An unimaginable phrase!

Beginning of a new day and my life has become a little routine now, free brekkie, quick wash, off to Macdonalds for some free internet action and back through town.  This day was a bit different though, i’ve been travelling for just over 8 months now and seen a fair few things.  One thing I can admit to have never seen before, or even imagined possible for that matter……. BEER ON THE FREE FOOD SHELF!!!!!  Thats right, do not adjust your PC!  Don’t go to specsavers, you have just seen what you thought you did…. FREE BEER!!!  I’ve mentionned words I like to see before, but these ones I had never thought it was possible to put together, I was clearly wrong.  Ok, lets set the scene, i’ve recently decided to drink less (mainly because it hampers my savings, but also because its better for my health) and now it’s almost like i’m having FREE BEER thrown in my general direction.  I do have a strong will-power, but the day I turn down FREE BEER, is the day I die!!!  Found room in my food bag to accomodate this little gift from a greater power and carried on with my day, with a spring in my step and a contented smile on my face  

Had quick bit of lunch, which consisted of two mini-pies and some salad with balsamic dressing (still going strong!).  Off to work and its back on to prepping for the main course section, made some humous (using their recipe, they use red peppers in it and don’t put sesame oil or garlic, so added a few little extras, to make it actually taste a bit like humous, turned out well).  Got a call on my mobile from an unidentified number, a lady named Janet from a service station in the middle of nowhere i’d applied to before was basically offering me the job and wanted to meet the following day to make sure I was suitable.  From what she said, it would basically be doing anything and everything from cooking to cleaning, gardening, changing tyres, sounded interesting and she said i’d get food and accomodation (my own double room) and still clear about $600 per week after tax, sweet!!!  It would be literally in the outback (200km’s from civilisation, which would suck, but lets face it, there’s not much in Alice anyway and it least I couldn’t spend any money, maybe two months of that and I could be a rich man (in backpacker terms)!  Ready to see Darwin and Broome and not have to work again, until I fly back down to Melbourne in preparation for my New Zealand flight in October.

Made a few other things, prepped a shed load of kangaroo (which is a bit time consuming as it has loads of sinew going throught the meat, which has to be removed as this is tough and not nice to get in your mouth).  Time for service and Ash is busy as it starts kicking off, so I hopped on mains and got going, he came out after a while and I told him I had it all under control and he could take it easy (as in, please f**K off and let me run this section tonight), he reacted well to this and worked in the back.  All was going fine, until we got a party of 29 in the restaurant.  Ash got the meat and fish ready for this and I helped Prav plate up the starters.  Got back on the mains and it was getting seriously busy now, so me and Ash hammered out the main courses one after the other non-stop for well over an hour.  Eventually, it started to slow down again and Ash went back on desserts as I finished off out the front, cleaned down and helped put all the stuff away (that had been cooling down).  Prav and I finished closing down the kitchen, getting the stuff out to defrost for the next day (they use quite alot of frozen meat and fish here, but I think this is unavoidable, as it would be impossible to source it locally and it takes over 2 days to drive here from anywhere so would be past its best by the time it arrived if it were fresh. 

Got home, freshened up and popped open one of the aforementioned FREE BEER’s, enjoyed the fruits of my labour and watched a classic horror movie “What lies beneath” with Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfipher, not by choice i’d like to add, couple of french dudes put it on.  I scare pretty easily when it comes to horror films, call me a pussy if you like, but I hate ‘em.  Excellent film though, went to bed after it finished, looking around for ghosts as I went

Possibly the best red onion marmalade in the world ever……

Out of bed in my new home and its time to go check out the free brekkie.  Had some cereals and a cup of tea and took a stroll down the road to Maccy d’s (a bit further away now, but the brisk morning stroll would surely do me good) to use the free internet.  Back to the hostel (via the chemist to get some cheap disposable razors, gillette though, so shouldn’t tear my face totally to shreds, like most disposables do). 

