memory revisited #6: a toyota camry

smlm dekat kul 12.30am daku o9 jap, smbil tgk awani. ada berita pasal camry perak kena lelong. harga sbnr camry rupanya dalam rm180k. wow.. bloody expensive. tak sangka... it was dat expensive.. bcoz my friends and i have crashed one toyota camry during our one infamous road trip.. ha ha ha...
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it was during the semester break 2001 i. end of winter.nizam, ilmik, ayu and me were planning to have a week road trip accross south australia, starting from adelaide crossing over to eyre peninsular, all the way to ceduna and head back home along the streaky bay, down to port lincoln, cowell, all the way to whyalla and back to adelaide. mula2 ingat nak backpackers je, tp bila pikey balik, baik sewa keta. and get this, one of the cheapest car to rent is actually toyota
camry. its about 120dolar a day but we have to pay i think 140dolar bcoz all of us were under 21years old. kena byr insurance skali maksudnya.

STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES (SOP) bg road trip adalah bekalan makanan. haha.. beli ayam frozen, roti, kentang, instant coffe siap bwk periuk nasik. sumbat sumer dlm bonet. ops, jgn lupa bwk MAP lak.. he3 kami pun mulakan jalan dgn happynya.. wah.. kalu daku ingat balik, it was so fun! gambo daku tak tau berapa roll filem habis, nk upload kena scan plak.len kali la.masa tu miskin takde digicam lg. ada NIKON SLR jek. kui3. pegi outbacks, pegi gurun desert, pegi beaches, pegi bukit, pegi memancing, pegi mandi sungai, pegi zoo, pegi naik kapal laut, pegi tgk ikan paus, ha mcm2 lg la.. pegi tgk stone n rocks formation etc..

at each day km try to cover as many places n tourist point as possible. kalu dah dekat2 mlm, km akan cari motel atau chalet tempat bermalam la. awal2 pg km akan mula gerak ke tempat seterusnya. so fun! bila km halfway into our jurney, smpi kat ceduna, km gk kat meter,
pergh.. br halfway road trip ni dah 2000KM beb!! dasat woo.. after smpi ceduna, km terus naik ke nullarbor, the last checkpoint. after sightseeing, kami plan ikut jalan pantai to go home. guna jalan port lincoln highway sbb along the road ada bnyk tempat menarik.

it was supposed to be our last day on trip. hari tu nak balik dah. kami bngun awal, siap nk balik kampung halaman. ahaks. cuaca agak panas, me and ilmik tengah happy kat seat belakang nyanyi lg m nasir cam org giler smbil baca komik ujang! i remembered the last picture i saw before the car go off the road ialah muka maikel monyet dlm ujang tu..

at first, i heard nizam ckp kat ayu dia kata mata dia pedih, matahari terik pg tu. silau dia kata. so dia nak pasang clip-on kat spek dia. so i thot maybe dia tgh pasang la kot. tetiba ayu jerit.."nizaaaammmm keta kat depannn..." and somehow ayu tarik pusing stering tu dgn kuat, and the car just lost control.. i dun remember wat happen bcoz it was so fast. nizam always bawak 140-160 bcoz its a hiway and jarang ada keta lain lalu. i remember tergolek2 dlm keta and i thot.. ya Allah.. kami eksiden.. i dun remember anything after dat, but when i woke up, we are still in the camry. kami mcm tertido sekejap. n when i woke up, ilmik, ayu n nizam pun mcm baru terjaga.

it was unbelievable.. kami tercampak jatuh bukit. when i sedar tu, i tgk keliling.. oh my god.. ya allah.. apa jadi nih. nizam sibuk tanya lyn, ilmik ok tak kat belakang? luka tak? otak i mcm freeze kejap. i tak rasa sakit ape, oh my god, ilmik bleeding kat dahi. n i lak tekejut, ada scratch kat
tgn. i pegang kaki ilmik, she is in shock. tp takde injury lain. i pegang kaki sendiri, alhamdullillah. still intact. kami masih dlm keta, n i try to open the door, tak leh bukak. jam. atap keta pun dah remuk, pala kami dah terhimpit. so kami merangkak keluar dr keta... nizam tolong tarik kami keluar..

bila km keluar dr keta.. ya Allah.. tekejut km tgk keta tu. keta tu habis remuk ok..im not kidding. empat2 rim tu tercabut. rim toyota ok? ni bukan keta proton ke. the best car manuacturer in the world nih.. bumper, bonet semua terbongkang. cermin habis pecah. roof kemek semua.
sebijik toyota camry dah habis remuk.. n suddenly km dengar ada org menjerit..

