The Joy Of New Vistas And Old Haunts
where I’ve been, what I’ve been up to, and what I’ve learned (or at least reminded myself that I already knew)
Well Hello There!
I haven’t written for a while because besides just taking a break from “showing up online”, we (the hubby and I) have been travelling. We decided it was time for a road trip and once all the hard work of planning, shopping, prepping, and packing was done and we finally began the trip, it was nice to completely and abso**ckinglutely relax.
What I love about that type of traveling is the brain space to dream, imagine, and just sit and think. Also the hubby and I have been together a long time, 40+ years, so have done many a road trip together and there’s something about being trapped in a car with someone you love coupled with inconsistent internet coverage that forces allows the time for deeper conversations. It makes me think we should figure out a way to incorporate “road trip talks” into our bog standard, daily lives.
As well as wanting to return north to Townsville, our home for the first 12 years we lived in AU, we decided to explore places we hadn’t yet visited. We mixed up sleeping in our new swag with staying in (pretty) cheesy motels and crashing with a friend. So it was a bit of a combo trip all the way around: the excitement of new experiences interspersed with the comfort of repeating familiar things in familiar places.
Off we set…
I love that feeling of discovery when you travel on roads you’ve never taken to get somewhere you’ve never been. The anticipation of the unknown makes you want to pay closer attention to the journey and as co-pilot and NAGivator I take that task seriously. It’s all virgin territory and it’s my job to guide us to our daily destination as well as choose the tunes or podcast to accompany us and keep the driver well fed.
We spent the first night in a national park campground that wasn’t very crowded. We hadn’t camped in years but still remembered how good it feels to be in a place where the only thing you hear is the sound of nature. It was instant relaxation, like taking a big exhale.
Once it got dark we wandered away from our swag to find a clearing and gazed up at the incredible night sky. It was an instant feeling of humbled insignificance while marvelling at the grandeur of the universe.
We went to bed super early. I mean after you’ve read a bit by the light of your headlamp, you’re pretty much done for the day, right? It was instantly the best night’s sleep I’ve had in yonks - we woke up so very refreshed.
I reckon we all know that research shows that spending time in nature is good for our health but did you know one of the reasons turns out to be the sounds we hear?1
After that it was more new territory, hello Longreach, which sits on the Tropic of Capricorn, in outback QLD.
Longreach is the home of many touristy things, including The Stockman’s Hall of Fame (didn’t visit) and the Qantas Founders Museum (did visit and spent imho too many hours there). You can also ride in a stagecoach, go on a birdwatching tour, and/or take a tour of the School of The Air, but instead we ponied up for an equally touristy Thompson River paddle boat cruise. As well as a leisurely sunset cruise on the river our evening included a typical station supper, bush poetry, a filmed reenactment of Harry Readford’s famous cattle rustling, and damper served with billy tea. We loved it!
Here’s the crazy thing though. Even though this was a new experience in a new place 1100 kilometres (~700miles) from where we live, not only was the couple sitting across from us on that riverboat from Townsville, one of them shared an ex-boss with my hubby! You have to admit the chances of that are relatively small but hey the universe is weird and I love it when those less than two degrees of separation unexpectedly pop up.
We spent a couple more days working our way up to Cairns in FNQ, a city we’ve been to many times in the past. There was something so lovely about doing some of our “usual things”: going to Rusty’s Market, walking the Esplanade, ogling at boats (for the hubby), while also discovering a new to us and fabulous Chinese restaurant literally around the corner from our hotel.
We travelled down to Townsville and had a wonderful few days catching up with friends and reacquainting ourselves with our old home town. It felt a bit weird tbh, we moved five years ago so we’ve replaced the familiarity and comfort of one town for another. This was my second trip back and the hubby’s first so he was the one that kept saying how strange it all felt but of course, by the time we had to leave it all felt normal again.
While we were there I caught up with some of my Pilates students (who are also my friends), went to opening night of Shakespeare Under The Stars, and had a gelato from our favourite place on The Strand. The joy in the familiar people, places, and events was extremely comforting.
On our drive home, we had another few nights of camping and rather than spending all our time on the highway found some back roads so we toodle our way south, again travelling a familiar direction but on a different path.
It’s amazing how easy it is to feel vibrant and full of life when you’re away from your regular day to day schedule. It also helps if you have no internet coverage (except when you absolutely need it, of course) so you can experience the world thought the windscreen instead of a device screen. There’s time for new sights, new adventures, lots of laughs and not getting fussed when things don’t go exactly according to plan or perchance the hotel you’re staying in is a way more daggy than it looked online.
One of our unexpected issues was that an almost full jar of peanut butter spontaneously opened and emptied most of its contents into the bag it was traveling in. Now, I know I just made that jar of peanut butter sound like a sentient being that spilled itself on purpose, but I realise it was just a silly accident because, ahem, someone who loves to have crackers with peanut butter didn’t put the lid on tightly enough when he was done.
Because we were so relaxed, I was not especially fussed about the nut butter nightmare. I really wanted to save that bag so after several days of it just hanging out in the back seat and then a couple more days of it just hanging out under our friend’s house I finally whacked on some rubber gloves and scraped out globs and globs of almost hardened peanut butter and then just simply washed the bag out and set it in the sun to dry. Let me tell you if that had happened at home or in some other situation I know I wouldn’t have been so chill about the mess and I definitely wouldn’t have waited days and days and days and days until I felt like cleaning it up. The power of a vacation!
Now that I’m back home not only am I trying to hang on to that relaxed vibe for as long as possible but am reminding myself about the simple but important pleasures to be found in nature, deep conversations, and connection with friends.
I think the combo of visiting and exploring new places and re-visiting favourite and comforting places was absolutely perfect! (it also helps when your house-sitter cleans your house before you return - bliss!!)
Be Well and Stay Vibrant!
xBec
P.S. It’s not like being home sucks - this is the sunrise from my verandah from yesterday!!
Buxton RT, Pearson AL, Allou C, Fristrup K, Wittemyer G. A synthesis of health benefits of natural sounds and their distribution in national parks. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Apr 6;118(14):e2013097118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2013097118. PMID: 33753555; PMCID: PMC8040792.