CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | Contact
A local retiree, who appears absolutely stoked to finally talk to someone who isn’t his wife, is holding to a brief conversation with both hands.
After driving for close to 10 hours in near silence between two different Outback look-outs, Richard Newcombe (72) has taken the opportunity to peel away from his caravan to talk to a complete stranger, with a hope of eventually giving him a tour of his caravan.
“You been listening to the cricket?” asked Richo, throwing out an innocent enough ice-breaker.
After being told that this stranger had in fact been listening to the cricket, Richo went one to say that it’s a shame the Aussies just missed out, mind you the radio reception cut out just before those silos about 300 ks back, so he didn’t get to hear how close it actually was in the final hours of today’s test.
“We’ve got a way better radio in the rig” says Richo, as he ploughs into an inescapable run down of his motorhome.
“The stereo in the fourby is just stock, but we’ve modified a lot of the interior”
“Even had a fiddle with the suspension, don’t wanna risk anything on the corrugation out here”
The stranger at the centre of this high-energy interaction nods with a smile as he works towards ducking out and heading inside the servo to pay for his fuel, but its seems he’s left it too late.
“Let me show a few things inside” says Richo.
“You’ve gotta see this roll out shade I’ve rigged up”
Before the stranger has the chance to politely decline, Richo shouts to his wife.
“Have you got the keys to the truck, love!?”