"HEY YOU PEOPLE.. ARE YOU OK??!!"

sekali tgk, ada sorang mat salleh bediri tepi land rover nun kat atas dkt jalanraya. ek ellehh itu la keta yg nizam elak td.. dia pun turun dr bukit gi kat kitorang.

"you people survived!! oh my god!! i thought u people are dead already!
i was so scared to go down!! this is unbelieable!"

mat salleh tu mcm tak pecaya tgk kami bediri tepacak tepi keta tu..dia takut nk turun ingat kami dah mati semua..dia kata keta kami begolek 4 kali atas jalan raya, siap kuar percikan api lg, langgar tiang batu penanda jalan, pastu tercampak jatuh dr bukit tu setinggi dekat 10 meter n landed atas batu2 pastu menggelungsur atas batu sepanjang curam tu..jatuh atas pasir.. n dia lg terperanjat ayu langsung tak ada scratch kat badan dia. me n nizam ada scratch kat tgn, ilmik scratch kat dahi.. ilmik kata dia luka paling teruk sbb dia paling notti. haha...

km tak rasa sakit atau apa2.. masih in shock. mat salleh tu offer nk anto km pegi klinik. smpi kat klinik, trus call polis, nizam kena interview smbil km kena cek. doc tkut ada internal injury. perfect, takde ape2 except scratches. alhamdulillah.. thanks ya Allah.. camry tu kena tow balik adelaide. tp syukurlah km ambik insurans. justkena bayar denda aud1000. bagi empat 250aud la sorang. haha..

ptg tu, kami dah takde kenderaan nak balik. kamit erpaksa cari bas express. masa tu km kat Cowell.. tgk jam baru pukul 4pm. next bas to Whyalla is jam 10pm. dr Whyalla baru leh gi adelaide. kami pun duduk2 bawah pondok bas smbil borak2 pasal kejadian td. siap main daun terup lg.. sbb bosan naktunggu kul 10. korang leh bygkan tak, baru pas eksiden, leh gelak2 main pakau.. sbb kami masih in shock..

n suddenly ilmik nangis.. tetibe jer dia cam huwaaa hu hu.. huk alah.. dah bejam2 pas eksiden br dia nak nangis.. tak lama daku pon join sama nangis.. huwaaaaaaa... huwaaaa.. sedey woo.. nasib baik tak mati.. dah la tak grad lg, kawen pon tak lagi.. boifren pon tah ade ntah takde..
tgk2 mati eksiden kat negara orang.. uwaaaa... masa tu kat pondok bas tu baru kitorang nangis secara berjemaah.. ngan apek nizam skali sebak2 gitu.. sbb baru sedar betapa berharganya hidup ni..

Allah nk bg pengajaran kat kitorang, hidup ni bukan sekadar berseronok ja.. sbnrnya, b4 kami nak roadtrip tu, kak oja, mak usrah kami ada tanya kami, nak join pegi program tak. daku kata tak jadi la kak oja, kami ada program lain.. ha padan muka kami berempat... huhu..hari tu, daku dpt pengajaran berguna..

jgn sombong dgn kenikmatan dunia, sbb mati tu datang menjemput bila2 ja.. ajal dan maut ditangan tuhan, sbb itu, ingatlah dimana kedudukan kita setiap saat.. pas eksiden tu, daku janji nak jadi org yg lebih baik.. sbb takut mati tak sempat tobat..serius.. when you escape death,
it changes something within you..

but, it takes a camry to make us see that.. what a price to pay..

-_-