It took me two months to find the van, normally, that would drive me crazy, I’m not a great fan of searching for second hand vehicles and often would just buy something to get it over with. It had to be right though and I knew the right one was out there, I just had to find it. I was staying in Serpentine, an hour south of Perth, Brents place, 5 acres of countryside with a horse in the paddock, swimming pool, birds, Rommel the Bull Mastiff and peace and quiet. I was a pool guy again and after a few years sitting on my veranda watching Wayan doing my pool in Bali with a beer in hand, now Brent could watch me. A couple of times a week it was no hardship to go for a ride on the Triumph and drop into a few places to look at yet another van. After 2 months I came across the VW Transporter, looked good, drove well and the price was right, so I bought it and was sure I’d done well. The back seats had to come out and it was turned into a camper, very basic but all I need is a bed, a kitchen, bit of a desk, some shelving, a fridge and power to run the fridge. All that took another 2 months and I was ready for the off.
I’d like to blame the van but it was all my fault!! I stopped off in Manjimup for the night at Pete and Julies and hit the road the following morning. It was great to be mobile again but I was definitely not in Lonesome mode yet. I was about 100kl west of Esperance, it was going to be dark soon so pulled into an off the road parking spot, got in the back and realised I needed to be facing the opposite way so my head would be higher than my feet. The side door was open slightly when I started her up turned her round and braked. The door flew back and just kept going until it and a few bits and pieces ended up on the ground. I gaped at what I had just done and said to myself, cos there was no one else around to say it for me, You F…ing Eejit!!!!
The door was Heavy, I got it off the ground and up against the side of the van but there was no way I was going to get it into position and get three lots of wheels into runners, and it wouldn’t fit into the hole to get it to Esperance, so I was stuffed. Not a thing I could do about it, so I cracked open a beer, sat and stared at the almost full moon and decided to forget about it till morning. Just as I was about to climb in the back for the night, I heard the Truck pulling in. “G’Day! Staying the night? this is the best spot along this stretch of road”. “That was the plan” I said, “Where you headed?” I’m delivering this load to Esperance tomorrow. “My door fell off”!! He wandered over, “Where are you headed?” “Byron Bay” “Your facing the wrong way” I explained what happened, “Better get it back on then” he said. The two of us got it back on, Thank you Tom the Truckie. The following morning as the sun was rising I stuck my head out the window, Tom was already on the way to Esperance.
I only had 5 days to get to Byron if I was to get to the Blues Festival so off I went. Norsman is the beginning of the long haul to South Australia and once there it’s just driving, stopping to fill up driving filling up sleeping, pretty soon you hit the Nullabour (the treeless plain) and the longest straight road in Australia, 145kl, the sign said as I was passing. I heard on the news, Brisbane had some new covid cases!! Ah Ha! On through SA to Broken hill and NSW, I was on this road in 2013, I realised, coming the other way after picking up the Harley that I’d shipped to Brisbane from New Jersey. I had 4 days that time to get to a wedding in WA and I made it, Just. Brisbane was in lock down, one of the new cases had spent some time in Byron Bay but was now back in Brisbane. Mmmm!! The towns are more plentiful now and once past Cobar, it happens slowly but the countryside changes and just gets richer and richer everything is green rather than brown. The country begins to get hilly there are more roads to choose from, I’d forgotten what beautiful country it was in northern NSW. The nurse who was in Byron with Covid had passed it on to a bloke in the pub, this doesn’t look good!! I was no longer in such a hurry to get to Byron. I’d rung VW in Lismore to book the van in for a service after Easter. I stopped there for the night To check the place out and wait for more news. It was Wednesday the 31 March, Byron wasn’t locked down yet, so I made the short journey, the festival was starting tomorrow. On Wednesday afternoon the festival was cancelled. Byron was taking precautions, the mask was back on the face but places were still open.
I woke up on Thursday with no Blues to go to, messaged my friend Maggi who lives here, no answer, decided to go up to Nimbin. Lots of NSW had been flooded this last week and on the road up there, the rain came down and it was magical, the winding road through the forest, up the mountains down into the valley’s, the rain belonged there.
