speeding south

You know how sometimes loads of things all go wrong at once? There I was in Katherine, on the way home from a very pleasant week in Darwin, when I find out Jo thinks it's next week I'm coming back and that she's going away for the weekend, won't even be in Adelaide. Now this doesn't sound too bad until you find out that all my traveller's cheques are at her place (I left them there in case I blew too much money in Darwin) and I have no money until I retrieve and cash them. Also, with Jo out of town, I have to look elsewhere for accommodation in the meantime, which isn't easy with no money. Throw in the fact that it's the easter weekend, which means EVERYTHING shuts in bible-bashing Adelaide, plus the fact that without Jo being there, I have no desire to set foot in the place anyway, and you can understand I was slightly anxious as we headed south. Plan A came out of nowhere, as they always do, when Maria, a german girl I knew at the hostel in darwin and sitting alongside me all the way down south, offered to put me up at her place in Adelaide for a few days till I got sorted out (despite the fact I had been slagging Adelaide mercilessly since I'd met her) We'll gloss over the fact that Maria is studying english in hopes of teaching german overseas, 'cos I think I've already starred in that movie! Anyway, that all looked good and fine, but unfortunately she got stranded in Port Augusta with her car broken down, so she ended up being unable to help. Plan B was of course the emergency call home, and we managed to arrange a transfer of funds thru Western Union easily enough, except there would be no banks open for days in Adelaide. All pretty desperate, eh? As luck would have it, Jo arranged to have me picked up when I arrived in SA, and even had me booked into a hostel for the weekend until she got back. And they were willing to accept traveller's cheques as payment. However, it took about an hour of wandering around the (deserted) city centre to decide I had to get out of town fast, I mean, even the pubs were shut! Luckily, one of the hostels across the road cashed a few of my cheques for 0% commision, which led to plan Q: get the first fucking bus, plane, train or bike out of town and somewhere fun (and open) 2 hours after arriving I was booked on the 8:30 bus to dear old Melbourne, courtesy of those lovely people at Firefly. And after all my trains, it was actually quite a pleasant change to go by bus; got to see my first roadhouses, yum, and the movie was better than anything I'd seen thus far on the trains. To my delight, we arrived in Melbs on sat morning, everything open (except the banks), and, before you could say Empress Of India, I was back at my favourite pub sinking a draught, before going back to my hostel with the seven other girls in my room. Isn't it funny how these things turn out sometimes...

the legendary Ghan, speeding me south for fuck all!