Still in Working Mode

Friday, 9th April 2010 – Mildura, VIC

Hello from Mildura – the city that has named its streets in number order, has too many traffic lights and is currently hosting a locust plague.

Despite it looking like an inland beach resort, Mildura has not been sunny so far. Showed up at my chosen caravan park to find out that the camp kitchen is “out of order”. So I learned a couple of things about cooking dinner unsheltered in the rain; mainly that you shouldn’t do it. I’m going tarp shopping tomorrow.

Been nearly a week on the road and only just got my mp3 player going today – listened to The Frames, The Whitlams and Stephen Fry’s narration of Harry Potter all in shuffle mode. It was an interesting sound track to the 3.5 hour drive that took me all day to complete (turns out I’m a little generous with my rest stops).

There are a lot of caravans on the road but the caravan parks aren’t crowded. Haven’t done any sightseeing yet; mostly I’m on the move trying to catch up with the touring crowd in SA. However I can report that the Giant Koala is not very cuddly or as big as I’d hoped (I admit to having high expectations), I’ve discovered that Lindeman Winery really does exist (it’s not a Coca Cola or Schweppes brand after all), and I drove through Tempy Victoria make believing that it was Tempe NSW. Whitlams fans might be able to guess why.

Troupie’s doing great – I love it. Still struggling to name it though. Only problem is the crazy amount of time required to keep it in order. Hopefully everything finds its natural place soon enough.

I think I'm still in working mode because I'm craving to create some travel stats. Here they are:

Days on the Road: 5
Km Travelled: 816
Diesel L: 112
Current Time Zone: EST
Rating of Travel Stats: Boring

Living a Dream, Starting Today

Monday, 5th April 2010 – Grampians National Park, VIC

I’ve never been very good at estimating how long it will take me to do something, and so I have a habit of leaving late. Considering that today I am leaving to go on a year-long trip, I was very proud of myself when I only left 15 minutes later than planned. Today I started a life-long dream to travel Australia solo. It feels a little sensational to call it a life-long dream when I’m only 26 but I've been wanting to do this for a while. I was very excited (and relieved) that my good friend Amanda and her bf Scott were going to spend the first couple of nights with me in the Grampians.

Starting off from differnet Melbourne suburbs, we met up at the Melton Macca’s and travelled in convoy - Manda with me and Scott with my handheld UHF so we could chat while driving. We had lunch in Ararat, at a park, on a picnic blanket. I could learn a few things from these guys about how to travel well – I would have eaten standing up in a car park. Later, Ballarat made another good stop for some last minute camping supplies. We took another quick break at the Hall’s Gap visitor centre, where I stalled the troupie parking (first stall of the trip!) and we purchased our visitor passes. I followed Scott’s Rodeo into the park, getting used to the way the troupie handled steep, gravel declines (no problem, of course).

After reaching Grampians NP, we spent the last daylight hours setting up camp - pitching tents, collecting firewood, cooking dinner. Scott created an awesome stir fry over the camp fire (yummo!) followed by some tunes on the guitar.

Tuesday, 6th April 2010 – Grampians National Park, VIC

We explored the park by car, and did some short walks in the McKenzie Falls area. Unfortunately the walking track to the falls themselves was closed but we were able to see them from a viewing platform. We took the 2WD Rodeo on a 4WD track, which wasn’t bad except for a couple of rough spots.


The weather was lousy – it was either raining or else threatening to rain. At Halls Creek we enjoyed an ice-cream on homemade waffle cones, sheltered under the shop eaves from the weather. We returned to camp tired and agreed to some take some time-out from the rain in our tents, which we all silently understood would turn into an afternoon nap.

The rain showed no sign of easing so we set up a tarp to cook and dine under. Afterwards, we huddled into a tent for a game of cards and after a while realised that the rain had pretty much stopped as soon as we’d taken cover. So we snuck back out to sit around the camp fire and I remember falling asleep in my chair. Party animal.

Wednesday, 7th April 2010 – Grampians National Park, VIC


The sharp eyed Manda and Scott had spotted Adventure Minigolf when we passed through Halls Creek, and the temptation was too great for all of us. We had a great game, trying to avoid the sudden gaps in the pathway and hoping we wouldn’t need to use the tactfully placed yabbie nets to fish our ball out of the stream that lurked below. We had lunch at the cafe there and the potato wedges are the best I’ve ever eaten! Unfortunately I had to say goodbye to Manda and Scott afterwards, which was a shame because they were good company...

As I was leaving the car park I felt a little uncertain about what happens next. Everything had been happening in a linear progression so far: have a dream, save up, commit to it, tell family & friends, quit my job, move out, get a vehicle and trip supplies, pack the car and go! So now what?

I made a “safe decision” to do the short drive to Horsham and stay in a caravan park. When I got there I did the most calming thing I could think of and went grocery shopping, because then I could pretend that everything was normal. That night I went to bed feeling a little unsettled. What happens once the linear part of progression ends?

Thursday, 8th April 2010 – Horsham, VIC

I woke up in Horsham, feeling a little calmer than the night before and did some more therapeutic shopping. This time buying a few items I hadn’t had a chance to get before I left: graphite powder, fridge thermometer, a padlock for the spare tyre and a tow hook for the rear of the vehicle (how thoughtful I am, considering that its most likely use will be to help somebody else out). Getting these supplies kept me in Horsham longer than I expected and I stayed a second night.