Trapped in sand

we stayed on the way towards the North, along the west coast of New Zealand's South Island. The day was almost over and we started to look for a nice place to park and stay overnight, as always. We already visited Fiordland and also Franz Josef Glacier. The road led along the sea, separated from us only by strand of bushes and grass. We were driving long time and still could not find the right place. We didn't want to camp somewhere right next to the road in the dark, so we took a lost sideway, probably leading close to the sea. We just got the idea of spending the night in the car on the beach.

     The sideway winded between the bushes and small sandy dunes covered with grass began to grow around us steadily. The path suddenly declined into a small pit. In front of us not a big bank of sand appeared the beginning of the beach. What we had resolved to do, we also wanted to finish - to stay overnight in the car on the beach, not next to the beach. I stepped on the gaz slightly, we moved up on fine sand, and almost reached the beach. Almost.

     The front wheels spun round, we stood on the edge of the beach for a while and then we slowly slipped down to the pit again. "Never mind, I'll reverse and set off properly", I said," but in my mind I just swore:" Ooohh, fuck!!". I shifted into reverse gear, turned back quietly and started to reverse. Wheels were spinning without moving the car and our little tough Toyota sank a bit. It upset me and Evička looked at me doubtfully.

     I drew a deep breath, straightened up, raised my chin and said: "No worries, we'll get out of this shit". For about half an hour, I was demonstrating to me and Eva, how to rescue a car stuck in the sand. In the end of next half an hour, the car sat on its chassis, wheels in the air. It was getting dark and started to drizzle slightly. We set off to find a help. Till next morning, there was plenty of time, so what else we should have done, right?

We were going along the main road in silence, intending to stop someone with a strong car, who could help us to get out of the sand. It was quiet a hard job, as the road was kind of abandoned. Finally, we stopped a nice young man but he was driving just a small car. Nevertheless, he gave us a lift to the nearest dwelling and was waiting for us.

It took a while before somebody opened the door. We made a big effort to convince the elderly and rather fatty man to help us to find someone with a strong jeep. He listened to us annoyingly, then grumbled something and shut the door. From the inside, unfortunately.

Tomas, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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