Next on the Aussie blog: Drama! Excitement! Heartbreak!
G’day everyone! Boy do I have a lot to tell you.
So when I last left off we were camping on the most beautiful campsite we will probably ever camp on. We were able to look at stars for the first time on our trip, and boy were they gorgeous. It wasn’t the best sleep I had, but waking up on top of the world with a first hand view of everything amazing made it all better.
We ate some breakfast (cold canned food), packed up our belongings and headed out. At the bottom of the ridge we had found a path that we decided to take. It lead to a beach that no one seemed to go to. Blocking off the beach were some large rocky cliffs. Kyle and John decided to walk around these cliffs, into the water, with all of there belongings in garbage bags to keep them safe. I thought that it was a foolish risk and opted for the extra 15 minutes walking back to the road. They were able to get to the other side without getting their packs wet, and told me I missed the best part of the trip. I still don’t regret it.
We then walked the beach to another beach, where we decided to swim. After drying off we walked the rest of that beach, which was probably 3 or 4 kilometers. We got to a road when I realized that I had left my water bladder back on the beach. It took me close to an hour to walk there and back. I have the burns on my legs to prove it.
I got back to the guys, rested, and started walking on a road that kept going uphill. I was very tired by the time that Matt pulled up next to us, asking how we had gotten there. When we told him that we walked, he told us to get in. He would drive us to Cresent Head, our next desitination.
Matt was listening to Janis Joplin’s greatest hits album. He was drinking a beer. We were driving on a terribly bumpy dirt road. He saved us a lot of walking.
He showed us around Cresent Head and then dropped us off on the main street. From there we called a hostel that picked us up. They picked us up in a Land Rover that smelled musky. “Oh yeah,” the man said. “A few weeks ago I was driving and all of a sudden the road had about six feet of water on it!” Good Lord! How did he get out? “Well we got up on the surfboards on the top and paddled for 14 kilometers!” I then understood why the seats were a bit damp.
We hung out at that hostel (Surfari) for a day, then got a ride into Kempsey. From there we were able to get a ride down the Pacific Highway from a nice man named Lindsay. Lindsay had been married before, but his marriage fell apart. He was a male nurse, so he then went from state to state in Australia, working. He had finally returned home because his mother was ill and needed a nurse.
He told us he’d drive us about 40 kilometers down the highway, which was 40km out of his way. We thanked him very much. He made a suggestion of a town that we should visit before going to our destination of Coff’s Harbour, the next big city. South West Rocks, he said. Kyle had read about it and it seemed like a nice place.
When we arrived Lindsay proceeded to show us around the entire town. It turns out that he grew up in South West Rocks, and knew everything you can know about the place. He must have drove around this small town for an hour, turning down every road. I was actually having a great time.
He then drove us about five kilometers out of town. We had asked if there was a good spot to camp for free, so he brought us here. He would often drive out here to fish and then fall asleep. We gave him five dollars to which he went to go spend on beer. I’m pretty sure the drinking and driving laws in this country aren’t very strict.
So now we were nowhere. We ended up walking back into town, not happy with where Lindsay had dropped us off. We got a ride with some nice German guys who had rented a camper van for 4 weeks. They dropped us off on the highway.
Now it was getting dark and we saw storm clouds approaching. No worries, it looked like it wasn’t going to hit us. We were wrong.
Let me just say this: Mom and Dad, thank you for my birthday present. The waterproof jacket came in very handy that night.
We were soaked and on the side of the highway, hoping someone would pick up some hitchhikers in the pouring rain, lightning crashing down. Yeah, that horror movie cliche. That was us.
Our stuff, on the side of the road, almost got swept up in a current created by the rain. It kept getting bigger and bigger. Finally the rain stopped, and our stuff was okay. Well, it wasn’t submerged in water. We had rain bags for them, but we didn’t know how well they held up.
Just when everything was looking it’s bleakest, Nathan pulled up. “Where’re you goin’?” he said. “Anywhere!” we said. He then got out of the car, put his beer bottle on top of the roof, and helped us put our stuff in the back seat.
He dropped us off at a 24 hour service station in Macksville. I was able to find a room about a block down in a place that looked like it had used to be a brothel. But it was cheap, and we needed to dry our stuff.
John, on the other hand, hadn’t been impressed with the amount of money he was spending. Kyle and I offered to cover the room and he could just stay there, but John had his pride. He was just going to sleep out on a bench or something.
I didn’t want to argue. If he didn’t want to sleep inside tonight, then that was fine with me. I mean, we were in Macksville. What could go wrong?
I woke up, took a shower, and then found out that John had been mugged in the middle of the night. He was sleeping on a bench outside of a grocery store when an Aboriginal man creeped up, looked at him, grabbed his guitar case, and ran off. It was all caught on camera.
Inside his guitar case, amoung other things, was his guitar, his Macbook laptop, his digital camera, and his wallet.
The guitar and case turned up pretty quickly. It has been sent off to Port Macquarie for fingerprinting. Everything else has yet to be recovered.
The people of Macksville have been incredibly kind though. It’s a small town where everyone knows each other, so it’s more than likely they will find the guy who robbed John. We just don’t know if the belongings will turn up.
So we’ve been hanging around Macksville for a couple days while John gets his banking stuff sorted out. We may be out of here by tomorrow, but we’ll see.
So that’s the update. I’m currently at Macksville Library, using their computer. Everyone knows about “the Canadian who got mugged” and has been helping John out a lot. It’s really great to see.
Anyways, when more news comes about, I’ll be sure to post it. Thanks for reading this long one, but I think it was worth it. Until next time!
9 months ago • 0 notes