4 days ago
Stranded Nullarbor driver hoping for help watches cars go by for two days
If you decide to embark on driving Australia's longest stretch of straight road, you have to be prepared for anything.
When Caleb Humphries's car broke down on the Nullarbor Plain, he spent two days watching cars drive past him, hoping someone would stop. They didn't.
The 23-year-old was stranded about 30 kilometres from the nearest roadhouse and tried everything to get his car up and running.
"I had every other part I could possibly have for my car, except for the two parts that broke," he said.
"At that time, I tried to make a dodgy fix myself, but nothing worked, and it wasn't until then that I realised nothing was working."
Each time a car passed him on the Eyre Highway, he would get out of his car to alert the driver that he needed help.
"But no-one stopped," he said.
"I was starting to get hungry on the second day. I had no more food because all my food went bad."
Truck driver Chevy Hawkins was on his way home after helping to deliver hay to draught-stricken South Australia when his mum contacted him to say a man was stuck on Eyre Highway near Madura.
"Probably 32 kilometres on the west side of Madura, there was a Nissan Patrol on the side of the road," he said.
"I pulled up, went and saw young Caleb [in his car] and woke him up, and started talking to him.
Mr Hawkins was able to use his Starlink internet to get Mr Humphries in contact with friends in Margaret River.
"I stayed with him for, it'd be good 45 minutes to an hour, just so he could get in touch with people," he said.
"He organised some parts from Kalgoorlie that got sent out to him, and he got back on the road."
Mr Hawkins said he was disappointed Mr Humphries had to wait so long for help.
"It's honestly shameful of the people who went past and didn't stop," he said.
"If you don't feel safe, you don't have to get out of the car to ask if they're OK. You can still sit in your car and check they're OK."
When Sarah Howell heard her son's friend, Mr Humphries, was in trouble she knew she had to help.
But, as a Margaret River local, Ms Howell said she had to get creative with finding help from more than 1,200 kilometres away.
"I just thought, well, you know, the only place I can start is in my local community," she said.
Ms Howell made a post asking for help in a Margaret River community group on Facebook, which quickly made its way into trucking and caravanning groups across the south of the state.
From there, she was able to coordinate communication with Mr Humphries and get replacement parts out to him.
"It really was a massive logistical effort between a gentleman in Albany, a gentleman in Kalgoorlie, and another woman in Margaret River," she said.
Ms Howell said the generosity of strangers was vital in getting Mr Humphries to his final destination in the south-west of WA.
"People absolutely restored my faith in humanity. I was just so, so grateful," she said.
Mr Humphries arrived safely in the South West on August 1.
