Mishaps

Along the way on the road there always seems to be mishaps. Little things and sometimes big things that coin the phrase, "Remember when...I was the sickest ever, lost my luggage, got a flat tyre during a hurricane,  came face to face with a spider that may or may not have been one of the most poisonous in the world."

Mishaps have the same chance of occurring on the road as much as in regular life. There really is no difference. As a traveller, by default you're pushed into dealing with the moment right away in lots of cases.  The plane lost all your luggage and you only have one clean pair of underwear - next thing you know you're in some exotic destination looking for underwear.

With that, here's a few moments of what one might call mishaps, or depending on one's perspective, are all part of the journey with a lesson and tell a story all on their own.

This spider got in our van the very first day we had bought our van and were in a campground. We knew there was a Blue Mountains funnel web spider that was very dangerous and didn't know if this was it. We were pretty sure it wasn't a funnel web, but still, we had only been in Australia around 96 hours or so. We later found out this was a Huntsman spider, which do not cause serious harm. Huntsman spiders became our unofficial mascot spider as we had plenty of run ins finding them in our boots, on the van and crawling around on Chris's back.

We once lived in a house that we caught 98 mice during the summer season in which Chris set and emptied all the traps except one. He made me set and empty one, so he was not thrilled to have to be setting traps in the van. 

But I told him to perk up, we'd catch the mice quickly and smile for the camera, which he did. 

Four sleepness nights later we never did catch the mouse. 

He just decided to leave all on his own. 

This was a tragedy, some child left their monkey at the cafe. We put him on display so he could be reclaimed, but unfortunately the owner must have been one of the many people just passing through town and never were able to come back and claim their monkey. 

Working in a kitchen, no matter how careful, it seems the kitchen staff always got at least one good burn. Chris and the cook were always comparing who had the worst burn at the time. 

I spilled hot, near boiling tea water all over my hand.  

Not the best picture because I was trying to work quickly for Chris' sake. When we were in the Atherton Tablelands looking for Tree Kangaroos where there is a plant called stinging nettle. Even the slightest brush up against it can be severely painful. Walking in the forest taking care to stay on the trail, Chris thought he saw a tree kangaroo high up in the canopy. As he strained his neck upwards to look his right calf went back just a few inches and touched stinging nettle. Immediately he felt a burning pain. 

We turned around as fast as we could for the van and drove into a town. Thankfully we got to the pharmacy just before closing. All the warning signs advise to get medical attention immediately if you come into contact with stinging nettle and Chris accidentally had the plant brush again a golf ball size of exposed skin and the pain was severe. The woman at the pharmacy said she's had full grown men in tears come in to get relief and there was one reported case of death from the plant. 

Luckily it was such a small spot and we could self treat, but I can't imagine if someone's skin was exposed to a large area. As the nettles embed themselves in the skin and one of the forms of treatment is to pull them out with melted hot wax. So on top of a hurting leg Chris got his leg hair ripped out. There is sensitivity to the skin for months afterwards, particularly to cold water. We were worried Chris wouldn't enjoy diving on the Great Barrier Reef in two months time, but he was able to without discomfort.

Remembering that we had a tow bar was such a painful lesson that I seemed to need to repeat every couple of months. 

Oh that tow bar got me more times than I'd like to say. 

After owning them for over five years, my sunnies finally broke. 

I guess there's worse things. 

Like not having anywhere to live because all the trees are getting cut down or you are getting eaten alive by a dog that should have been under control but was not. 

Or having your flip flop break while walking our on rough rocks during low tide, only to have the tide coming in around as our pace had slowed due to no shoes. Then not being able to move quick enough across the rocks as the water level rose over our knees mixed with baby shark fins swimming around us driving poor Chris to have to walk barefoot across rough coral and get cuts.

I held off on telling anyone about these last pictures for ages as I was to embarrassed to share. We are managers, house sitters, child care watchers and people that get entrusted with lots of responsibility. I couldn't admit such an accident happened on my watch. 

I set our van on fire. 

It all happened one quiet morning in the middle of no where just after we finished working on the potato farm. We were so excited to be on the road again and we were in a free designated camp spot and I was boiling hot water. The tea towel got a little too close to the stove and in a second the entire back of the van was a ball of flame. All I could do was yell a four letter that started with "f" and wasn't 'fire.' Chris started pulling things out of the side of the van and in a few seconds that felt like ages I weighed out whether I thought I had enough time without getting blown up to try and turn the gas off of the stove and get the propane bottle out of the van. I distinctly remember reflecting that nothing was worth dying for and assessed we had a chance to at least try to get control of the fire. 

The ball of flame that we saw and I thought was going to engulf our van was the tea towel. It burned without a trace in about thirty seconds and it was mostly over. Our pillows, the van and some other items all had some degree of fire retardant to them and the difference was obvious. I know there is some controversy about the chemicals of fire retardants, but that invention kept the van from going up in smoke. 

So Chris got a bit of stinging nettle, we had some resident mice for a while, I almost dislodged my knee on our tow bar and once I set the van on fire.

