McKenna's Creek north of Carrieton and Orroroo
Now that Purple Roads is out and about, I wanted to show you some of the places I imagined events to take place.
If you read my previous blog, you would have seen the maps that I drew to show where the depots were in relation to Matt and Anna’s house, Spalding and Kate and Sam’s farm.
This photo is of McKenna’s creek which just north of Orroroo and Carrieton – these two towns are my ‘old stomping ground’. I lived in Orroroo as a child and spent most weekends at my grandparent’s station, Glenroy. To get to Glenroy you go through Carrieton and this creek.
the direction the old man would have come from
I want you to imagine how frightening it must have been for Matt – it’s dark and as you can see, the country is quite wild – steep hills covered in thorny bushes and rocks. Suddenly he sees sparks from his tyres and then flames. He’s carting animals. They could die… This isn’t his ‘native’ country, he doesn’t know the area as well as he does around his farm and home town of Spalding.
Truckies I’ve spoken to say it takes some time for drivers to be able to get back into the cab after a truck fire – especially if there is stock involved. It something you never forget.
And once the fire has started, the speed in which the cabin and truck is destroyed is beyond belief. One bloke had time to pull up, grab his wallet and get out before the cab exploded into flames. Luckily he was fine and was carting grain, so there weren’t any deaths.
The truck fire for Matt, is the beginning of the end. And that’s as far as I’ll go without giving spoilers away!
What Matt's truck would have looked like after the fire
