2020–(chasing borders)

It was early January when I got word, Mother had checked HERSELF into hospital so I knew it wasn’t good. She wouldn’t do that without good reason, I started to look at flights. I was expecting someone arriving to buy my house in a few days but Mother comes first. A couple of weeks later we were arranging her funeral and I missed the sale of the house because the buyer was back in France. I’d only been back in the house for a month, my tenant had also died early December. A real gentleman who knew he was on the way out but lived a full life, right to the end. I was back in Bali early February and not long after, my old friend Oka died. They say things come in threes but what a start to the year.
Anna Maria, who I met in China came to stay, she told me all about some virus that had escaped from a lab in Wuhan and the Chinese were locking people up and not allowing them out of their houses, she was heading to Romania and I was off to Perth for an appointment with a plastic surgeon to get skin cancers removed, this was end February
In March I got stranded in Perth, the World was now infected.
The surgery went ahead, which surprised me as, elective surgery amongst other things like travel had been outlawed by the Australian government. I spent the next 2 months waiting to leave. Sitting in a friends flat, because by now, I could do no more. I was being saturated by the media on the dire state of the world and how we were all going to die. Perth wasn’t locked down but we were being advised to self isolate and as far as I could go was about 100kl.
I had to get out of there, there was talk of opening regional borders and I could probably go as far as Exmouth.
That’s all I needed, let’s go look for a car Craig!

I wanted something I could sleep in and after an afternoon of cheap car dealers I had a Subaru Forrester, $2,500…. 330 000 Kl, if it packs up, hey! Not a huge loss. All I had to do now is wait for the borders to open, which they did a couple of weeks later. I was on my way.
Exmouth is a beautiful spot, Cape Range National Park, Ningaloo Reef, I’ve been here many times, when jack was young this was one of our playgrounds, swimming with Whale Sharks, diving, snorkelling, fishing, back then we had all the toys, 4 wheel drive, camper trailer, boat, and everything that goes with it. Last time was with Magda a few years ago, which you can read about in an earlier post. This time it’s just me and the Scooby doo. It was good to be on the road again and there weren’t many people around, I Visited a few old haunts and the pub was open.
After a couple of weeks the Kimberly opened up and it was on to Broom to have a beer with my old mate Patrick who is fixing up everyone’s water problems up there. Another playground from the past. On the road to Cape Leveque we camped for 2 months at Quondong Point, about 50K north of Broome when Jack was about 5yo, no fresh water, no power just rugged beautiful country, fantastic beaches and all the fish you can catch. It hasn’t changed much in 20 odd years except there is a bit more bitumen on the way in. A fantastic place to camp and wait for the Northern Territory to open it’s border, which it did on 17th July.