When I arrived in Sydney in the early 70’s, there was a house in Lavender Bay on the harbour, an old timber house. The occupants were a bunch of travellers from all over the globe and they changed all the time, as people came and went. I have no idea who signed the lease and paid the rent. I didn’t live there but was there most of the time. Jock used to appear, spend a couple of months and disappear again up to Nimbin, there was always plenty of weed when Jock was around. Back then Nimbin was becoming the cannabis counterculture, Today the hippies are still there, the social experiment continues, with communes still going, weed in abundance, rainbows painted on most shops and buildings and placed in the middle of the mountains, it’s like going back in time. I arrived around lunch time, got out the brolly and walked down one side of the street and back up the other side, half an hour at most. Not one offer of buying the local commodity, What’s wrong with me I thought? Ok, I’ll go have a beer and a bit of lunch, on my way to the pub, Pssst! need anything? Pssst wanna buy some weed, Pssst! You looking? Ah! That’s Better!
I got a call from Maggie who said to come to her place, I stayed in Nimbin that night and headed back to Byron the following day, Good Friday. Maggie and I have crossed paths many times, starting in Cornwall in the 70’s, her timber house in Byron is set amongst the trees, so when she invited me to stay for a few days of course I said yes, the van was booked in for Tuesday, a weekend sitting on her balcony watching the rain and catching up, sounded good, then I would go north to warmer climes.
In the service they discovered oil in the cooling system, a common fault for the Transporter apparently, Earliest they could get it done was 2 weeks and don’t drive it far! the door, they said, couldn’t be fixed and sent me to a body shop on the other side of town. They said, come back in a couple of days. How far is far, I should have asked? Back to Byron, Maggi had no problem with me staying another couple of weeks and was happy for the company. Couple of days later back at the body shop the guys were looking at the door. “Have you seen this oil leak” he asks? He showed me the oil on his workshop floor and all over the engine, I’d driven about 100kl since the service, how far is far?? This car should have never left the workshop!!!! I left it where it was and the body shop fella took me up to VW to speak with the head mechanic, he’s still telling me I can drive it to Byron and can bring it back in 2 weeks!!! I told him I’m not driving it anywhere and left them to sort out how to get it back to his workshop. Two weeks of early morning beach walks, country drives for pub lunches, (in Maggie’s car) and catching up on old times was nice.
The van was booked in for the 21st, I wrung them on the 20th to make sure they had it at the workshop, Yes, fantastic! Should be ready on the 22nd then, I will ring when it;s ready, I was told. On the 22nd I get the call, They are waiting for a bolt to arrive, might be ready next week!!!!! The bolt wouldn’t arrive for 2 months so they used the old one, after three weeks I had the van back, the door is half fixed, I have a new water cooler but there is still oil in the water, although only a trace so $2500 for half a job but all I wanted was to get the VAN away from these clowns, I’ll find a back yard mechanic next time I need some work done. I said my farewells to Maggi, left Byron and stopped for supplies in Lismore, I was on my way west, headed for SA for a trip up the middle, then realised I was getting low on supplies I might have difficulty getting once on the road.
It was Mardi Grass in Nimbin this weekend, I should have a look before I head off, I arrived on Thursday, Friday, the small village in the mountains had road blocks going in and out, the swat teams were wandering about in their flack jackets, with guns, and surly looks and the hippies were smiling, smoking their weed, dancing in the street and generally having a good time ignoring them.
It’s a very political festival, Australia’s version of Canada’s 4 – 20 which I happened upon a few years ago in Vancouver. These days marijuana is legal in many countries, in Vancouver one walks into a shop and buys what they want. In Australia, the government sends in Swat teams to keep the peace, Ha Ha Ha, guess they don’t know the counter culture is all about peace. I couldn’t leave, I’d sampled some of the delights whilst there, THC stays in the system for days, weeks, months, depending on many things, so if you smoked a joint last week it can still be in your system a week later. If your tested and positive, you lose your car for 24 hours and possibly your licence. For smoking a joint last week?? It was all over on Sunday but on Monday the boys in blue were still blocking the road out. On Tuesday I got up at 5am and sneaked out. Another night in Byron and I was on my way to warmer climes.
I Am….The Lonesome Traveller….The Journey Continues….Be Happy!
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