Ahh...getting away from it all. The driving, new
places and sometimes new faces. The feeling of anticipation when travelling a new track, wondering what's next. The camping, the cooking, the cleaning up. Packing up in the freezing dark and cold while it's raining. Arguing with the missus and kids. The kids arguing with each other. Missing the turn off. The truck stop food. The other road users.
But most of all, that blasted white line fever.
Getting into Headland and finding a nice place to eat...first time we hadn't had to make our own for a while.
Finding the pub closed at 7.30 at
Coral Bay.
Buying a paper and finding out that there'd been a
major earthquake in the States. "Where have you been?"
asks the bloke behind the counter. We shrug.
Seeing black and white TV on our portable TV in the tent in
Perth..we didn't care. It kept us riveted for a while.
Ice on our tent in
Perth.
Then a huge dust storm all the way across the Nulli
bore. So hot that we had to stop and buy drinks at every town. How we longed for air con, especially with the kids. I was soo sick of cleaning out the ice box every night.
Getting
home and finding that the temperature didn't drop day or night for a week. We didn't have air con there, either.
And then the "joys" of having to go back to work!
Sometimes I envy those who trip around with nary a thought for the time, nor the price of fuel. For their kids with DVD players, for the poor hard working "other halves" who manage the logistics and probably the moving maps as
well. I almost feel envy for the campervans and caravans and new 4wds with everything including the kitchen sink.
I can remember how few ATM's there used to be...and everyone wanted cash in the bush.
I almost envy the mod cons, the showers, the kitchens, and most of all the ability to produce a cuppa, a coldie or a meal seemingly instantly.
And would you believe that at the time we thought that we were pretty cool, doing the full circle? Twice? It didn't strike us that we were only about the millionth mob to have done it. And we believed that we had it easy.
The good old days?? Sometimes I wonder...
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