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Before he left, Don put these thoughts together.
The moment of truth is nigh. The beginning of my Epic Journey, the trip I have been thinking about now for many years is just days away. On Monday, January 6 at 9:30 the man with the big truck will knock at my door and expect to find all my possessions, save only for what I can carry with me in four panniers on my almost new hybrid bicycle, packed up and ready to be transported into storage. And then on Thursday January 9 at 4 PM I will be catching Aus-Air flight 137 , with my bike, from Moorabbin airport to Wynyard, Tasmania to begin that leg of the journey. On Monday February 10 I return to Melbourne and from then it will be pedal power all the way; from Melbourne to Melbourne, anticlockwise.
So why am I doing it? For months now I have been giving standard answers to this question:-
"Because it was there"
Actually, the germ of the idea goes back a few years to when I chanced upon a book called "Around Australia on Highway One". I love browsing travel guides and this one is very well presented. Here is an excerpt from the blurb on the back cover:- "A JOURNEY around Australia on Highway 1, whose 15,000 kilometres [9,320 miles] girdle the continent,is one of life's adventures. The highway is not only the thin black ribbon that binds the continent, bringing together the empty outback of the north, the vast distances of the west, the vibrant cities of the eastern seaboard, and even reaching across Bass Strait to Tasmania, but also one of the world's great roads. "Landscapes, heritage and people encountered along the way combine to shape an experience that is being enjoyed by more travellers than ever before. Each year, growing numbers of Australians are discovering the wonders and joys of their won continent. "This comprehensive guide follows the highway on it mighty journey, highlighting the cities, towns, national parks and other places of interest along the way, and occasionally making a leisurely detour to look at something really special. "It's an indispensable companion for that journey of a lifetime, or an armchair ride around Australia" So -- an armchair ride on two wheels coming up!! The more I browsed the book, the the stronger the idea to do it. It's full of strip maps, glossy pix and short paragraphs on all of the towns and places of interest along the way. I longed to see them all for myself. I've been on quite a few long bike rides over the years, though nothing as ambitious as this. I rode solo from Melbourne to Sydney (via Highway 1) back in 1985 (took long service leave to do it) and I went on a Bicycle Victoria organised ride in 1992 (with 1,000 others). I've always enjoyed it. There's a very special feeling of freedom that one doesn't get from any other form of transport. And every day arriving somewhere new, somewhere different. A bicycle is ideal for sightseeing. None of this "Blink and you'll miss it." stuff. The scenery rolls past in slow motion (at times painfully slow) so one has plenty of time to study it. Above all there is a strong sense of intimacy with the terrain and with the environment. This feeling is almost an altered stated of consciousness and has to be experienced to be appreciated. It is exhilarating, liberating and well worth the grind. As an added interest, and by way of a journalistic task, I am planning to make contact with local history groups in each town I pass through, recording interviews with locals. I'm interested in exploring the links between history and place, posing the question:-
I expect to get some interesting answers and enough material for at least one book on my return. Finally I'm looking forward to re-visiting some old haunts, and catching up with old friends & family. I'm intending to drop in at my old high school in Glenfield for example; I haven't been back there since I sat for the Leaving Certificate in 1953. And I may even call in at the Jungle Training Centre in Canungra, Queensland where I served part of my national service training, if they'll let me in. [Above] is my itinerary as it stands. It must be regarded as provisional because I want to be able to be as flexible as I can, staying longer at any place that takes my fancy. My only real constraint is that of climate: it is advisable to be out of the tropics before those big winds start up in November. Watch out for me in your part of the world. You may well see me passing by. Artwork by Donny Pattenden |
"Imminent" is the word that springs to mind, and as each day goes by it
becomes progressively more difficult to chicken out even if I wanted to
(which I don't). Yet it still doesn't feel real. This is partly because I
am immersed in activities that for the most part have very little to do
with the actual trip (not the least of which is the odious task or
organising the wall to wall clutter that surrounds me, into a form suitable
for storage) but mostly because the life I am about to take up will be so
radically different from my present life-style that I can't even begin to
imagine how it will feel.
These answers have become almost mechanical, but it feels as though I'm
talking about somebody else; part of me still doesn't believe it's really
going to happen.
"To what extent is a place haunted by its past?"