The Kindness of Friends

I'm writing this from Perth; Nat's house, specifically. It's Friday morning. Nothing, so far has gone to plan. Everything, so far, has been wonderful.

I had grand plans to leave Exmouth last Wednesday. My schedule for the week was to be as follows:

Sunday 17th Jan - last day of work at the Pub

Monday 18th Jan - pack in AM/staff Christmas party at Town Beach in afternoon/night

Tuesday 19th Jan - get act together

Wednesday 20th Jan - drive to Perth

Thurs-Sunday 21-24th Jan - get act further together/visit with friends in Perth

Monday 25th Jan - begin road trip to Melbourne (where I'd catch the ferry to Tasmania), via Uluru

So. Last day at the pub was successful. I worked, I didn't cry, I hugged many, many people. Monday morning plans to begin packing went out the window when Manager Jess asked if I wanted to go snorkeling on the west side with her and her Mom who was visiting from Victoria. Obviously that was the better option (I had to say goodbye to the reef!), so away we went!

Last day pouring at the Pub!

@ Turquoise Bay with Manager Jess

We both were sun safe - wore long sleeves, lots of sunscreen, etc. We both neglected the back of our legs. As you will notice from the above photo, Jess is VERY fair skinned. Neglecting the back of her legs was a BAD IDEA. While I have developed quite a base tan (I am, in fact, probably the tannest I've ever been in my life), I forgot that the long-sleeved bathing suit I was wearing (for sun safety!) also cuts higher on the bum than my usual bikinis. My butt cheeks got COOKED. So we've spent the last week texting each other about how much it hurts to sit down/the gross peeling action happening. I digress.

After a very successful morning snorkel (Jess is actually Steve Irwin. She found us two sharks and three turtles!), we headed back to town to get supplies together for the staff party. Short story: awesome party.

Sophie and Jess were on food duty, Tai supervising

Michael, Corey & Paul

Jesse Cook, Channy, Flo, & Jimmy

Puppy & Tai

Sophie cooking with an assist by Tiarna

Around this time, Manager Jess (I have to specify because you'll notice there were three Jesses at this party. The Potshot employs 5. So you have to be specific) reminded me that I wanted to take tons of photos so I started snapping selfies with everyone. Here is a sampling:

Flo

Flo & Jimmy

Puppy

Jess

Sophie

Taitgen

Jimmy

Channy

I then proceeded to piss everyone off by making them take not one, but two staff photos. Because the clouds looked so beautiful!

The whole night was madness and mayhem (aided by John popping an olive oil pourer onto a bottle of tequila and dumping it straight into our mouths) and absolute joy!

Jess, Flo & Soph

T, Channy, Jess, Flo, Soph

Paul & Jimmy

Sophie

Tuesday was supposed to be "get your shit together, Kate, damnit" day (*Sorry for the Truck Talk, Mom Mom and Mrs. Dunn!*). As we all know by now, I was less than successful. I ran around doing things that needed doing, but I had promised my friends Matt and Kayla that we'd hang out! So we did. At the pub. So then, oops, I was there til it closed. And then, since they closed a little early, a whole crew of us migrated to one of the breweries in town and stayed there til close. We spent the last couple of hours agreeing that I would not be leaving Wednesday. 

Kayla & Matt

My grey-headed twin, Stewie

So Wednesday dawned, bright and clear, and I did a second attempt at my Tuesday plans. I didn't mention, but at least part of the reason I was so unsuccessful with my packing plans was that Sandra, David and Rob were also in the process of packing up the house to move out! So much of my avoidance of packing was aided by helping them move - loading trailers, carrying furniture, helping to unpack. I paid a visit to Welshie in the morning at his house, since I wasn't going to see him, and found out that he would be in town for a doctor's appointment in the afternoon... and was going to call into the pub afterwards. 

Welshie

So suddenly I had a motivator: one last night of hanging with my friends Welshie and Stu at the pub, but ONLY if I was packed. Wouldn't ya know it, a bit of motivation was just what I needed. Got myself packed, dropped off all the random belongings that I'd accumulated that weren't mine (like Kayla's yoga mat, and the bike I was giving to Puppy), and had everything ready to load up! Made my way to the pub again where all my coworkers teased me for still being in town. Well worth it to spend my last night hanging with some of my favorite people!

