Out comes our tiny fold-up camping spade . It ’ s embarrassingly inept , meant for outback ‘ bogs ’ of an entirely different kind . Our plastic levelling blocks are just about as useless in providing traction to drive out of our hole .
So we go hunting for wood in the long grass that I swore I would not be caught dead rummaging around in . But the threat of snakes feels like the lesser of two evils right now .
Rick almost wets his pants laughing at the little sticks I place neatly behind one wheel . Not much traction to be gained there . Mind you , his contribution is not much better , and I can blame my shortcomings on recent ankle surgery .
No amount of digging is working . We ’ re just sinking further , and attacking wasps force a retreat inside the motorhome .
We ’ ll have to call for help . Since we have no phone reception , the CB radio is looking good . Until it ’ s not . There ’ s no-one out there listening .
If I had a personal locator beacon , I could have set it off . But is it really that kind of emergency ? I ’ m not ready to call in the troops yet .
LESSON 1
SOS calls work with no phone reception
We may not be able to call anyone out here , but we do have the SOS option on our mobile phones . In case you don ’ t know where it is , an SOS emergency slide option shows on the home screen when you go to power off your phone .
Will that work all the way out here ? Especially if we don ’ t have reception ? It can ’ t hurt to try .
Within seconds , Telstra is on the end of the line and it ’ s the best reception I think I ’ ve ever heard .
“ Police , fire or ambulance ?” they ask .
Rick starts telling our whole sorry tale . They don ’ t want to know .
“ Police , fire or ambulance ,” they repeat .
Police , we guess .
The iPhone ' s SOS function can literally be a life-saver .
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