I’d made the trip to Kununurra a few days prior to the 17th a regular oasis in the middle of dry rugged country with Lake Argyle, a man made freshwater reservoir, part of the Ord River Irrigation scheme and if I wasn’t in such a hurry to get out of WA I might have stayed longer, but I was in a hurry to explore new ground, so I was up at 5am and an hour later I was in the Northern Territory. I was thinking to have a couple of days in Katherine but on arrival it was nothing like I’d imagined and after a quick drive through town, I continued on to Darwin. I was here in 1975 when I first came to Australia. On Christmas eve 1974, Cyclone Tracy came through here and flattened the city and surrounding area. I came up from Sydney looking for work rebuilding the City. A very different Place now after the rebuild and 40 years of development. Cities don’t grab me normally but I knew immediately I was going to spend some time here. Blue skies, water everywhere, lots of greenery, trees and a huge variety of birds, no wonder Charles decided to stay here. So what shall I do while I’m here?
I Hadn’t done any Tai Chi for a while, so that became a regular morning activity, my Bahasa Indonesia is shocking for the amount of time I’ve been there, so the library became another place to spend time trying to improve, long walks, on the esplanade, east point, and many other places around the harbour. The car was still my home and I spent many an afternoon in the shade around Mindil beach where I met Chris and Brent, a couple of van dwellers who like me choose to live on the fringe of this messed up, man made world. Darwin is an easy place, I was never harassed by the Police, they would drive past and it’s obvious we are living in vehicles but if your not drinking on the street, they don’t bother you in Darwin.
I was parked on the esplanade asleep in the back of the car one night, unseen by anyone on the outside because of the tinted windows. The pubs were emptying and the nightclubs were no doubt filling up in Mitchell Street which runs parallel to the Esplanade, I was woken by a bunch of young men/boys who parked up, not next to me but one bay away, they were very drunk and loud, one fell against the car, I thought OK they will go soon, just stay cool, his mates were laughing, he kicked the car, more laughter, I still thought they will go soon, then he started karate kicking my mirror, that was it. I climbed out of the car all 5ft 6 of me looking fierce in my underpants, his mates saw me first, ha ha, the look on their faces was classic, they backed up behind their truck, Oh fuck, sorry, sorry, we’re really sorry, one got his wallet out which was full of fifties,(privileged white boys) here take this for the damage, the jerk turned round and saw me, Oh fuck, sorry, sorry. “Look just go and leave me alone Ok! no harm done”. He threw $100 at me and they dragged the jerk away before he started karate kicking me. I climbed back in the car shaking my head with a smile on my face, lay there a while, climbed out jumped in the driving seat and moved the car. They would be back later and I didn’t want to be there when they did. Easiest $100 I ever made Ha Ha!!!

It was getting warm sleeping in the car, the temperature was rising and the locals were telling me the build up was coming before the wet. I’d been in Darwin about a month and enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere here but it was time to move on. I’d already been down to Lichfield for a few days whilst here and dropped into Kakadu on the way out, all great country with rivers, waterfalls, and camping but all tourisised for the masses, I could have gone on a river trip to see the jumping crocodiles get fed on dead chickens amongst other things but I’m sure it would be nothing on the river cruises we did in the Kimberley when I had the boat and 4 wheel drive. Some of those rivers were crawling with big saltys laying around on the banks and cruising past the boat.
So mostly I just drove through, checking out the odd waterfall on my way south to three ways. You gotta love some of the names of places in Australia, Threeways ,simple, you can go south, north or east. I would be going east, on my way to the rain forests of north Queensland. I hadn’t looked at any maps, no need, there aren’t a lot of roads to choose from in NT. 5 days later I was on the last stretch to the coast, Charters Tower to Townsville. I had intended to spend a few days in Townsville but after 5 days outback, the flyovers and traffic were all a bit much so just continued on to Cairns. When I arrived in Cairns it was the same so kept going until finally stopping at Palm Cove north of Cairns, took a deep breath and found what I always look for first, somewhere to shower. I must have been ripe after 5 days in the bush.
In the early 80’s we did a trip up the east coast in a kombi, full of clothes from Bali amongst other things, we, being me and my partner at that time, Susy. I’d decided that little import business was coming to an end and with stock left over we were doing the markets as we went, earning a few bob along the way. Kuranda markets up in the rain forest was just getting started, a bunch of hippies selling their wares. So of course, I had to check out the markets, I found a very different market, closed in and without feeling, It’s been 40 years, nothing is quite the same except the natural wonder of the country up here, the rain forests, the rivers, the falls, the beaches, The Great Barrier Reef. Port Douglas is now a tourist town full of holiday apartments, motels, hotels, BIG and small camper vans and me, in the Scooby Doo. I would hang around here for a couple of weeks doing trips up to Cape Tribulation The Daintree River, Mosman Gorge and beyond. Soaking up the energy from this Natural place.

Indonesia decided it would open it’s Border on the 11th September, it was now late august, at this point I was still waiting to go home, if I was allowed out of Australia that is. There are people down south I wanted to visit as I was in Queensland so decided to make my way south to Brisbane. Stopped in Cairns a couple of days, Townsville a couple more but mostly just kept going. It was getting colder, Indonesia had changed it’s mind. I wasn’t going home anytime soon.

I Am…. The Lonesome Traveller….The Journey Continues…..Be Happy