Country Retreat - 38. Road Trip Home

Julia was my first, and it was a wonderful experience, as she guided me into the experiences of sex and we always made sure that we were careful as we both didn’t want to start a family so soon in our lives. Instead of going home to WA for the mid-year holidays, Julia and I went on a holiday to New Zealand, taking a road coach tour of both islands over 11 days, starting in Auckland and ending in Christchurch.

We had the best holiday ever, and even though I had been to New Zealand before, this time it was a more adventurous holiday which was a lot of fun. For once in my life I was now really happy, I had a very smart girlfriend, my studies were going great, and I was in regular contact with my four best friends, of which one of them is managing my grandparent's property up the coast from the city.

This all came crashing down when in late October, just over three months after the holiday, Julia announced that due to a family emergency, she would be leaving university and flying to Europe first thing in the morning. I was in total shock, that all of a sudden, I would not be seeing Julia for some undetermined time, due to a family member in Italy becoming very ill, and Julia did not want me to see her off at the airport the next day, as it would interrupt my lectures, which she said are very important.

I was a real wreck for the next week after Julia had flown to Europe, and not much help with jobs on the farm, so Jake gave me some time off, so I could try and get sorted, which resulted in me doing a heck of a lot of hiking in the National Parks, as well as wondering around the many parks and reserves around the city, I also travelled 15 km’s up the road to the Buddhist Society Temple on Sunday to spend a few hours in meditation and listen to Buddhist teachings, which I found to be very relaxing.

For the first seven weeks since she left, I was in regular contact with Julia, until one day her mobile was disconnected and emails were bouncing back. I was devastated that I was not able to talk to Julia any more, and I was struggling with my studies as a result, but somehow, I managed to keep an average level of results for my exams at the end of the year.

In mid-December, I set off in my vehicle, along with all of my belongings, as I was not entirely sure if I would be returning to the ANU in Canberra in the new year, even though I have just one semester remaining of my degree to complete. I had been in contact with Giles, and he was happy to travel back to WA with me by road along the Nullabor, so my first main stop was to Adelaide to collect Giles.

Travelling mostly in a Westerly direction, I would be skipping the state of Victoria altogether, and my first overnight stop would be the rural town of Hay, but on the way, I stopped at the towns of Gundegai, Wagga Wagga and Narrandra, to check out the towns history and places to see. After enjoying a nice pub lunch at Narrandera, I continued onwards, still following the Murrumbidgee River for most of the journey today.

On arrival in the town of Hay, after a quick look at the information bay, I quickly located the Sandy Bay Campground located right on the banks of the river, about 500 metres away from the edge of town, where it is nice a quiet, and where I set up camp for the night. The following morning, after refuelling the vehicle and stocking up on grocery supplies, I continued onwards, and 90 minutes later, once I arrived in the town of Balranald, I stayed on the north side of the river, as just downstream a little bit the Murrumbidgee joins up with the Murray River, and in doing so I was staying in New South Wales, as the state border runs along the river at his point and after nearly 3 ½ hours of driving, I arrived at the town of Wentworth.

What I found very interesting the past day and a half since leaving Canberra, is that many of the country towns that have grain silos, nearly all of them have mural paintings on them, and they were very impressive. After refuelling and having an early lunch, at Renmark, in South Australia, having crossed the border an hour earlier, I kept driving west and stopped at the town of Blanchetown, which is also located on the Murray River, as I wanted to have a short drive into Adelaide tomorrow, instead of a long drive in today.

Camping at the local caravan park, I quickly set up camp before having a shower and relaxing for a while before considering what to have for dinner. Scanning through the information on my iPad, I learnt that just a few hundred metres upstream is the first of many locks on the Murray River.

I learnt that if I went the more scenic route via Tanunda, Williamstown and Stirling, I could avoid a large amount of city traffic to get to Finders University to collect Giles, and I had contacted him at lunchtime to let him know that I would see him in the late morning the next day. I woke up early the next day, so after a snack for breakfast, and refuelling the vehicle, I set off with just a 2 ½ hour drive to get to the university.

When I stopped at Stirling, just twenty minutes out from the university I gave Giles a call. “Hey buddy, are you almost ready to go? I will be there in twenty minutes,” I said when the call was answered, not letting him speak first. “I hope you have room for me too, as I do not intend to walk home,” came the unexpected voice of Rebecca, “What the blazers are you doing here?” I responded in shock.