 Back for some lunch and its Thai spiced chicken and salad wraps today (yummy), used the rest of the smoked chicken I had from the other day and turned out lovely.  Got chatting to a girl from Manchester in the kitchen, who’d been travelling in Cuba and Peru and the more I talk to people who’ve been to South America, the more I want to go.  Took a walk next door (to work, too easy mate!!) and was given a sizeable prep list, ranging from Thai sauce to red onion marmalade, with everything in between.  Ok, so I like big lists, these generally mean, your left to get on with it and noone is likely to irritate you by telling you which end of the knife to hold.  So, cracked on with it, asked a few little pointers along the way (to avoid the whole, “oh we don’t do it like that here” routine), within 3 hours, i’d totally ploughed through the list (which I don’t think the head chef had expected), so he told me to grab some food and go for a break, sweet as!! 

Made myself some Sauteed med veg, added some spiced jasmine rice with the a bit of the thai sauce i’d made earlier and had that with some calamari, a nice change from the daily burger i’d been getting used to.  Back to work and told i’d be floating in between the mains and the entree’s that night depending on who was getting slammed the hardest.  It started with entrees getting shed loads of orders on, so worked alongsidee Praveen to get these out of the way, then straight onto main’s with Ash to get a few orders out of the way.  By the way, I know my old Sous Chef Jerome Chennet will probably never see this, but anyway, he thought I worked messily when I first worked with him (soon drilled that out of me), but this guy is something else, there was literally shit everywhere, i’m talking everywhere, there were two whole pieces of barramundi stuck to the stove where he’d obviously dropped them in a hurry and not made time to clean them up.  Jerome, you would literally have soiled yourself if you could have seen it!!  Anyway, next up for the beasting was deserts which I jumped on and due to how busy we were, the evening went super quick. 

Spotted some beers in the fridge and asked if I could borrow a couple and replace them on friday (when the beer shop would be open), I was told they were extra’s from room service and to help myself and not replace them, nice one bruvva!!  Was given a couple of slices of pizza and off I went back to the hostel.  Sat outside with some Japanese people, Kai, Ryota and Meg and chatted away for a bit and Meg went to bed.  Kai and Ryota found speaking english pretty difficult, but were still trying, so alot of respect for people like that.  So easy to give up if you find something hard!  Turns out, Ryota down to his last $500 and on a serious mission to get a job, fair play!  Me, being off on friday told him, “you get a job tomorrow or the next day, then to celebrate we all have beer’s friday night!”.  Ryota was well keen on this idea, so we chatted on for a bit and I finished my complimentary beer and went to sleep

Moving to my new home…..

Got up and its checking out time.  Hung out at the hostel for a bit to have some brekkie and make a few calls to other hostels to find a cheaper weekly rate, not easy to do in Alice Springs.  Its turns out us “Long-termers” are actually the unwanted scum of the earth (news to me!).  Very few hostels are at all interested in anyone staying longer than a week (this I found strange, but hey!)  Found a hostel, located just next door to the resort I work at, did see it last week, but was still hoping to stay at the YHA long-term at that stage.  Went to work to give pay details and have a nice coffee (so expensive, don’t get them very often anymore, so nice to get a free one, thanks to Jai the kiwi brekkie chef). 

Filled out the necessary pay details and hurried back to the YHA to have lunch with Bev, she’d made a Vege Shephards Pie, which was really tasty and cost effective, she’s getting the hang of the budgeting now   After lunch, she had an interview, so off she popped and I moved the rest of my stuff across to my new hostel.  Checked in and payed for the coming week, Suzanne, very kindly put me in a 2 person shared bedroom, at the same cost as the 6 bed dorm would be, NICE ONE!!  So moved my stuff in, found a space in the fridge for my stuff and went to grab my backpack from work (where i’d dropped it off earlier to lighten the load, doing the move in two journeys).  As I picked it up, I was asked if i’d work that evening (or in 45 minutes to be precise), yes, of course, its an extra 5 hours pay, so come friday (my first pay-day), I would be loving it.  Quick shower at the hostel and off to work, asked to make some a big batch of ratatouille (too easy mate!) and get the main course section set up for service.  Come service, Praveen, my mentor on that section, saw it was quite quiet, so started doing his ordering and cleaning the back kitchen.  Great news for me, left on the section to get the hang of it alone (without the head chef there), so when i’d be on the section next and he’d be there, i’d be well practised.  Service went really smoothly, remembering all the garnishes better second time round. 

