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Thonglines

Bruce Chatwin said:

I have a vision of the Songlines stretching across the continents and ages; that wherever men have trodden they have left a trail of song; and that these trails must reach back, in time and space, to an isolated pocket in the African savannah, where the First Man shouted the opening stanza to the World Song, "I am!"'

Thonglines is the story of one family's songs, and thongs...as they walkabout, in a Holden of course, the some of the trails around Oz.


In the beginning
It was sometime in August 2005 when we peeled the roller shutter over the stored furniture and left it. Uninsured, in the hands of outgoing management and in a low lying flood prone area of the Illawarra at the beginning of the El Nina cycle. Clicking the flimsy ‘Lockwood’ through the low tensile door latch and retrieving the key, I took one last glimpse at the 2X1X2.4m box that - once our entire home- is now just our 'contents'.

The cheque was signed, the car was running, the jobs were gone.

This was it - no more additions, changes, delays, or excuses. I was resigned, with Glen and 2yr old Callum, to relocating into our new family home. The four-door Holden Rodeo. Scant pillows, ageing sleeping bags and my brother’s 3-man done tent as the main (and only bedroom) and the living room, and the gazebo, and the wet weather area, and so on. The Engel fridge, and the Trangia alcohol stove became our new kitchen. And goodbye to Als movie room, hello to the home entertainment system: a 1996 stocky tape deck, with low lying mono-speakers, equalised by the unsilenced purr of a 2.4L turbo diesel engine (not unlike choking on furr balls) in surround sound.

Let the songlines begin.

Our intentions were to get as far up north as possible before the wet season kicked in and to see Cape York, cross its rivers, while we could still get out again. This left 10 weeks of exploring the coast before flying back out of Cairns - October 21 - Tania and Sam’s wedding.

The multitudinous 'how to do it’ articles of the caravan and camping holiday websites and magazines had inadvertently scared us into retreating to what we now know was the best advice we could ever follow - have no real plan. Our itineraries were itinerant, and we just headed - north.

I, of course, wanted to race up to the middle of the Queensland coast somewhere and start exploring. GC wanted something slower and more relaxing, a chance to fully appreciate it all and to take our time from day 1. We decided on a compromise position for the first month or so...a mild holding pattern of constant but peaceful disagreement and arguments appeared to do the job nicely.

Prior to departure, we had some Callum-free time packing and cleaning the house and found the help from mum and dad in Sydney too hard to leave. This was by far the best accommodation we'd had, and would have, for sometime. Staying in our first B&B for over two weeks, recovering from all the work farewells, this was the time to come to terms with the fact that we ‘had really done it!’.

After patting ourselves on the back and watching a few more movies at Al’s B&B movie room, we were feeling somewhat fraudulent (‘Arent you meant to be travelling around Australia?’ ‘ When are you guys leaving?’) and decided to move on. So far our grand trip had taken us 54km in 16 days, we hadnt set a cracking pace. GC=1 Nome=0

As a perfect distraction to the unsettled pace differences, we immersed ourselves in the company of friwnds and family. The rest of the first month was spent gas bagging, laughing, relaxing and generally catching up with family and friends. A highly recommended approach to any holiday indeed. Or life for that matter.

As hard core around Australia campers, we had used the tent a total sum of twice in the first 6 weeks.

Some highlights of our catch up period were :
1 Playing with Leonie, Darren, Nathan and Annabelle, and Guinea pig at Newcastle...a year later we are still singing: 'hello hello hello hello hello hello how are you?'
2 Callum catching a rock bird* at Mel and Cols in Shoal Bay. (*Rock from ground placed in small budgie cage and carried around for days as new pet.)
3 Benny and Kylies freshly grown produce, in their new home (previously Heather and Don Conways residence).
4 The fabulous Bali-style serviced accommodation at Byron Bay thanks to Michael Lee, oh if only we had been smart enough to ask for a weeks accomodation!
5 Lobbing at Nadine Redjebs place after 2 hours notice, and being treated to a tour of town on their matching Harley Davidson’s.

Who are you?
The arguments slowed after the first six weeks.

Of course the thought did often come through my mind of " what on earth was thinking why I am doing this why am I here whose life is this anyway is this really me". Part of this, I think now, is a natural consequence of the shock of going from routines of the daily rat race to such unknown living arrangements. We are indeed creatures of habit. And tribal ones at that. Although our life didn’t appear to have much curricula prior to leaving, it was, in fact, reassuringly predictable, very controllable and very comfortable. In a rut.

Those elements of 'home security' brought with it a sense of peace, albeit false and possibly deluded, but just fine at the time. Glen and I were tossed from two very independent lives that spread from Sydney to Port Kembla and back again into a mixing bowl the size of 2 cubic metres. Confined for the most part to now live, breath, eat, and at times sleep together - with a 2 year old in control. A truly interesting and fascinating bonding experience. A must do!

In retrospect of course, my words of advice for those entertaining the thought of travel with their family around Australia by car are:

Prior to departure, complete the course for Advanced Confined Space training. There are few cases when you will spend so much time in such a small space with another human being (asleep or otherwise]. The increased carbon dioxide rates may be minute but do have obvious ramifications (choice of radio station, air conditioner adjustments, topics of conversation). And, though the impact on your health may be manifest in a less tangible psychological ways, the detriment to your health can arise regardless of how many oxygen molecules you may share with Ghandi and Mandela.

Never drink the free coffee made available for Designated Drivers - its not worth it, ever

When asking a naked man with a shot gun, and two barking dogs, for directions - whilst on his property- stay in the car, GC.

The Qld/NSW Border

It took us a number of weeks to finally get the courage and motivation to do some WOOFING. Although many opportunities arose, they just didn’t seem right: eg ‘No children’ ‘Nudity welcome’ ‘Minimum 3 mth stay’ etc. At last, the environmental education centre seemed inviting. Located in a remote area of the Border Ranges QLD, this delightful place would provide us with our very first WOOFing experience. We planned to stay only for a few days to see how we’d manage, as a family, and hoped meet new folks of the organic world. In the process, I managed to:
 burn my pyjamas on their wood fired stove;
 be awoken continuously by the sound of small rodents scuttling;
 beat my previous record for the most amount of clothes one needs to wear to bed in one night in order to stay warm (camping North west Canada -5degC overnight temp)
 help with the laying of cables, only to end up cutting them 5 metres short of the required length. What was it measure twice cut once. Or in my case measure again and maybe leave the cutting for someone else.
the abovementioned B&B, without telling my parents

Carnarvon Gorge, QLD
Gee-zus, what a hole I had originally thought this place was. After the beauty of the Border Ranges, and the northern NSW coast. This dust bowl, with overcrowded campsites, and gray nomads encircling the campfires and all the good bits, to me this national-park-neglected profit-driven-gimmick couldn’t have been less desirable. That is, until we found the time to enter the gorge (the increasing beauty of most places is directlly proportional to its distance from caravan-friendly roads) and explore the oasis that as been the home of generations of aboriginal people, native plants, rock formations and various animals. Wow, how wrong I had been!

...next stop... Fraser Island

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Photos

mission beach
View of Dunk Island from mission beach, QLD

Callum's camping faces
Callum and our neat 'drifta' kitchen; bathing at the remote Cape Levique, poiting to Crocs at sunset over Ord River Kununurra.

Callum in Townsville
With 'noculars' and after making scones at Jen McCs Townsville

Comments

[mum]

FINALLY READ IT
gREAT JOURNAL AN'T WAIT FOR THE NEXT EPISODE LOVED IT MUM