On a lonely country road at night, a Canberra family and their dog were stranded after their car hit a kangaroo. Lots of cars didn't stop. But then two Canberra revheads came along and showed some wonderful kindness
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00:00So it's Friday night and our kids are both in ski school up at Perisher on development squad on
00:07Sundays and so we're all tired it was you know after work and we packed the car and the dog
00:13and everything we needed for the weekend and off we went and then yeah we're traveling along just
00:17past Coomber at about nine o'clock and then yeah bang out of nowhere I didn't even see the kangaroo
00:23until we had already hit it he was driving and he did the right thing didn't swerve or anything but
00:29we suddenly collected it and looked like it had taken half the front of the car off um so yeah so
00:35then once the initial shock subsided we're like oh what do we do now stuck in the middle of nowhere
00:40with uh literally no lights just us for a dog we're all okay the dog's okay um looked for the
00:48kangaroo um but then yeah lots of cars did whiz past um the first one behind us stopped and just
00:54but they didn't really know what to do and we were still in shock but then probably about a
00:59how late was it when you guys found us it was a fair bit after 11 you know 10 10 10 30 we'd been
01:06out there for a while trying to work out we had no idea if our car was still drivable yeah we're
01:10just sitting there water or something leaking out of the front of it uh this looks like beyond our
01:16mechanical skills to decide what to do what does one do when someone hits a kangaroo
01:22rang the rnrma and just said hey do we need a tow can you help us yeah and i said no we don't do
01:29that we're roadside assistance you're on the road and you need assistance but it's a crash
01:35that's an insurance thing go away go talk to your insurance company yeah so then we did that we rang
01:40them and they lodged a claim immediately which is lovely they booked the assessment for the car to
01:45get looked at in a fortnight's time and said they were sending a tow truck they said get a
01:52tow truck for us um and in the meantime while we're waiting for a tow truck two lovely lads
01:58stopped by we're very concerned and the best bit was they said get a taxi or an uber and
02:04between cumber and berrydale with a dog and two kids uh to get ourselves home so they were trying
02:10to be helpful but it wasn't really going to happen so we're all just sitting there going
02:14we might be sleeping in the car and then yes cue the heroes and what made you guys stop um it's
02:24me it was living out on back roads it was it's just fairly second nature to stop when you see
02:31somebody and there was a good debris field behind behind the car so you see in the lights you can
02:37see this stuffing around which means which means it's fresh i could see quite a few faces in the
02:41car so oh i'll stop and have a look see what's going on so where are you where have you guys been
02:46so we're just on a late friday night run off to work from here canberra down to my dad's place
02:52near the victorian builder we picked up a race car we're bringing it back to work on it and um
02:59yeah so yeah we were traveling in two vehicles at the time uh the transit and the uh and the
03:06and they were towing a rally car and yeah we were towing the race car at the time as well
03:11and yeah just pulled over to help see what was going on and then yeah this happened these two
03:17big uh like spotlights come out of nowhere we like we can't see them we just see these spotlights and
03:22they went past and then they came back and they're like oh good day and this one got all excited
03:27about all the the mess and got his cable tires out and it's like oh we should be able to you
03:33know jimmy this together enough and and they did because no no tow ended up coming so my husband
03:40the front end of the car was hanging off um with uh very little still holding it back together
03:45and then pulling out all the bits that were just loosely flying or um sitting in the engine bay
03:50and then just cable tied a whole bunch of it back together
03:55yeah made sure it was actually safe to drive so there's no um what transmission oil or any
04:00sort of oils leaking out so it was if if it was to be driven that it would have been safe
04:04to drive even though it was missing a headlight um but yeah being that being a bmw and there being
04:10so many electronic things as soon as you have some electronic faults that would have been
04:14a bit of a hassle to drive but it was quite apparent that since no tow truck arrived
04:21that it uh because we were there for a while doing all of this oh and then these guys had
04:26to help us take apart everything in our car because they're like oh well the kids still
