UK to OZ by Truck - 32 weeks overland
After a hectic last two days of trying and failing to tie up all loose ends, it is an early start to our journey, as we have to be in London for 6:30.
For these two days I have been carrying £1000 in cash for the ‘local payment’, which we all contribute as the cash fund for the trip. The cash gives me a slight tickle on the thigh of the pocket I carry it, like it has a magnetism for nerve endings. Now it is time to hand it over.
Coach park under the Novotel in Hammersmith: We are asked to arrive by 6:30, but the initial admin work means we won’t set off until at least 8.
There isn’t too much conversation as it’s difficult to tell who is waiting to go, and who is waiting to say goodbye and also, I suppose, because of the tension/excitement of facing at least 32 weeks from home. If there is a way to tell who is just there to say goodbye to their loved ones, it is those who are most pensive.
Eventually we depart and soon there is a wave of introduction going from front to back. It feels sort of like going to freshers week at university, and we know that the people we first talk to are no more likely to be the people we make friends with than anybody else. In fact they may be just people who talk to much….
After a hectic last two days of trying and failing to tie up all loose ends, it is an early start to our journey, as we have to be in London for 6:30.
For these two days I have been carrying £1000 in cash for the ‘local payment’, which we all contribute as the cash fund for the trip. The cash gives me a slight tickle on the thigh of the pocket I carry it, like it has a magnetism for nerve endings. Now it is time to hand it over.
Coach park under the Novotel in Hammersmith: We are asked to arrive by 6:30, but the initial admin work means we won’t set off until at least 8.
There isn’t too much conversation as it’s difficult to tell who is waiting to go, and who is waiting to say goodbye and also, I suppose, because of the tension/excitement of facing at least 32 weeks from home. If there is a way to tell who is just there to say goodbye to their loved ones, it is those who are most pensive.
Eventually we depart and soon there is a wave of introduction going from front to back. It feels sort of like going to freshers week at university, and we know that the people we first talk to are no more likely to be the people we make friends with than anybody else. In fact they may be just people who talk to much….
