The yellow bag…
There it lay, on the dirty, rocky and corrugated road, a huge cloud of dust smothering it as the filthy air slowly settled onto and around the yellow bin bag, still carrying its precious cargo.
Where am I, the bag wondered, why am I here? Where’s my yellow Jeep and why has it left me behind?
“I hope they come back for me”, it thought to itself.
It was a comforting thought while lying on that dusty road, with the only sounds being the wind, a few birds, and the far off sound of heavily laden vehicle coming closer.
“Ooof!” Oww! Argghhh! Two of the car’s tyres ran over the bag, squashing its precious cargo.
‘Help!’ it tried to call out. But its little voice went unheard in the great open space of the Trans Access Road.
Several more vehicles ran over the top of the yellow bag, some just missing it, but those with bigger mud tyres managed to clip it, squashing its contents more each time, till little was left but small red plastic pieces. So much for the fuel siphoning pump.
As the sun travelled across the sky, the yellow bag lay in the dust, alone in the vastness of the outskirts of the Nullabor. It heard another vehicle approaching and tried to brace itself for the impact of more tyres.
But the impact never came.
Instead the vehicle came to a stop and a car door opened.
“I’m sure that’s her bag”, a man said. A hand reached down and picked the bag up from where it lay in the middle of the road. The man carried the bag back to his car and put it inside, safe again.
The bag stayed in the car all night while the couple travelling in the car camped out overnight. The bag could see the glow of the fire from the safety of the inside of the car, and it was happy to just sit an see where this new turn in its little life would take it.
The next day, the couple and their beautiful dogs continued on their journey towards the next town.
The yellow bag slumbered, lulled to sleep by the motion of the moving car and the murmur of voices discussing the events of the day, and anticipating how happy ‘she’ would be when they got there and she saw what they had.
The bag didn’t really understand what they were talking about but found the rumbling comforting so slept on.
Suddenly the vehicle stopped and the people got out. The bag was happy to stay where it was until suddenly the hand that had saved it from the dusty road reached in and picked it up, carrying it while the man walked across a large carpark…towards a very dirty reddish yellow Jeep.
“I’m home!!”the bag cried happily, recognising the vehicle it usually hung off the back off while holding the rubbish from camping.
“Hello” said the man, “we thought we might see you here, is this yours? We found it on the Trans Access Road and thought we remembered seeing you with one like it”
Hey guys, wow! I can’t believe you found it, I kind of hoped you would, but I knew it was a long stretch!! Thank you!!! , the woman with the Jeep exclaimed. “Im so glad you found it and picked it up!”
She was very happy to see the couple and very pleased to have her yellow bin bag back again. She’d had it for several years and was quite attached to it. It was a key part of her camping kit and had meaning for her. She had got the bag at a 4x4 & Camping Expo a few years back and had used it to collect up rubbish at some places she’d visited, as it was intended.
You see the black printing on the bag - OCA - stands for Outback Cleanup Australia.
OCA is an amazing organisation founded and run on the smell of an oily rag by a guy who’s passionate about keeping the outback clean and tidy.
Boe, the founder, travels the country literally picking up all the rubbish people throw out and dump into the environment . You can find out more about his incredible mission here. The guy is a legend!
Moral of the story:
Always make sure your gear is well secured on or in your vehicle before hitting the road, and
Make sure you pick up all your rubbish and take it with you.
What’s that saying? Leave only footprints 👣
