CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

March 30 to 31, 2023 — Many of you will remember my overnight trip from Melbourne to Sydney, which took about twelve hours and wasn’t too bad. If you need a refresher, see my post here.

This was so much worse.

I’m not a hundred percent sure what made it so bad, but I do think it was a combination of boredom, coming off a tour, lots more time having passed since beginning my travels, lack of wifi and data, my general mood, and the quality of some of the driving.

The drive didn’t start off on a great foot. We had spotty cell reception heading north so I couldn’t use Disney+ and I hadn’t thought to do any downloading while I was on wifi at the hostel. I was also pretty ticked that there wasn’t good enough wifi on the drive because I had ended up paying $300 for this bus because I booked it at the beginning of January when I realized I still needed to and it was getting booked up. For that price, it really should have been better. I listened to music on my phone and stared out the window and it was while I was watching the wide, dark expanse of a foreign country pass me by that I felt such a strong desire for home that it literally brought me to tears. There was a thunderstorm off in the distance. The land was so flat that I’m not even sure how far away it was, but it must have been pretty far because I couldn’t hear much thunder. We were driving on country roads in the dark and if I closed my eyes, I could almost imagine that I was in the car driving on country roads at home, ones I know so well after twenty-two years. I was tired, cranky, and the bus was jerking around. In that moment, I would have given anything to just be home. It passed, but it was easily the most homesick I’ve felt on my travels so far. Even so, in retrospect, if I could have teleported home right then and there, I don’t know that I would have. Especially writing this now, knowing what I’ve done since and what I have coming up and how excited I am for it. I’m still happy to be travelling, looking forward to what’s coming, and I’m also much more content today than I was almost a month ago.

Back to the actual trip: I was apparently pretty lucky with where I was sitting on the bus. The back, I heard, was unbelievably humid and hot and the air conditioning either wasn’t working or wasn’t reaching back there while the bus was running. Our first driver (we changed twice throughout the trip) wasn’t super sympathetic and didn’t seem to be able to do anything about it (which isn’t really his fault, but try telling that to some of the people on the bus). We got to the first rest stop sometime after ten p.m. and everyone back there was glad to get off the bus. Everyone at the front was bundled up; I guess the air conditioning was working really well up there. I was sitting in the fifth row, just far back enough to have decent air conditioning but not so far forward that we were being frozen out. That said, I was very happy that I had my sweater and was wearing long pants. That’s one tip I’ll always give: dress warm on public transportation if you’re a generally cold person.

When we stopped that first time, I called home and chatted with mom and dad and felt a little bit better having done that. I used the toilets at the rest station and after about a half hour we got back on the bus. I read a little of one of the books on my phone and slept off and on from 11:00pm to 12:30am and then again until after 1:00pm.

I’d bought chips before my trip to K’gari/Fraser Island, regular and chicken flavour. I wanted to try the chicken flavour since they seem to be a staple in Australia and I’ve never seen the flavour anywhere else. Let me tell you now: don’t do it. They do not taste like good chicken. Or, rather, chicken just is not a good flavour on chips. I tried them and felt just a little bit sick. I was really glad when we made that first stop and I tucked them away back in my food bag, never to be touched again. The combination of icky chips and filtered air was really unpleasant and I was really glad when we made that first stop to get some fresh air. I felt better after and I definitely think that’s part of the reason I was able to sleep after that first stop.

We stopped in Rockhampton just before 3:00am. I got off the bus here, too, and stretched my legs. That’s another thing you should do often when you’re on a long trip: get up and walk. I kind of think it helped me sleep better because I slept quite solid on that bus ride compared to the one from Melbourne to Sydney. But I’ve also had a lot more practice sleeping anywhere and everywhere, so maybe that really doesn’t have that much to do with it. Anyway.

I slept from the time we left Rockhampton until around seven or so that morning, and then I continued to doze and drift for the last three hours of the drive to Airlie Beach. I got up at our final stop just about an hour or so outside of Airlie, used the facilities, and enjoyed breathing some fresh air. I was in a bit of a fugue state at this point, though, staring blankly and halfway to sleep sitting on a curb just outside the service station. We got back on the bus and drove the rest of way to Airlie Beach, finally arriving at the bus terminal at ten a.m., almost fifteen hours after getting on the bus initially. Easily the hardest trip I’ve ever had, and I’m including the monstrous departure day I had at the beginning of this trip and the 11-hour flight from Honolulu to Melbourne in that assessment.

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