down to the Wimmera River.

It was a long way on a sandy track, but the road was pretty solid all the way to the river.

When I got there, I felt a little uneasy. 

There was NO ONE there.

I figured I might drive back to Dimboola  and stay in one of the places I had noticed on the way in.

I turned my car around trying to find the original  pathway that I had followed on the way in.

It was getting dark.

My GPS directed me to a narrower path back to the road that I had come in.

I took this narrower path…. BAD IDEA.

THIS road was not as wide as the one I had come in on, and it was definitely SANDIER.  

There was no going back, there was no way I could turn around, I MUST go forward.

Well, as I said, BAD idea.

I was soon bogged in!! And night was coming on.

I rang Darren and asked him what I did an out Roadside service in such a remote location.

He took up the challenge and contacted Motorpass.

I was very glad that I had filled up with petrol just before the service station closed in Dismboola earlier, because I could use my car to keep my phone charged up.

Someone called Glen rang me from Motorpass, and I took his phone number and keyed  into my phone in case I needed it later.

He told me to stay by my phone and he would try to locate me.

I copied maps and coordinates and sent hum data to try to help him find me.

He rang me about 1/4 and hour later and told me he had not hope of finding me now that it was dark and said I would need to ring up first thing in the morning and book another job number for him to be able to come out again.

This was getting too hard for me. 

I messaged Darren on facebook whilst I could because my iPad AND Iphone were both out of memory, so while I could get a message out there yo SOMEONE I took the opportunity.

Shortly after that both my phone and iPad  “died.”

All night I could not get any charge at all from my solar panel on my iPad and iPhone, so I had to wait till morning.

I was a bit worried about my sugar levels because although I had plenty of water, I had very little food, and nothing of a high sugar content, if I should have a hypo.

I had eaten all my dates and grapes to cover my last hypo the other night.

I climbed into bed and slept on and off during th night.

I sat out on my tail gate for some time and it was so beautiful there amongst all those trees in the forest.

In the morning I spoke to Glen again, but he told me he couldn’t come unless he had another job number, so in the end I decided to ring the police.

Deb P advised me to do so and not to worry about “bothering” them.

So I rang the police and they, at least, knew where Wail site 1 was. 

I don’t remover the name of the police officer who came out, but he was very helpful.

Also Glen, the guy from Motorpass rang me. 

He said that he had finished a job early and so he and some other guys were coming out to have another attempt at finding me.

I told him that the police were also coming.

The police officer drove out bringing with him a shovel to use to dig around my tyres.

And he couldn’t find me at first. 

He had come down to the river, but of course I was half way up the pathway where I was bogged and I was not in sight.

So I beeped my horn over and over again, and eventually he found me.

He parked right at the end of the road I was on and walked up to me.

He couldn’t manage to get the tyres clear, but I told him that Glen from Motorpass was coming out to help.

I handed him my phone and Glen’s phone number and they talked together and the police officer was able to give him directions to where we were, and he had all the equipment needed to get me out.

Very soon Glen and 2 other men were there and in no time they had first of all my trailer off onto hard ground and then they dragged my car back down the road to hard ground.

So at last I was back in my car, and following the Police officer back to Dimboola.

It was such a relief to be driving in my little car again.

I texted my thanks to Glen, who replied that he had been very happy to help.

And now, I am at a service centre near Tailem Bend. 

I think I will stay here tonight and make up for some of the sleep I missed last night.

So thanks to all who tried to help, including you Peter and Colleen.

It is so good to have so many people watching ou for me.

Thanks Darren, sorry to have made your life difficult….. AGAIN!!

Thanks for the chat Alison.

Love to all my friends.