Warning: Creepy Crawly Alert! (Day 180)
Our last day in Australia and the day we saw some creepy crawlies.
Our last day in Australia; we went for a walk with Alix, Geoff and the 4 dogs, throwing balls and sticks and chatting away. Winnie gets so excited and seems to glide through the air between jumps. It was quite windy so perhaps the gusts of wind helped! Geoff then drove us to see if we could spot any whales. Even if they were there, the swirl of the sea made it difficult to notice any spouts from the blowholes. Mind you, it didn’t stop Geoff and I pretending to Tim and Alix that we’d seen them; bad liars, they saw through us straight away.
We popped in a café called the Milk Bar for a coffee and the subject of Australian creepy crawlies was raised. When travelling it is a good idea to have some knowledge of what creatures to avoid. Alix and Geoff have red-back spiders in their garden and told us about a couple of stories where young men had picked up snakes, were bitten and died, one guy in Oz and one in Africa. Why would you do that? Should be included in the Darwin Awards. I did share my experience of nearly treading on a Brown Snake in the Flinders Range 28 years ago. There was no way I was going to touch it, let alone pick it up! As we were chatting, suddenly a small cockroach fell onto our table. I didn’t realise I could move too fast, whipped off my seat whilst Alix slammed her hand on it. Impressive!
When we got back, Alix hunted in her grates in the garden to show us a red-back. We only found 2; one juvenile male and 1 female with a little bit of red on its back. Apparently, these small spiders are not predatory so will only bite if you squash them, whereby a funnel spider will attack. I am so glad in Britain that we don’t have these killing machines. Makes tramping a lot more at ease.
Later we went out for a nice lunch, such easy conversation with these two. We chatted about #GrownUpTravellers and the book that I have started to write; the title may be “Before you Go..Go” which shares that travelling is possible for us all if we want it. Tim and I class ourselves as a couple of ordinary people, so if we can do it, most people can if they want to.
Alix and Geoff are also going travelling soon, around Australia with their 3 dogs. They will be converting their big Toyota truck with cooking facilities etc. and have purchased a roof tent to sleep in. We were having such a laugh about the kind of book that they could write. Geoff says such great one-liners that we suggested it could be a children’s book, travelling through the eyes of Winnie and Alix can paint the illustrations. Sounds like a fabulous idea to us. The conversation flowed, usual subjects putting the world to rights. I am sure if governments listened to us we would have a much kinder and peaceful world out there.
Back to their home, wondering if Millie, the visiting dog had trashed the place. We laughed – it would make a good story to write about, however thankfully, she was very well behaved. I decided to sort out our bags before we left. We had left Tim’s large rucksack here so that we could travel to Melbourne, Tasmania and Uluru with cabin luggage only. It saves money and time. OMG, we have far too many clothes. I had forgotten the clothes I had left here, tunics, white trousers, t-shirts and shirt. Well, I will be leaving them behind in the UK or they may even go to a charity shop. I’ve decided not to have any light coloured clothes. Having all the same tone does make clothes washing easier, they can all be bunged into the washing machine together – so only 1 load is required. Good tip eh! I showed Alix my A$5 new merino t-shirt I got from the Op (Charity) Shop in Melbourne. She was very impressed and after looking up the brand on the internet, she said that there was a shop at the Airport that sold this make.
Our Uber arrived, we said our warm farewells again to Alix and Geoff. I am sure we will meet again at some time. We both really do hope so and look forward to reading their travel-logs later this year.
At the Airport, I found the t-shirt brand and discovered a new one would have cost me a whopping A$109!! I contacted Alix to share my good news and she responded to say that we had left our washbag at theirs and at least we’d be 500g lighter! I do hope she uses some of the items in there – I had some very nice fluorescent orange nail varnish in the bag.
The plane left on time for our long journey back. The first leg to Abu Dubi is 14 hours and we were pleased to see that we had a row of 4 seats between us, so managed to have a lie-down and get a few zzz in. I overheard one passenger saying to a family member that he hadn’t slept at all. I didn’t know people snored loudly when they were asleep!
A fabulous time in this huge country. We met lovely people, lots of wonderful conversations, visited old haunts from the past as well as seeing numerous new sights, many of which were a lot more remarkable that I thought they would be. Highly recommend at least 3 weeks in Tasmania and a good couple of weeks in the middle of the country. Just watch out for any of those dangerous creepy crawlies though.
