UP IN FLAMES!
We survived the furnace but lost the lot!
Sherralyn Osborne, 69, Townsville, Qld.
Iung my arms around my hubby, Brian, sobbing. “ank God!” I cried. Docs had just told me I was cancer free!
I’d discovered a rare type of skin cancer during a routine test and had surgery to remove it from both sides of my nose.
It meant we’d missed our annual trip away with our friends, Rhonda and Brian.
For the past 20 years, we’d driven our caravan to Camooweal, Qld, to meet them, and from there we’d spend three weeks driving west to Darwin, stopping in various places as we went.
It had broken our hearts to cancel on them this time, but it had been necessary.
We thought about going after the surgery, but my face looked a mess.
I had stitches behind my ear where the docs had taken a skin graft and a bandage across my nose, which was badly swollen.
Not wanting people to see me like that, we decided not to bother.
“ere’s always next year,” I said.
But in August 2023, two months after receiving the all clear, Rhonda and Brian turned up at our door wearing fake noses.
“What on earth?” I said, chuckling.
“We’ve come to convince you to take a trip to Seaforth with us!” Rhonda said.
“And we’ll wear these the whole time if it makes you feel better about your nose,” Brian said, making my heart swell.
My nose was still swollen, but it was on the mend.
“I think it will be good for us, love,” my hubby Brian encouraged.
“You’re right,” I replied. “Let’s do it.”
A week later, we set o and spent two glorious weeks by the sea.
When it came to an end, Brian, 74, and I decided we weren’t quite ready to go home yet.
Instead, we decided to visit a tiny town, Jericho, in Qld, set along the banks of the Jordan River.
Once we’d waved our friends o , we began our journey, making a few stops on the way.
On the nal stretch, 100km out of Jericho, we cranked up the tunes and were singing our lungs out when there was suddenly a loud bang.
Brian and I exchanged worried glances. “What was that?” I asked. Suddenly, we saw black clouds of smoke billowing out of the car engine.
“Pull over!” I shouted at Brian.
He steered o the road and slammed on the brakes, but the car kept going.
ere were now large ames growing through the smoke and I was absolutely terri ed.
Brian ripped back the handbrake and slowly the car
Brian slammed on the brakes
rolled to a standstill.
Flinging my handbag over my shoulder, I shot out the door.
When I turned around, Brian was still in the car.
“e door’s locked!” he yelled to me, in a panic.
“Climb over to the other side,” I shouted back.
He managed to scramble free and ran over to me.
“I was trying to pop the bonnet,” he told me. “But the re has melted it shut.” We watched in horror as ames spread from under the bonnet and engulfed the windscreen.
I dived into the caravan to grab a re extinguisher, but the ames were too big for the foam to work on.
Sparks ew onto the grass around us.
“We’re going to start a bush re,” I panicked.
Just then, a young man named Brody pulled over.
“I’ve called the reys,” he said. “ey’re on their way.”
As we waited, the re started to spread into the caravan.
“We’re going to lose everything,” I cried.
e nearest town of Alpha was 40km away, so I didn’t know how long the re engines would be.
“I want my jewellery,” I said to Brian.
Before he could say anything, I ran into the caravan.
Yanking my
T-shirt over my mouth, I raced inside and grabbed my jewellery box.
By now, the car was ablaze, and the gas bottles in the caravan were about to blow.
“Get out now!” Brian screamed through the door.
I’d just leapt out when the bottles exploded, sending reballs into the air, which then came back down and landed on the dry grass, setting o more res.
By now, loads of people had stopped to help.
Someone agged down a passing water truck who put out the grass res rst so they didn’t spread. By the time he turned his attention to our car and caravan, they were cinders.
When the reys arrived, they doused the wreck and drenched the long grass.
e police also took a statement from us.
“What now?” I said to Brian.
A ride was arranged for us to Emerald. Once there, people went out of their way to help us.
e local Lifeline pitched in with some clothing, and taxi drivers drove us about without asking for fares.
We were also given all the medication we needed by the local chemist.
Before trying to make our way home, we spent two nights at a motel dealing with insurance companies.
We then took a Greyhound bus to Rockhampton and after spending a night there, we caught a ight home.
It was such a relief to nally step through the front door.
Back home, we went through our insurance papers with a ne tooth comb.
Although we had cover for both the car and the caravan, a lot of the contents weren’t covered meaning we lost around $15,000 worth of stu .
We still don’t know what caused the re and probably never will.
We’ve since replaced the car and bought a secondhand caravan, and we’re planning to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary travelling in it this year.
Hopefully, this year our trip will be a lot smoother.
‘We’re going to start a bushfire!’