Had a lush burger (think this could be my new Barra-on-todd diet, tasty but not too healthy!), cleaned down the front kitchen thoroughly and signed off.  Back to the hostel for a quick shower and my room mate back now (but asleep at 9:30pm, must be an early start coming up for her!)  Went to the tv room for a bit and Harry Potter was playing (done such a good job of avoiding them thus far, but if its that or sleep by 10pm, i’ll give it a go).  Chilled out for a bit, no beers again and off to bed (Alice springs is turning me tee-total!!!!)

Back to work I go……

Up early and off to the supermarket, talk about early bird catching the worm.  Found reduced sausages (still trying to find decent ones in Oz), cheap smoked chicken, some salad and got a bulk discount on bread, two loaves for $4 (one for Bev), Sweet!!  Back to the hostel and made a pretty spectacular sausage sarnie (or “sanger” if you wanna be Austrlian about it). 

After brekkie, read some more of my book, Down Under and as luck would have it, after two pages, i’m onto a large piece about Alice Springs.  All the strange things i’d noticed about this town, highlighted and commented upon.  My biggest gripe in this place (don’t get me wrong, I like it here), is the way that white australians and indigenous australians live side by side, but there is no contact between the two.  The impoverished indigenous australians (majority speaking here), walk around in tatty looking clothes and are clearly not looked after in any way by the state or government.  The white austrlians just carry on with their daily lives as if the others are not even there.  This I found really strange and it is heartbreaking to see (extremely poor people) on a daily basis everywhere you go.  Why is something not being done to sort this out?  It’s things like this that make you realise what a fantastic country England is, you can say what you like about taxes and all that rubbish, but lets face it, noone is left to struggle with complete poverty and just told to get on with it.  There are poor people, yes, but we have systems in place to make sure people have a certain standard of living and this idea needs to be brought down under, sooner rather than later!!  Sorry about my little rant, but i’ve read alot about indgenous austrlians and find their way of life and survival techniques truly fascinating, I never expected to see anything like this. 

Back to “Barra on Todd” in the evening to work.  Got in and told I was on mains tonight with “Praveen” an indian chef.  Was helping out, cooking the meats and the fish (only Barramundi which is their speciality) and helping to plate up and do the garnish for each dish.  The evening was very busy with 3 large parties in the restaurant as well as normal service, but it all went smoothly as the dishes are very straight forward.  Had a nice burger for dinner (need to start eating healthy stuff there, but easy to work and eat with a burger as its hand-held).  Got to try one of the panna-cotta’s as the guy did an extra one by mistake, pretty nice, good combination with the mango sorbet and berry coulis.  Finished cleaning down and was told I was off the next day (got loads of hours from wednesday, so don’t mind too much).  Back home and had my one remaining beer (which I really savoured after a busy night) and off to bed before midnight

An average day in Alice Springs…..

Woke up this morning and you know what, it was time for a change to the normal schedule, no healthy brekkie for me.  Far from it, I had my heart set on a pie!  Been so careful with money lately, saving on every single cent.  Green peppers are $4.99 per kg and Red Peppers (my favourite) $8.99, so green peppers for me.  Beer, my favourite alcoholic beverage $16 for a 6 pack, Passion pop on the otherhand $4.99 for a bottle, so this is what i’ve been going for.  To reward myself for these minor hardships, I decided I deserved my pie! (its actually good fun being economical, its a shame i’m only like it during hard times or I could be a very rich man.)  It was a good pie and I trotted off to Macdonalds for my daily dose of free internet. 