 In the end we made it through. We are all capable to making it through whatever lies ahead of us. Whether we are in our back yard or 30,000 miles around the globe, all of us possess the strength to meet whatever challenges lay in front of us. It's how we view and react to what's going on around us that either makes or breaks the lesson. I know I choose to try and take the lesson as an event that helped prevent a worse consequence later down the road. I certainly would not have wanted to go through the stress of setting the van on fire for nothing.

The Call of the Road

Pavement, dirt, dust, pot holes, unknown barriers, music, sunsets - to me there has always been something so inviting about a road trip. Having driven over 50,000 kms /31,068 mles around Australia, I'd stake a claim it is one of the best countries in the world to take a road trip. The continent is so big, comparable to the size of the United States, and offers the excitement of remoteness, animals that can kill you and a need to stock up with supplies for weeks fostering the spirit of the road to be so strong and alive. 

For anyone looking for the ultimate road trip, I invite you to have a look at a small piece of ours. 

Welcome to the road. 

Sometimes the only place to sleep was in a ditch.

We drove approx 400 kms/ 250 miles of back roads to Millstream Chichester National Park. It took us a day and a half to make the journey. We had one other traveller pass us, at a much faster pace as well as mining vehicles. With the old van on the washboard road we kept it to about 30 km per hour/ 18.6 mi per hour as we had to continually tighten the screws all over the van. 

Some remark that they are uncomfortable with the outback, "There is nothing there. Too remote for me. It's flat for as long as the eye can see. Who would want to go there?" 

 I see the wide open spaces full of a special beauty and colour that tell a story, inviting me to dance amongst them.  

Driving to Python Pool in Millstream Chichester National Park. 

Cooking up dinner and look at all the luxuries - a chair and table, stove in the back of the van that neither of us had to bend over and tons of room to store food and water. There was a warm spring nearby to wash all the dust off and life was good. 

To me there has always been something about red earth beneath my feet that pulses an energy through my body.  

Who are all those people parked out by the light house? Backpackers. We never knew where we'd find a home for the night. Every municipality handled travellers slightly different, but one thing was fact: there were people (both Aussies and visitors) travelling all over the country in vehicles and a lot of people were not going to pay for camping each and every single night.

We got this photo taking a ferry out to Rottnest Island.

Neatly parked by this light house near the city of Perth was where a lot of back packers and travellers slept the night. Some towns had an official spot for people to free camp whereas other towns heavily patrolled with rangers to ensure no one was free camping. It all depended on the township and we went with the flow. After a year and a half we ended up sleeping in a lot of random places. Our parents favourite was when we'd call them early in the morning as we were just waking up and remark how we slept down by the river, under a bridge, again.  

A typical night's sleeping spot. 

We slept on the side of the road a lot.  

Then we'd drive to some bathroom which was usually marked on the maps we'd pick up along the way. All in all, most of the bath rooms were usuable and it was such an annoyance when someone deliberately left them messy. Having functional and clean bathrooms is one of the biggest general health concerns for both locals and visitors. Australia does deserve credit for providing a lot of well maintained public bathrooms. 

Look at all the scones! Chris was so excited for brekki this morning as we got all these scones reduced from a bakery the day before. 

Some days were a little rough in the van. We loved the way our van was set up, however, occasionally we would have to get an item out of the way back which required lifting the biggest and heaviest board. So many times Chris would hear me yelling as I pinched my fingers or grunted trying to lift the heaviest board as it crushed me. I'd lose my leverage point getting myself stuck under the weight of the board and eventually Chris would stop laughing at my kicking my feet and come and set me free.  

Other times I would be all wrapped up while cleaning the van. 

Chris would say less play and more organizing so we could go explore. In my defense I think I did a pretty good job keeping focused when cleaning the van. 

We celebrated Chris thirtieth birthday in Alice Springs which is the big town in the middle of Australia. That old van, our home on wheels, gave us many celebrations and memories during our time down under.  

As Jack Kerouac said, 

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road.” 

Life on the road has a beat all it's own. Whenever I go back to living in a house I stop finding the people living out of their cars. I know they are out there. And someday I'll be out there again too. 

Backpacker Life

Getting a new job can be interesting all on its own. Getting a new job in another country, even more interesting. Getting a new job while in a new country and living out of a van, that's when things get funky. Thousands of people are doing just that all over the world and for a while we joined the crowd.

That's us with our trusty 1989 Mitsubishi Express van driving around the country looking for jobs. 

For about six months we worked at a cafe in the mining town of Port Hedland on the West coast, south of Broome.



That's the town. There was a constant coat of the rusty coloured iron ore dust on everything.

The port is the largest iron ore port in the world and there was constantly ships sailing in and out. 

The ships have to get guided in by tug boats. We made lots of friends with captains, controllers, tug boat drivers and mine workers who gave us all the inside scoop and gossip. For a while there was a big debate whether a salt water crocodile had been spotted as far south as Port or whether it was myth.

One of the aspects of being a long term traveller is to find ways to cut costs. If we have a van that we are comfortable living out of, why pay for rent? This parking lot was home for about three months. As we worked early and late at the cafe, our van blended right in. We had a few neighbours that parked in the lot as well. All of us were quiet, respectful, actually cleaned garbage up from the parking lot not causing any trouble or notice. Can you even find our van in there?

