Oh sweet jeaysus – my head is hopping off the walls! Its slowly coming back to me now but its patchy to say the least! I remember throwing the keys of the POS to Stijn and with a fatherly speech said something along the lines of ‘now look after her don’t do anything I wouldn’t’ as I stumbled back into the house for another nightcap, I think its nightcap five at this point but who’s counting! The wedding was a wild one, at midnight the music was turned off but that didn’t stop us from cracking on and I have a horrible feeling that I saw someone hacking the wedding cake up for a piece. (Just to state my defense when rpd is twisted drunk savoury is the only option!) Now that explains why my head is all over the shop, question two & three – why am I half naked and are you family or friend of the wedding couple?!?!?!
Its not until I’ve finished my egg’s benni, fresh juice and two flat white’s that I’m starting to feel a little more human, the last breakfast with Stijn & Hannah and Mark & Leigh today the group gets split we all move in separate directions, some stay put but think about the post Christmas work blues, others have a flight to Singapore and some study books. I on the other hand have a date, 24hrs with the POS and a romantic drive just the two of us into the Blue Mountains. But first things first WTF is the story with these toll charges in NSW?
The tank is brimmed to the lid with cheap fuel, all necessary road trip items have been purchased; crisps, chocolate, water, fizzy orange, an Aussie pie and the provisions for a hangover dinner – best get the show on the road. Stunning day sun is splitting stones, got the window down, cruising at a leisurely 95kph and I haven’t got a care in the world. Life is so schweet right now I’m finding it difficult to see how it can get any better, even having Keira Knightly beside me would set me back with her idle chit-chat . This is what its about – me, myself and I on a road trip.
Echo Point, Three Sisters & Katoomba Falls – tick, tick & tick – all with a hangover! Now I should give you a view on the atmosphere and describe everything in at least some detail but all I can think about is why did I not at least call Keira to see if she wanted to join me!
Time for the ‘where to sleep game’ and the wish list has a number of items to address; quite, has a view, free, can light a fire, no drop loo’s and somewhere to have a wash and I can half tick the task set by The Red Barron, ‘sleep alone in the middle of nowhere for two nights!’ After a little bit of map consulting and some more lime and pepper crisps the sound of Victoria Falls is the winner. Its at the end of a road so its going to be quite, free and Falls means water so a shower in the morning – I think I might have got a winner!
After 5km’s the tarmac road ends and the dirt track starts, I make a mental note 
of the odometer number, I’ve passed at least 5 ‘no camping’ signs and 15kms then the road finally ends – well its gonna be quite that for sure I say hopping out of the POS. Right I can hear the water falling now where is it, I walk the 110mtrs to the look out point and find another sign saying its a 3hr walk to the falls and its recommended that navigational skills are required! Oh well, looks like I’ll skip the shower tomorrow and fuck walking 6hrs to see some water falling!
I’ve collected the wood for the fire and started the task of getting the kindling going, in the distance I can her some rumbles of thunder mmm best get some mozzie repellent on I say to myself out loud. The wind is getting up now and I’ve lived in Ireland long enough to know that when the wind starts to blow its going to rain, best leave the fire for the moment and pop the stuff back into the POS and with that I see a bolt of lighting drop on the floor which was not that far away at the same time an almighty clap of thunder is released and the POS is shaking from the tremor and then the rain comes down, time to take stock I think.
Why on god’s earth am I camping here I’m 21km’s from the main road, the POS is leaking like a colander it has so many holes in it, a mad man could come down here and murder me, a spider could crawl in one of the holes and bite me and I would die, the POS could get washed away with all this rain water – oh christ why did I have that ‘hair of the dog’ as now I can’t leave! Then just as I thought it couldn’t get any worse I’ve noticed how silent it is and my imagination is running a mock of me, even talking to myself won’t help, I’ll put some music on but the travel speaker is still dead best just go to bed with all the sharp objects within grabbing distance and it will be all fine in the morning!
I’m up, dressed and have the engine running all within 45 seconds of waking up I’m feeling all confident about making it through the night and at the same time laughing to myself as to how worked up I got, as I drive off I think about the two night challenge in the Amazon and decide now that Red Barron can fcuk right off – I’m not Indiana Jones, Ray Mears or Bear Grylls nor do I want to be!!
As I’m driving through Richmond and Windsor (nothing like the ones I know, but none the less I had to see them) my mood is reflective and a little nostalgic right now. I pull off into a little garage for some coffee and a token for the car wash as the POS is going back in a few hours. As I stand there with the sponge brush trying to wash the last 10 days of dust and dirt off her noticing that she is like a patchwork quilt, all the panels are a different color with dents, knocks and scrapes all over, the wheels I’m surprised are still round from the amount of balance weights that have been hammered on! With all its faults and trust me the list is long, window wipers that don’t wipe, dipped lights that were on high beam, the radio, leaky fuel tank, Haribo Chamellow’s for brakes, that door which won’t close quietly at night to name a few!! But I’ve actually come a little attached to the POS, the odometer reads 147k but christ knows how many times its been around the clock and it feels it but it works in its own little wonderful way you just need to learn to live with a few quirky moments she like’s to have on a frequent basis, its not to dissimilar to living with your parents! They drive you crazy and they have many faults, but still they work at doing what they do best and leave you with a lot of memories.
POS – its been a journey I’ll remember for a long long time, now WTF is the story with these road tolls!
the bean hunter 