On the road: simple travelling

Two weeks ago I was travelling on the road and feeling invigorated by life. It was a simple, no frills trip. Now I'm back home and, again, swimming in the busyness of life. The sun was shining today and I was itching to be out and about, enjoying this gorgeous world.

Tonight I had my blogging class  and now I'm back home getting ready for some guests who will be arriving tomorrow. It's going to be 34 degrees so I will need to find time to water the garden before I head off to work in the morning. There's beauty around me, even here in suburbia, but not a lot of time to savour it.

I'm putting up some snaps taken while I was over in South Australia recently.  I love getting in the car and driving away from the hustle and bustle. When I'm in the car, out on the open road, I really can't respond to phone calls, student problems or the sight of a messy house waiting for some attention.

   

I'm free when I drive.

 I love listening to radio broadcasts unless of course, it's a Saturday and every station is broadcasting sports events. Now that's a tough ride. I've gotten used to driving interstate so now I know the radio stations in each region, as well as good places to stop. As someone who was fairly uncomfortable with public toilets, I must say that the ones at the parks  approaching the Victorian/South Australian borders are impressively clean.

This time I managed to get a few photos along the way which is not always easy when you're driving down a highway with heavily-laden trucks and 100 km speed limits. It was clearly hay-making season in the rural areas, whereas the previous time I went across the fields were covered in bright, yellow canola.

Canoe Tree - on the road from Strathalbyn to Goolwa

 I've travelled extensively over the years. When I was younger and backpacking around the world I cut down on sight-seeing to stretch the money as far as I could. Now that I'm a little older I still like to keep travelling simple. Like my homelife!! I can squeeze three landmarks into a day if I choose, or I can take on one landmark that I'm really interested in (not necessarily the ones the tourist brochures insist I like). These days I much prefer to find a good walking track or a lovely place to sit , drink coffee and absorb the local atmosphere.

My friends in South Australia are on a tight budget so there were no fancy dinners. We took a walk to the top of a hill which I had expected to  take thirty minutes, thinking it was not far from their house. It was a warm day and we started late. The top of the hill turned out to be beyond the edge of their suburb, in and around the farmland. During my trip I saw many tumbledown farmsheds and rotting fences. I couldn't help thinking that we will lose all those untold stories as they rust and fall to pieces.

An hour and a half later we got back home. I had gone without water and was terribly thirsty but I managed to make it to the top of the hill  and all the way down. There was some beautiful countryside and my legs got plenty of exercise. As we walked, our chatter wandered in all directions, except when we got to the steepest part of the hill....at which point I couldn't do too much talking and had to conserve energy!

I was relieved to get back home but proud to say that I had made it to the top. The fresh air, beautiful views and good company were just as satisfying as any fancy dinner or some over-the-top, contrived landmark. This was my kind of travelling: simple, easy, enjoyable, good company, natural, authentic.