We intend to set off on the grand date of May 20 for no reason beyond the fact that Yoshi needs to come back from the farm at Mildura, and he wants to coincide it with a heartfelt farewell to his girl, Ayaka, who will go TO the farms to work. He went there after we decided to go on the trip together, to earn some dollars, and to see a bit of the country in a different way than the trip itself will allow.
Pink highlight: our intended route
Meanwhile Haesh and Joshua plan the elementary route out, deciding on various places to visit through the suggestions of a couple of different friends of Joshua’s (John, Dirk and Des – thanks guys!) and their own inclinations based upon famous spots and mere interest (why NOT go to Coober Pedy?), as well as make arrangements to purchase a vehicle (which we called Redcliff – to me, a bit confusing), determine the necessary gear and get the whole thing on its way. Yoshi accepted and trusted our capability to make decisions for him. Too easy.
One of the decisions we all made together, though, became the inclusion of the two guys girlfriends (Ayaka with Yoshi, and Semi with Haesh) once we got to Melbourne. We three would rumble with the brown states, and the girls could join us for a Great Ocean Road gallavant and meander from the south up towards home. I set myself the honourable goal of attempting my first ever beard-growing on the trip, and having to take daily photographs, of which I collected in the segment entitled “The Daily Beard”. (View the horror here!)
Something we needed to do before going (of course!) remained to have a big kicking party where all of the people we knew could come along and wish us the best of times on the road. So the Saturday before leaving we held our own departure party. And we had a dandy old night, with my father on fire duty (sausages?), us lot on rum duty, and tha girls and tha boys on, mmm mmm, dance duty. Yea? My house became the home of the boys before we set off, with guitar practice, packing it all together and getting ready. With the date set to “go” and our hearts in our mouths, we looked forward to the leaving, not knowing what sort of mischief we’d get up to along the way, but knowing full well we would. Tomorrow, then?
