The Journey – Part One

The Challenge: To drive from Melbourne to Perth in my 1988 Rover Vitesse without any sleep or power naps. Challenge Accepted.

Part One

Melbourne - Adelaide

Parting Ways

The theme music from Star Wars filled the room and I awoke after an anxious and restless sleep and began to pack my car. When I’d finished I sat down to relax for a minute in order to bring my thought into line because my decision to both move and drive over to Perth had made me nervous. While I wrestled with thoughts of regret, disappointment and anxiety Annie entered the room, and after Brad and Aaron failed to arise at the arranged time I decided that they needed some encouragement. It wasn’t long before everybody was awake and I was saying my goodbyes as the Rover warmed up and before I knew it I had parted ways with my good friends and had begun the three thousand four hundred-kilometer drive from Melbourne to Perth.

Familiar Faces

Everything had gone according to plan, I hadn’t slept in, I had my snacks that Annie had brought for me the night before, legend, and the only thing I forgot to do before I left was fill up the petrol tank. This wasn’t a big problem because I had enough fuel to get across the city and so I decided to fill up in Sunshine. It took me about forty-five minutes to both cross the city and reach Sunshine. When I arrived I found a BP petrol station and pulled in to refuel. It was at this point that I came into the knowledge of a horrible truth. It happened as I reached across to take my wallet out of my green Kathmandu bag that I realized I’d forgotten my bag, it was still on the couch where I’d left it when Annie came into the room this morning. I could’ve cried as a matter of fact I did cry because it was now six forty-five in the morning and I was faced with the prospect of having to cross the city twice in peak hour. This would set me back at least two hours and I knew it, and it hurt. Anybody who knows me knows that I don’t go anywhere without that bag and therefore I just couldn’t believe it. Regardless of what I could believe I was bag-less and it was with tears running down my face that I turned around and headed home.

While I drove back I called Brad and he confirmed that my bag was in deed on the couch in the lounge room. Shortly after that phone call I arrived at Brad’s house and encountered those all too familiar faces that I’d said goodbye to earlier this morning but nevertheless I collected my bag and headed off again. Traffic was worse then I could’ve ever imagined. The Rover and I crawled through both the eastern freeway and the city, and by the time I reached the BP station in Sunshine I’d lost two hours. So frustrated by both my mistake and the time I’d lost due to it I headed towards Horsham.

Street Signs

I’d nearly arrived at Tailem Bend when I sighted an elderly couple trying to change a flat tire. Now before you ask I did the Christian thing, which is, I kept driving and never looked back. I felt terrible and to tell the truth I still feel terrible and I still wonder whether they actually managed to change that tire or if there still stuck out there. Beside that blatant disregard for the elderly the journey from Melbourne to Adelaide was uneventful.

I arrived in Adelaide at about four thirty in the afternoon and once again I got lost trying to cross through this dreadful city. Honestly, how hard is it to put up some street signs? A brief history for those of you who are new to my life’s story, earlier this year I drove from Perth to Melbourne and I got lost in Adelaide so this is the second time. My day just kept getting worse because not only was I still two hours behind but now I was lost in Adelaide at peak hour. Eventually I managed to ask somebody for help while I was stopped at the lights. I followed his directions and I managed to successfully navigate through Adelaide. If I was sad to say goodbye to Melbourne then I was overjoyed to farewell Adelaide!

TimothyTiger