Sat in there, going through the usual pleasure pain factor, free internet (pleasure) resisting Ronald’s unhealthy wares (pain), but survived it just about and headed back to the hostel.  Bev was still asleep by this point about 1:30pm, but getting well towards lunchtime so time to get cooking.  My pie was my sin for the day ($4.80), so time to get economical again, using up stuff from the food bag to make a healthy and tasty lunch.  Honey and Soy marinade found earlier on the free food shelf, rice we had left and the rest of the vegetables we had.  All contributed into making a nice chinese style lunch and best of all didn’t cost us anything as it was purely using up stuff we already had. 

By this point, I was still thinking I had work in the evening, until I got a call from a guy with an indian accent.  One of the other chefs from Barra On Todd called me to let me know I had the night off, but would be in Monday night instead, fair enough.  Newly acquired evening off, now all I had to do was figure out what to do with it   Benoit, the french guy in my room i’d met a couple days ago was chilling, so I took him up on his offer of exchanging some music and films etc. (being a fellow laptop owner).  Spent a couple hours copying loads of music, films and stuff, made him a Uk music folder (I was gutted to see he had a US, Kiwi, Ozzie and French but no UK, worst of all, he had Oasis in US, WTF????).  I corrected Monsieur Benoit on his little ‘faux-pas’ and was able to get over it fairly quickly.  Armed with a new stock of music and films and i’m a happy chappy. 

Had a bit of dinner (some pasta left from yesterday), got ready for an evening full of “offness”, best make the most of it I thought, don’t know how many of them i’ll be getting now i’m a full-timer again.  Nipped down to the local bottle shop, grabbed a bottle of the aforementioned “Passion-pop” and sat down with some guys at the hostel.  A canadian dude called “Darren” and a brummie lass, “Ali”.  Turned out, she’d had a bit of a run in with one of the guys i’d met a previous night and there were police there and everything, what a nightmare! Glad I missed that one!  She went off to bed, think she was a bit drunk (only 7:30pm), think she’s got into the Australian Way of life pretty well (today anyway).  Darren and I continued chatting, shortly after, Arthur joined us and then Max (the german guy from the other night) came too.  We all sat chatting and Arthur joined me on the Pop. 

Got moved inside at 9pm, so I took a quick stroll to wish a good friend happy birthday.  Yes, Davo, my mate of many years growing up had finally joined me in being a quarter of a century old.  Really good to speak to him as it had been ages since we’d last actually spoken on the phone.  Darren and Max went off to bed (as they’d be leaving bright and early).  Benoit donated some Goon as he was up early and leaving too, so Juno (a korean chef) and I thought it’d be rude to turn it down.  Drinking goon and singing queen songs from a guy you’ve just mets mobile, the life of a backpacker is one I think I could quite easily get used to

The beginning of a new chapter……

Woke up feeling good, got myself sorted in such a short space of time and this time before total financial crisis.  Had some brekkie with Bev, sliced banana in cereal with a nice cup of rosey leigh.  Another scorching day in Alice springs, I could get used to this.  Popped into town to make the most of the free internet at macdonalds.  Did some e-mails etc. as you do and my mate Arthur was on the till, so got a cheeseburger (couldn’t resist this time) and off I popped to the supermarket to grab some ingredients for a cheap and healthy vegan lunch (that way I could go halves with Bev). 

Got back and made some Vegetables (swede, carrot, peppers, mushrooms, onion, courgette and aubergine) in a provencal sauce with basil mixed with fettuccine, pretty damn good and made it in record time as we both had to be at an interview by 3pm.  We went our seperate ways on our job hunting venture, Bev to an interview round the corner for a receptionist job in a nice looking resort and I went down to Hartley st. to the Overlanders steak house (just to see if the pay or hours might be better than the job i’d already found).  Got offered that job and the pay would be better, however, the food looked really lame, the fridge was in a state (nothing covered or dated, yuk!!) and only 20 hours per week.  Told the guy i’d let him know and nipped back to the hostel to chill for a bit.  Bev’s intereview went well by the sound of it and she hopes to hear back on monday. 

