Going Walkabout

Oceania » Australia » Australian Capital Territory » Canberra
August 9th 2010

Published: August 22nd 2010

Day 640

Today is the day that one half of Kangaroo Jack goes Walkabout, this has all happened very quickly, but for Andy it will be a great opportunity, not to mention a great part of the adventure.

Andy knew that I must have been plotting, when asked “what will you do while I am away?” I responded “Shopping!” That did not go down very well at all, so I had to quickly assure Andy that I would take advantage of the time and make sure that I explore the big outdoors and get plenty of exercise and with regard to the shopping - I need to buy a bike!

It was a 4.00 start last Monday morning, the alarm went off and very soon a cup of tea was waiting for me, it was a cold morning, they all usually are at the moment. Bec was sound asleep as we made every effort to not make a noise.

In the freezing cold morning we left the house, Andy with his suitcase in tow and me with my laptop in tow. It was 5.00am and there we were heading to the airport on the almost empty roads as we drive through the city and out to the East.

The airport is busy and amongst the taxis and many others I drop Andy off, wish him luck and he soon disappears into the airport building and the door marked “departures” and if you read his blog, no I did not drive over his toes!

It is still dark, the road out of the airport is busy, I wonder where so many people go at this time of morning, but for me there is no point in going home only to sit around for an hour and then hit the traffic coming back to the office, so the only decent thing for me to do was to head straight to the office which is only 10 minutes from the airport.

At 5.45 I sat outside, I park in the road so I am close to the office as possible and after a few minutes of listening to music, and for the first time I am sat at my desk at 6.00am, and while my laptop boots up for the day ahead I go and make myself some well earned breakfast.

My objective now is to keep myself busy while Andy is away is just to keep myself busy.

Although I planned to leave early anyway, I found that it went very quiet after lunch, and finally by about 3.30 I felt very overwhelmed by the realisation that Andy was going to the airport to catch is onward flight to Perth, so by 3.30 I just shoved everything in my briefcase and left the building.

The real part of my plan was to go and test drive another Nissan Patrol, we saw one advertised locally and on the surface it fitted the bill, it was fairly well kitted out with the exception of a snorkel!

I find the garage, the salesman and he has the keys so we go and investigate, it looks good on the outside just a few marks on the body work but nothing unusual for this type of vehicle, I am told that this has also driven around Australia, however I look at the road tyres and ponder if it has done much off roading, I am assured that it hasn’t and closer inspection of the engine - yes, I know I am a woman and yes I do know where the engine is - reveals not a scrap of red dust. Hmmm… maybe that is not so bad, we (if I am being honest I mean Andy) have cleaned our Patrol top to bottom, inside and out and we still manage to find red dust lurking in the shadows.

So far so good, but when I sat inside, oh dear this vehicle is 3 years newer than ours yet it looks so much older, now I know that Andy is quite fussy when it comes to looking after things but things do get worn, I feel quite dismayed at the condition of the dashboard and console, there are holes, scratches, gouges there is more than general wear and tear on the inside and it has not been valeted properly before going on the forecourt, I know it is only cosmetic but still if I am spending good money on a vehicle I don’t want to spend it on something so shabby, kitted out well or not!

I decide to satisfy my curiosity and take it for a spin, the engine did not sound any quieter than ours and as I pulled away from the garage I could feel a lot of vibration coming up through the accelerator, the road tyres make a difference, but they should ride better on the black top than our off road tyres, this engine sounds rough and it does not seem to drive well at all for a vehicle that has not been off road I think it has been quite poorly looked after, I use the term looked after quite loosely.

It is not long before I have dropped it back off at the garage. I still decided to see what kind of deal I could get if I exchanged ours, but this is where it starts to feel uncomfortable, I have been in this situation before where the sales manager does not take me seriously, it was all down to “doing the deal today”, and then he would tell me how much he would give me for the Patrol.

I did not have good vibes, so I just said “I am not doing a deal today” I am not going to play those games and left. While I was out they had moved our patrol onto the forecourt so that they could evaluate it, it was parked awkwardly the salesman asked if I wanted him to move it out for me “no thank you, I have got out of tighter spots than that one!” and soon I was on my way back to Bec’s.

I saw that Andy had tried to call me, but I was worried I was too late to speak with him, his flight to Perth was just about to leave, I was lucky I was not too late for the big bird to take him further away from me

Back at Bec’s it was still quite early and found that she too had left the office early, so we hammered out a menu for the week and headed to Woolworths for the groceries.

It was an odd evening, of course I felt terribly sad, probably made worse because I knew that Andy had another day of travelling ahead of him, that’s the amazing thing about Australia, it is so big and these remote places take such a long time to get to, but it is all worth it.

Although I heard nothing that evening -we were then 2 hours time different and by the time he landed I was going to bed, I knew that Andy was meeting up with Cliff and Sue, but when I finally did get to speak to him the following morning he tells me they were waiting for him at the airport, that must surely have been a welcoming sight!

Tuesday brought me a phone call in the morning before I left for the office, so I was late in leaving, Andy was getting himself ready for the remainder of his long journey, so while I was at work he was flying and another day without communications and even landing on the Cocos Island he could not phone me as there was no network, however he is now 3 hours time difference and by 8.00 that evening I had a message to say that he had landed safely and was awaiting his baggage.

So the week for me has been trying to keep myself busy, I have done something that I said I would not do while living over here and that was not to join a gym, well that one has gone out of the window, I have joined a gym!

Andy and I converse as many times a day as possible, I think the phone bill will be quite heavy, but once Andy has a laptop up there then we will be able to Skype each other.

I am comfy and warm at Bec’s place, even Cooper (Bec’s Rag Doll Cat) is managing very slowly to make friends with me, he is not a sociable cat at all and usually runs away from me.

Until Next time.
Mrs KJ

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