04:29need to ski on sunday don't they so at this stage we thought the tow truck was coming and
04:33they said we'll only take one person one person so we decided i need to stay with the car and
04:38these guys offered since they were going back to canberra to unload our whole whole car that's got
04:43all of our stuff the whole lot two kids all the loads you needed for a whole weekend
04:52yeah coffin coffin sized roof box on the uh on the roof and you're unloading that
05:00yeah so so you you guys were the ideal guys really to stop like you hadn't got a better
05:07guy to restructure everything in this van to fit all that stuff in the back and me and the
05:12dog in the front with making herself very friendly um and then yeah my two girls like
05:19they just met brock um yeah they're only 12 and 14 and so he totally rejigs his whole car to make
05:25sure that they're safe in the back seat and so yeah and then they were like on the radio all
05:29the way back together making sure that we're all okay and we did stop for some um some energy drink
05:34at one point we all needed it and ice cream what time did you get home um and after after we dropped
05:42everyone off um i walked in my front door at 2 30 in the morning it was a very very late night
05:47it was going to be later if i uh ended up having a ride home um but um yeah got lucky that it was
05:53starting to rain when we got back and it poured down as soon as we left um where the bmw was
05:58actually poured down but yeah then we got a bit of rain back in canberra and yeah got home at about
06:032 30 in the morning yeah so it wasn't an easy ride easy drive for these guys coming back either
06:08and how do you how do you feel about them your knights in shining armor
06:13yeah we got a little celebration inside we have a few snacks and stuff so
06:18no they're welcome anytime
06:21saved by two nicer lads or two more capable because we didn't just get you know people
06:27with enough space to take all that crap and get it back home for us but they gave the car a full
06:32mechanical inspection so i sat there waiting for the tow and when i realized an hour or two later
06:36that they weren't coming we were talking to these guys in the car and you said it's probably all
06:41and the fluids that were leaking out of it it checked went no it's not the transmission fluid
06:46or radiator fluid you should be all right so i did just crank over the engine warning lights
06:52came up because it's a beamer it's like i wanted to let you know that my wiper fluid was low oh
06:57well that's a big thing i found the washer jet for the headlight just couldn't find the rest
07:08i found my headlight my right the headlights weren't working according to the electronics
07:13good that it picked that up the engine so you made it home so yeah this cranked her up
07:19it's the things you don't think yeah it drove very well and none of the bits fell off the car
07:25because they'd be nicely cable tied together so and then your post went viral and then you guys
07:30are sort of famous now yeah so like i had the thought just to take a quick photo with him and
07:35one of their details so he gave me his business card and i thought oh i just want to thank them
07:40because i was just so grateful the next day that i was just sitting there i'm like i'm just going
07:43to write this as a little you know personal event on my pages and i thought you know what they've
07:48done such a lovely job i'm going to put it up as a positive story because you see so many negative
07:52stories um everywhere on these notice boards and all and i thought like you know what's the chance
07:57that to i mean i don't know exactly how old you guys are 20 year old guys who are out with their
08:01rally car on a friday night are going to stop and help a family of four and their dog
08:06and get us home like i just went nah they deserve a big thanks but i don't think any of us expected
08:11it to go quite as viral as it did and the girls found all their teachers had read it at school
08:19i had a lot of uh the higher-ups at work personally come down to the workshop and
08:23actually thanked me for what i've done and it was definitely just a massive surprise
08:28throughout the whole following days of seeing who's actually read the post
08:32and getting tagged in it without before i even knew that it was posted people
08:37some of my friends had seen it before me and it was definitely quite the experience
08:41yeah and i was like i i think i was doing work that day and so didn't um
08:48didn't check in and i think i did see it early in the morning and then it was like
08:52right past lunchtime when i checked back in anyway i probably should have like warned you
08:57i've got your consent but i was just like trying to say thank you and i didn't expect
09:01oh well you deserved it yeah