Had a cup of tea by the pool and I got ready and got to work.  Fresh set of chef whites given to me by Ash (saying that, the whites are actually black, cool).  Worked with a young dude named Nathanial on Entree’s (starters) and I worked solo on Sweets.  Bit of prep before service, getting the Pastry section set, making sure I knew where everything lived and felt ready to go.  A couple of large parties, so helped Nath get his Entree’s out, sold quite a few Calamari, which taste really good might I add, the marinade they make is really good, tastes like a posh KFC batter, finger licking good Plated up a large party when I got the pre-order through on the desserts and Ash walked past and made a comment about them looking really good (ka-ching, impressed the boss, looks like I get to stay!).  The night went really smoothly, all the people there are really nice and it seems the vibe in the place is happy and chilled.  Got to cook myself some dinner, went to town a bit and made an amazing burger.  Toasted bun, burger, bacon, egg, rocket, ranch dressing, cheese, onion and ketchup, the yolk was still a bit runny too……best burger i’ve had in ages!! 

Cleaned down the kitchen with the other lads and that was that (finished by 10pm on a saturday night, not common for any restaurant, a quality surprise, thought i’d be going until midnight!  Took a stroll back to the hostel and went online to meet my Polish friend on MSN, always great to see her beautiful face, especially after a busy night.  Chatted away for a while about anything and everything and off to bed

Day 4, Last day of the campervan mission…… Right place, Right time!

Got up bursting for the toilet, got out of the campervan and the back window had smashed, WTF??? (which translates to What the funk??)  Back inside to tell Bev the bad news and theres a huge rock on the back seat.  Some bastard put the window through, that is not cool!!!  Phoned the insurance people to ask them what the deal was and thought the “Windscreens were covered so cleared it all out and went to the hostel to drop off our luggage. 

Back on the road and it is time to get jobs!!  We started driving and accidentally took a wrong turn.  Drove past a hotel resort called Alice Springs resort and I said as we were passing anyway why didn’t Bev drop her CV in there.  Off she skipped inside and I saw the restaurant attached to it, was none other than “Barra on Todd”, a classy looking joint i’d seen the previous night in a magasine about Alice Springs.  Walked straight round the side to the restaurant and asked to see the head chef, a girl walked me through to the kitchen.  I explained my situation, just arrived looking to stay for a few months to get cash to continue travelling, available to start immediately.  Ashish (great name!! the head chef) told me, one of his chefs a french backpacker was leaving the next day and he needed a replacement, YES!!! This is exactly the kind of response you want!! Ashish asked me to print out my Cv and come back later in the day for a sit down and chat. 

Went to print out my CV and went with Bev on a mission all around the outskirts of Alice Springs dropping off our CV’s to every resort, golf club and hotel (making the most of the van to get to those harder to reach places).  Later on, we drove back past Barra on Todd, I went in to see Ash and had an interview, filled out an application form, chatted about work and saw the kitchen, JOB OFFER!!!!  Done, the first place I went in to and they give me a job, how good is that??  “Can you start tomorrow night?” Ash asked, I wanted to shout out “F**K YEAH” and do a victory dance, but I managed to maintain my dignity and offer of employment and smile and say “Yes, that would be excellent”  

