Sunday, September 6, 2009

Vagabond Shoes.

In 49 hours I drove a little over 4000 kilometers, besides petrol stops I did not pull over except on two occasions to have brief sleeps. On the first day I left Bunbury at about 9:30AM and started heading east. About 400-600kms in I tried to take a short cut so I would not have to go around, it ended up being some form of Simpsons shortcut and I spent about 200kms on a dirt road doing about 110kms/h trying not to spin out. After about 40kms of unsealed road I came to the road that I wanted to take and as it turns out it was closed. I was like it cant be that bad so I started to drive down it, within about 20 meters the corrugations were so bad my car almost did a back flip. I turned around and took another track. Turns out I only cut out about 100kms of road haha.
After driving 1738kms I came to a petrol station along the Nullarbor which, due to the fact it was 2:30AM was closed. I drove down the road a bit rolled my swag out and went to sleep. I was rudely awoken at about 530AM by a dingo that was standing on top of me biting my leg. I quickly got up and got back in my car. I filled up with the sun rising behind me, turned around and headed in its direction.
I drove all day and into the night. I stopped every 600kms or so for petrol and then kept driving. I stopped for about 30 minutes when the sun was going down to have a break and eat some food then I continued into the night. I spent the next 12 hours dodging kangaroos. The night before had been just as bad. I literally saw hundreds of kangaroos just hanging out on the side of the road all night long just waiting for some poor person having a small lapse in their concentration to jump in front of. I saw so many dead roos also I was counting for a while but I just stopped at around 40-50 and that was only about two thirds of the way home.
I turned onto the 18 into the Snowy Mountains very early in the morning, I was wide awake and only 400 odd kilometers from home thinking at this stage I would make it there before sunrise. Another 150kms down and I was winding through the Snowy Mountains with the Snowy River below my and the full moon shining off it. I realized that this was possibly the last time for a while I would be truly alone. I made my way down the mountains and to the edge of the river. I drove down some dirt roads to find somewhere to camp and pulled over. I got out of the car and it was so bitterly cold I had no idea what was going on. I got my swag out of my car and as I unrolled it I noticed the sun starting to come up behind the mountains. I crawled inside and went to sleep. When I awoke two hours later I rubbed my eyes and stretched life back in to my limp body, undid my swag got out of my sleeping bag and rolled onto the grass. As I sat on the wet grass looking at the sheer enormity of the river I looked up, I looked up and around,I was looking at the biggest mountains that this country has. The tops of which were snow capped, there was no wind and the reflection off the river was paragon of beauty and perfection.
I did not make it home in two days, 49 hours is not bad though and I would not give up the scene I saw on my second morning for anything.

There are a few things I would like to thank for my successful return home and keeping my up all night long. I had alot of very loud sing alongs all alone. At times I would find myself hunched forward over the wheel bashing it to the beat with all my might in synchronization with my left leg rasing up so high it was almost level with my head and then proceeding to smash it on the floor to the point where I stopped because I was worried I was going to put my foot through the floor of my tiny little car. I proceeded to do this all night through about 15 albums.
So here in no particular order are the things I would like to thank for getting me home safely. I bought a 4 pack of red bull but not being the kind of person that drinks these things I only drank 2.

Click to enlarge.

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