Welshie and Stu

I had my alarm set for 4:45 but woke up at 3:15 and was wide awake. I laid in bed for maybe 15 minutes before deciding I was being silly and should just get up and get moving! By the time I dithered about, worrying that I might have forgotten something important, it was 4:15 and I was as ready as I was gonna be. 

Met my first Echidna on my drive out of town!

With just me driving, I took lots of breaks to stretch my legs; the whole trip to Perth took me 14 hours. But I made it without incident! My plan for Perth was to scramble about... see friends, buy an esky (cooler), get a couple of things for my car, and then hopefully leave Sunday or Monday, latest. Nat and Mick, bless them, nodded along when I told them my plan of attack. They nodded along when I told them I was going to take a route that would be several hundred miles worth of dirt track. They nodded when I said I was going to leave Monday, when I said I thought I was pretty well prepared, when I told them I was going to spend a few days visiting Uluru in the middle of the country before carrying on to Melbourne. And the next morning, when I was talking my plans through a bit more with Mick, he smiled and nodded along when I finally came to the realization that there was no way in hell my timeline was going to work. They knew it already, but they let me realize it on my own. Bless them.

The first issue was weather: a cyclone over the northwest coast was going to put me at risk of flooded roads in the center, where I was planning on driving. Because I didn't really leave myself enough time for difficulties, flooded roads were going to be a major issue. Because so much of that road is very, very, isolated, small issues might take much longer to rectify than I had time for. The day I drove down to Perth I got a series of long text messages from Tai, my boss at the pub, telling me that he and one of the yardies (groundskeepers) were discussing my travel-across-the-middle plan and were worried about the cyclone and wanted to make sure I knew about some permits I need to cross through Aboriginal lands and wanted to make sure that I had plans to get a second spare tire and generally wanted to be sure I wasn't biting off more than I could chew. How lucky am I to have worked with people who are so worried for my well-being even after I've left them?

We also had long chats about my esky plan and discussed whether installing a fridge for my car would be a better plan. To my American readers that will sound pretty excessive. To my Aussie readers, it's totally normal. Aussies love to outfit their cars with all kinds of cool bells and whistles: awnings for shade, roof racks to store camping gear and jerry cans of fuel and water, dual-battery systems for running cool things like car fridges. For many Aussies, the car fridge is about having cold beer at a moment's notice (honestly, I have regular conversations with Irish and Germans who say that Aussies drink more than their fellow countrymen do. It's just such a part of the culture here). For others it's about keeping your food properly cold while camping. For me it's gonna be about not having to stop for ice every day to keep my food safe. I'll be travelling through some very hot country, so even a very good quality cooler won't be able to keep things cool for much longer than a couple of days at best. And a cooler of that caliber is going to run me a pretty penny anyway. So why not just get a fridge that can live in my car and, if necessary, operate as a fridge inside a house when I stop travelling? 

So you'll notice that lots of these plans require lots of car work. This is where I start saying that Mick has been an absolute God-send. Nat and Weronika and I went shopping Friday to check out some of the car gear I was considering. Saturday morning we traded Weronika for Mick and bought half the store. And it was all possible because Mick just said "we want you to be set up for your drive" and willingly shared his knowledge of all the gear we were looking at AND his time and expertise in actually installing all the stuff. So that's what's been happening since Saturday. I keep up a steady supply of coffee and snacks, try to keep the kitchen (and house) tidy, and Mick stays in the garage, operating on Tessie. Nat has been busy at work, Weronika has been my chauffeur during the day when we need to pick up gear and other such things, and I've been thanking my lucky stars that the universe put these amazing people in my life. 

Mick with his assistant, Daisy

The rest of the week has been a whirlwind of shopping for car stuff, meeting up with friends, and soaking up the cooler-than-Exmouth weather. 

Wiebke, me and Weronika

Daisy

Nat & Weronika @ Raffles Hotel

Weronika & Nat @ Elizabeth Quay

Cooper, Nat, Wiebke & Daisy in Nat's back yard

Cooper & Daisy

My car is all sorted out now; Mick announced it's ready to drive out of the garage today! I'm seasoning my new swag in the backyard now, the fridge is working beautifully, and my awning looks awesome. So now it's time to get my gear sorted out and packed up so I can hit the road tomorrow morning! New plan of attack is to take the southern coastal road along the Nullarbor Plain, home to the longest straight section of road in the world. Migrate along to Port Lincoln, then Adelaide, drive the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and end up in Melbourne. Let's see how Phase 2: Leave Western Australia goes!

My task supervisors

Tessie with her new roof rack and awning!