Carried on to a couple more places for Bev’s sake and seemed to be going well.  Then took the Campervan to its drop-off location.  Had an inspection by a german lady and were told we’d lost $100 for the excess for the rear windscreen or rear window as its called in Australia.  Turns out the insurance only covers the Front Windscreen, insurance companies are bastards!!  Good news though, got my bond back undamaged and the lady said we were lucky we paid for the extra insurance as the rear window normally costs $700. Woah, thank god we did!!  Walked back to town in the blazing sunshine with loads of shopping and a 15 litre water tank (this was fun……not!!)  Got back and checked into our hostel, had a bit of dinner and went our seperate ways for the evening.  Bev went to meet a guy she’d met at the pub and I was planning an evening of socialising with fellow backpackers.  Bumped into Arthur, my japanese mate i’d first met in Margerat River back in the EYS days (seems like ages ago now), was great to see him and he said he’s working her in A.S so would be sticking around for a while, cool!! 

Had a shower and stuff, did some catching up on blogging and outside with a cold one and chatted to a french guy called Benoit.  He was a sound guy, also doing a Campervan relocation to Darwin, leaving in a few days.  Met a guy from Southampton, quality, another one!!!  Chatted to a whole host of other randomers, some germans, english, a crazy old polish guy and had a good evening, just like the good old days of travelling when I first got to Australia.  Not knowing anyone is the best way to socialise, its not optional then, its essential!!  Great day, found a job, moved into a cheap and clean hostel and life in Alice Springs is piecing together nicely

Day 3, Change of plan…..

Woke up a bit later that day, as not as many k’s to cover.  Freezing cold in the morning, its true what they say about the dessert nights being really cold!  Bev was down to her last $100, which basically meant, she couldn’t afford to go halves on even the petrol to get to Uluru and back up to Alice springs, let alone, eat and stuff.  So, I suggested we head straight to Alice springs (as my money getting low too) and get job hunting.  This would also mean I would get to see Kings Canyon when we eventually go to Uluru too, rather than miss it as there wouldn’t be time and not spend long at the rock.  Bev agreed that this was the new masterplan and we headed off, only a bit more than 250km’s and we did this in good time, getting us there in time for lunch. 

We heated up the rest of the vegan pasta and had this with some salad and balsamic dressing…….remember the one from bright Anita?? it’s come a long way   Bev was tired by this time (being nearly 30 must take its toll on you, pmsl), so she went for a powernap as I went into Macdonalds to use the free wireless on the laptop (which is beginning to look like its free in Maccer’s all over Australia, how shit-hot is that??). 

Started job hunting, using Gumtree and various other websites and seemed to be a few job’s knocking around, unlike Adelaide (which in hindsight was a blessing in disguise, what a dump!!).  Went back and met Bev (my new big sister/travel buddy) and we headed downtown to look for work, a bit of a half-hearted effort, but we were both recovering from 3 days of solid travel, so understandable.  Parked our van in a car park near a wooded park and I got some shopping in and made dinner.  Bev was still off on a mission and I got a text saying she’d ended up in an English Pub (quality!!), as I was eating my dinner and reading a booklet, I saw an advert for this pub (Firkin and Hounds) with a free glass of house wine (goon!!!), sweet! 

Headed down for a cheeky one and after spending an awful lot of time with her over the last few days (and us not really knowing eachother that well, we inevitably would have a disagreement sooner or later and it happened).  Pissed off and broke, I left her at the pub and went to the bottle shop and back to the van, which I moved over to the other side of the car-park, under a street lamp.  Had a beer and got a text from Bev apologising.  A short while later, she came in a bit drunk and we had a bit of a heart to heart, she’s a good girl really, just totally different to me and it can be hard spending 24 hours a day with someone you know well, let alone someone you only met 4 days earlier, we forgave and promised to forget and all was back to normal.  Had a couple more beers and chatted away listening to some tunes, then off to bed

Day 2, Time to make up some serious K’s…….

