ANYONE for FREE PETROL/GAS ?

I've spent quite a lot of my time traveling around Australia on the parts of the map where it says, " Take plenty of water. Call local police to check road conditions and inform them of your movements".

In other words - I've been to some very remote places. And often these places where 'whitefellahs' rarely go or need special permits to visit or drive the roads through tribal territories - otherwise known as remote Aboriginal Australia. The only 'whitefellahs' who usually venture into such parts are geologists and surveyors - looking for untapped mineral riches.
Being in such places is a truly amazing experience.

It is like being completely off the map. Nothing compares to this. 'Tis like another planet. And in a way - I guess it is that. No coca-cola or beer cans are by the side of the road. No errant newspapers or magazines either. And there are no roadside parking stops nor any petrol stations or road signs. Indeed many of the places I am referring to require permits from local Aboriginal Community Management bodies. You need Aboriginal permission - unless you have a mineral exploration license.

Around 4 years ago I set off from a remote town with 2 passengers to take them home to a remote community around 260 miles away. One could hardly call this track a road. It traversed rocky gullies, sand-pans and potholes. I hadn't driven this track before - and I was not in a 4WD. My passengers assured me we would be fine. It was an adventure.

We stopped at many significant and sacred sites along the way, to greet the spirits and tell them of our intentions. We were required by protocol to stop where tribal boundaries and demarcations occur to ask the ancestral spirits for clues and any information that may be required as well as to seek permission from them to proceed.
It was around the halfway mark that I truly felt I had 'disappeared'. At this halfway point there is an always full, large waterhole where everyone usually stops for a rest. The landscape is pristine - as pristine as most of us cannot imagine. It's pristine and virtually untouched nature is truly awe inspiring.
At this half-way mark there is a small, square, brick outhouse there that was built by Aboriginal prisoners around 170 years ago.
There is a sign announcing that this small outhouse was used as a prison during the 19th century. This is the point after which, in the journey to our destination, 'white-fellahs' have never lived, worked and have rarely traveled beyond.

As we were leaving our rest stop, duly rested, revived and refreshed I noticed a spirit chained to the post. He was an athletic and fit looking full blood Aboriginal lawman with his 'yagadii' on. I asked him if he wanted any assistance to which he replied that, "he wanted his spirit to be taken home back to his tribal lands - and that as we were traveling that way, could we kindly oblige him". He duly hopped on board, hitch-hiking his ride home.
The Spirits drove my car this day. They told me, "bit of gas, foot off the gas, veer left, veer right, slow down, speed up, stop" at such times as were appropriate. About 20 or so miles before the community we were destined for our hitch-hiker jumped out - waving and thanking us as he vanished into the bush along the creek-line.

When we arrived at our destination I noticed that we had used only half a tank of gas - instead of the expected full tank. On the way returning back to town a few weeks later I noted that the same thing occurred - we used only half a tank into town. The spirits had given me 'free riding' beyond that halfway mark, in both directions. THANK YOU.

This is by no means an isolated event. When myself and another Indigenous medicine woman travel on 'medicine business' into various places there are sometimes instances where the petrol needle doesn't move. However - it is not a thing we can control. It happens when those spiritual forces behind such matters deem it.