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November 2015
 

 


The crash site at the side of the New England Highway in Queensland

The crash site at the side of the New England Highway in Queensland

Traveller lucky to be alive

Bird blamed for caravan smash

By Dennis Amor
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A WAYWARD bird is being blamed for a spectacular highway crash in which a caravanner almost lost his life in Queensland.

Victorian grey nomad Rob Farrington was returning from a caravan rally when he thought the bird was going to hit the windscreen of his Nissan Navara.

The crumpled Nissan Navara

The crumpled Nissan Navara

The 70-year-old ducked and his 4WD ‒ towing a dual-axle Jayco Sterling caravan ‒ clipped the kerb, puncturing a front tyre and causing the rig to career down an embankment and roll into trees at the side of the New England Highway near Dalveen.

Mr Farrington was trapped in the mangled wreckage and had to be cut free by emergency workers before being airlifted to hospital by the RACQ CareFlight helicopter.

"It was a miracle he survived," fellow caravanner Rob Tudor, who was travelling ahead of his friend, told Caravanning News.

"We were travelling back from the Australian Caravan Club national muster at Beaudesert and had passed through Delveen when I noticed our travelling companion had disappeared from the rear view mirror," he said.

"We called him up on the CB and then tried the 'phone but got no answer so thought we'd turn back when a police car went flying past with its flashing lights."

The concerned Mr Tudor described how he did a U-turn and headed back.

The wrecked Jayco Sterling caravan

The Jayco Sterling caravan

"I went over a crest only to see our mate's rig on its side in a gully," he said.

"Apparently he'd swerved to miss something, hit a gutter and the front passenger tyre blew out.

"He was sent over an embankment into the gully where the rig spun round and rolled over."

Mr Tudor said police, ambulance and fire crews were in attendance and had "performed fantastically".

"The local emergency services bloke, Nathan Parkes, offered to store the stuff from the wreckage in his garage and brought down a tandem trailer."

Members of ACC Bushrangers branch camped near the crash site to rescue as much of Mr Farrington's personal gear as possible, including his wife's ashes.

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