Got up mega early again, this time waking up in a Campervan (my home for the next few days) in a car park of a visitor centre in Port Augusta   Hit the road to a nearby roadhouse (attached to a Servo, please see previous blog for meaning) for some all day brekkie action and a cappuccino, cheeky cow nicked most of it mind you  

Filled up the water tank, in case of emergency and back on the road and ready to go by 8:15am, that is really good going.  Time to catch up on yesterdays muck up, got some serious mileage down and made it to a place called Pimba (population 50) by about 10am, carried on and got to Coober Pedy (the famous underground town) by 1pm, (nearly ran out of petrol despite filling up at every available opportunity!) thats 500km’s already and its only just lunchtime!! 

Had a spot of lunch in a greek/italian restaurant, healthy lunch of Aussie Burger and Chips (god, my heart must be struggling to pump by now with that days diet!!)  Explored Coober Pedy a bit, went into an Opal Mine cave and got some stuff for that night from the supermarket, then back on the road with Bev’s amazing singing (maybe a slight over-exageration, sorry Bev, but don’t give up the day job!!!) and some sour cherry drops and head onwards into nothingness.  It is literally open space, the odd bush and 10 dead Kangaroo’s I counted today, not 1 live one on this trip yet.  Saw some massive birds pecking at one of the fallen kangaroo soldiers and stopped off to look (at the bird that is), it was huge, must have been a Buzzard or an Eagle (Bev just said she reckons buzzard). 

Carried on through a nuclear bomb testing zone and minefield, warned not to stop due to the level of radioactivity still present.  Kept going and finally arrived what we were thinking would be our stop, Marla.  Marla consisted of a petrol station and campsite and there was a large group of strange men lurking, still sunlight too, so decided to move on to Kulgera, our orignal planned stop for the night.  Made it there, just as it was getting dark and got onto a campsite (with electricity, yay!!!)  $15 for the both of us, cheap as chips and meant I could finally shave my head again (too hot for hair here) and get some tunes on the laptop.  1000km’s of dessert driving, done!!!! Bev cooked a nice dinner, Fettuccine with peppers, chick peas and onions bound in a tomatoey sauce, good work!  We shared the washing up and had a few beers to celebrate the distance we’d covered in the day.  Bev went off to sleep quite early and I chilled out looking over my travel pictures so far since leaving England.  What an adventure its been so far and so much more to go, life really is beautiful

Day 1, Here it goes…….

Got up crazy early, so excited about the coming adventure to the centre of Australia (middle of nowhere in other words!!)  Got down to the rental place, with my new travel buddy, Bev.  We got there bang on 9:30am as the paperwork said and the van was having stuff replaced, tyres and all, a good thing I guess.  So, with all the extra time, Bev went back to sort some stuff out at the hostel, whilst I watched a rivetting video on how to maintain my campervan and where everything lives inside.  Payed pretty close attention though, especially after reading how many people have died in the outback for stupid reasons in Down Under, by Bill Bryson.  Finally finished all the paperwork and set off back to the hostel to pick up Bev and we hit the road, Happy Days!!! 

Having only known Bev for like 36 hours by this point, was still wondering how the trip would go, but from first impressions, she seemed to be a nice girl.  Off down the out of Adelaide, found the A1 no problems and got about 130km’s down the road when hunger set in, so stopped off for some food in a “Servo” (Petrol Station in English).  Back on the road and I spotted a signpost saying 598km to Melbourne, how strange?!?!  SHIT!!!!  Yes, we were on the A1, but going the totally opposite direction heading south instead of north, whoops!!!  So 300km’s later and we’re back in Adelaide (a place we’d just sworn never to return to, not exactly a holiday destination!)  Carried on, this time on the right road  

Picked up some essentials on the way and decided to make it our mission to get to Port Augusta (only 300km’s from Adelaide), had planned to get further than that on the  first day, but night driving seriously dangerous and not a good idea if you don’t want to hit a Kangaroo, then lose the deposit.  Made it to Port Augusta, found a bottle shop and a good place to park the van.  Had a few drinks in the campervan, music courtesy of my laptop and Bonnets diverse collection of random music, had a few beers, played some card games, mainly “shithead” and off to bed.