 

There we are on the right in the nice shady spot. We had the best spot in the lot.



As so many people came into Port Hedland to work in high paying jobs in the mine, there was a huge need for transient workers to fill in the hospitality and service sector roles. There was a large backpacker community and this is what a typical Sunday afternoon would look like. Anyone who has ever lived out of a vehicle knows there is always something that will need to dry.

We meet lots of people and these are our French friends Joe and Helen that we still keep in touch with.

They had a super cool car. It used to be an ambulance.

Working and living out of a vehicle can be quite the feat and everyone had their own style and set up. 

This fellow backpacker had a 3am shift he had to get up for as a cook in a mining camp. I did not envy his schedule. 

Watching the sun rise turning and twisting the sky from grey to reds, pinks and blues we'd watch the morning come as we looked out to the ocean while eating breakfast. The local race track would exercise the horses up and down the beach in the morning and we'd have a shower here.



This was where an abandoned cat lived that I called ' Roxy Kitty.' Homeless and feral cats are a huge problem in Australia because they eat the native birds who otherwise would not have them as predators. Although I do not usually endorse feeding animals, I feed Roxy Kitty because secretly I hoped his owners would return and then at least there was one less hungry cat that might otherwise eat a bird. Roxy Kitty usually only liked milk and wet cat food and would sometimes pick at dry cat food. Lots of different people seemed to look after Roxy Kitty. However at the cafe this wonderfully friendly and definitely homeless black cat started showing up. Then she showed up with four kittens. We did give them water to drink as they were such a disgusting pile of neglect. There was just no one to give the cats to and eventually I had to go and get a cage and call the Rangers to come and get them. It was only going to be five more reproductive feral cats scrounging around for a terrible existence of suffering. So while I'm talking about this, please follow Bob Barkers advice and have your pets spayed and neutered. I cried all night long when I was catching those kittens as I knew they would be put down and it was my hands that put them into a cage.



Working at the cafe we got to learn so many new skills and meet so many amazing people.



No, Chris did not kill the pig, he just cooked it. This was for a big catering event.



The same event flew in this living statue from Perth. As people's alcohol intake increased so did their amazement with the living statue. I talked to her afterwards and she was a very nice young lady going to university. She almost didn't apply for the job because it was in the 'adults' section of the newspaper. She called anyway to check it out and sure enough it was legit and she's been a living statue all over Australia helping to pay for university.

There was all sorts of fancy arrangements and snow! They hired someone to make snow in the Pilbra which is like making snow for Death Valley National Park, USA.

Sign *I* made for new staff at cafe.

Before working in the cafe I didn't even know what these coffees were. I'm a born American. I grew up believing the best coffee came from a Mr Coffee Maker and occasionally if I really wanted a treat I'd go to Starbucks and they would put some Carmel in the black water. I learned there's a huge difference between how Americans and Austrlian/European countries are conditioned to drink coffee. I didn't understand how hundreds of people would come into the cafe day after day to pay $5.00 for a cappuccino.  For weeks I practiced my barista skills, holding the frothing jug just right, pulling the shot, pouring the milk at just the right consistency. I drank and talked a lot of coffee to try and understand the art. Then one day, poof, I had it. It was late morning and I carefully crafted the milk into a cup and as I took a sip of the creamy froth I said, "I get it - this is what good coffee is supposed to taste like." I've never been able to go back since. Even when we came home for six weeks for my sisters wedding, my dad gifted me a basic espresso machine for my birthday. Now I drink cappuccinos every day and my life has been better since. 

Living in one area for multiple seasons has some advantages like watching a flat back turtle hatchling emerge to the world.  Flat back turtles are a very unique species of turtle found only to nest in Australia. 

Hatchlings are so small and helpless it's estimated only about 1 in 1000 will live till a reproductive age. Flat back are listed on the IUCN Red List of endangered species. 

Not the very best of pictures, but that is Chris impatiently waiting for me to stop taking pictures as we were taking two of our house sitting dogs for a walk on the beach. By working in the cafe it didn't take long till we knew just about everybody in town. As people are always leaving Port Hedland to go somewhere else to visit family or go on vacation there was a high need for house sitting. Our last three months we house sat for people back to back. It was quite a luxury and made for a wonderful win-win scenario. 

We made many great friends during our time in Port which is another bonus of long term travel. Bonds happen so quickly when sharing time together as transient workers. No one has a particular lot of belongings with them yet everyone (we interacted with) was willing to share. There is something so sincere about opening yourself up to others and the rewards of long lasting warm friendships linger deeply in my bones. 

As the sun set and our working visa expired we bid our goodbyes to the Pilbra. 

We did love our time at the Silver Star. It is said of many places, once you live there, it is in your blood. The Pilbra is in our blood- to live and work or volunteer in a place, it becomes a part of you. Long term travel allows one the luxury of becoming part of a community and a chance to dig your toes into the dirt. If you are age thirty or under, many nationalities are allowed a working holiday visa once in their life to Australia and New Zealand. If you don't use it you lose it. So jump on a plane and you may just find your self in the middle of nowhere calling the Pilbra your home too.