“I flew over to spend a few days with Giles and to catch a lift back with you guys,” Rebecca answered, “That is fine with me, but why did you come all this way just for a few days?” I asked “So I could talk to you about something, but we will discuss it later. Hurry up and get here, so we can get on the road,” Rebecca replied before she ended the call and put an end to the conversation.

When arrived at the student accommodation, Giles and Rebecca were waiting for me, and we soon had the vehicle loaded up with all the luggage, before handing the keys over to Rebecca. “Wow, I get to drive? That is great,” Rebecca responded happily, as she walked towards the driver’s side door and climbed in, while I took the front passenger side seat, once buckled in, I entered the directions into the navigator and pressed enter.

“Port Augusta? That is our first stop?”Rebecca asked me when she looked at the screen, “Yep, with a meal stop somewhere in between, maybe Port Wakefield, if that’s not too early for you guys,” I replied, as I looked at the clock and estimated that we would be arriving at that location a bit before 11.30 am. In the end, it was closer to noon, as we were stuck in a traffic jam on the outskirts of the CBD for nearly half an hour, which put me in a bad mood.

When we sat down for lunch at the local hotel instead of at the roadhouse, we quickly ordered, before starting to relax and enjoy the surroundings of the small coastal town at the northern tip of St Vincents Gulf. “So guys, since it is only the 5^th of December and we have twenty days until Christmas, I want to ask you both, which way are we going to get home?” I asked casually.

“What do you mean by that?” Rebecca asked without thinking about the question, while Giles smiled, “The same way that we came over the first time would be fine with me, even if it is a bit rougher,” he replied, “What on earth are you talking about?” Rebecca asked me, “Yep on earth is the way we are going,” I replied, adding to her confusion until she finally got it.

“Do you mean via Uluru, and across the Great Central Road?” she asked us, and we both chuckled. “Yes, why not, it is an awesome trip. All we have to do is to arrange the travel permit and we can be on our way,” I replied. “Wow, I have never seen Uluru up close… OK, let’s take the long shortcut. I am up for the adventure,” Rebecca said. “That is excellent. Port Augusta is only a two-hour drive away, so we will stop there overnight, as we need to do a full stock up of supplies before we leave there,” I responded.

“What supplies do you need?” Rebecca asked me, “Extra fuel, extra water, plenty of food, gas refill for the BBQ, and you will need a swag and sleeping bag too,” Giles answered, “Oh yeah, I guess I will if we are going bush. What about toilet breaks stops and showers? Will we be camping out bush?” Rebecca asked. “I have a portable chemical toilet and a privacy tent if you need to go to the loo, and most nights we will be camping at caravan parks, so they will have power and water and showers available,” I answered.

Once lunch break was over, Giles took over the driving duties, as we continued north for our first overnight stop on our journey home. Arriving at about 3 pm, we went straight to the camping store first, to see what we could organise for Rebecca, in the way of sleeping gear. After a good look around and some discussions, we bought her a king-single swag, with an inflatable mattress, and a quality sleeping bag. We also bought additional eating utensils, as well as two extra camp chairs, and also half a dozen solar-powered rechargeable lanterns.

Once we had it all loaded up into the back area of my vehicle, along with our luggage, and swags, that I had kept with me while studying over east, plus the cooler box, which is now full of dry and non-perishable foods, while the two-zone fridge freezer is full of refrigerated foods, including UHT milk, butter, cold meats, cheese, fruit and vegetables, while the smaller car fridge has the soft drinks and fruit juice in it.

We checked into the caravan park that’s more centrally located and settled into our first-night camping together for this trip, which was a first for Rebecca, as she sorted through her luggage and set off to have a shower, returning half an hour later smiling and looking refreshed. “Nothing like a good hot shower,” she said to us. I headed to the showers next and I too was a lot happier after a hot shower, but when I returned to our campsite, we were not alone.

“Oscar, this is Deiter and Bastian, who have a special favour to ask,” Giles said to me, as I shook their hands, and they said hello, and introduced themselves which had me guessing that they were from Germany or Switzerland or that region. “OK, so what is the favour?” I asked.