I listen to classical music now. I’m not bragging or
anything, it’s too vague to be impressive. That’s like saying I started
listening to rock music. It’s more like there are a new bundle of instruments
that vibrate my ear holes.
I flip on the classical channel after work to chill out and
be calm. But also because usually it’s instrumental and you can sing over it.
I’ve written a lot of great arias about having to pee and all the lights
turning red.
But anyway after I got off Fraser Island. I had no way back
to the train station in Gympie I had taken to get up here. But luckily Anton is
friendly and we chatted up an Italian guy named Maxime who had camped out on
Fraser by himself. He was heading most of the way to Gympie. So I figured I’d
throw him a little extra cash and I’d get to the train.
I ate at a gas station in Gympie with pleasant little hums
of hot greasy food energy pulsing. I missed chicken nuggets.
I wandered down to the train station with a poop brewing in
my belly. I was all set to chill out on the train home and zone out to some
podcasts. Oddly though, I had to jump a fence on the road to the station.
The sun had set and I sauntered into the station. The lights
flicked on curiously and I wandered out onto the platform. Nobody was around!!
I panicked and jogged and stared at the timetables. Tracing my finger through
the weekdays, I came to rest upon the only Sunday train, 3:52pm.
Blehhhhhhhh. I was stranded. And I had to poop and the
bathrooms were locked!
I stood around in disbelief for a while. Eventually a
maintenance guy came by and he opened the bathroom for me. He confirmed my
predicament.
I could camp here, I had a sleeping bag. Or stay in a motel.
And catch a train in the morning. But staying overnight would make me late for
work and then I’d have to admit I made a mistake to my boss. Which I wasn’t
gonna do. I had already taken time off and felt like he was giving me a bunch
already.
I called a taxi. $300. I wasn’t gonna that either.
Eventually I knew the way. To be a backpacker you must
follow the backpacker ways. One of the tenets is knowing that you’re gonna have
to be uncomfortable sometimes. Sometimes physically, sometimes mentally. I was
gonna have to hitchhike.
I’ve never hitchhiked before and have the engrained thought
that it’s dangerous. Which is an American and Australian norm. Europeans
hitchhike all the time. There are a lot hitchhike murders on the news. Which
doesn’t mean that there are a lot of hitchhike murders. This is an example of
the news exposure creating unnecessary bias (what is the name of this
phenomenon?)
Once I got it in my head though that I was now a hitchhiker,
then it was pretty mentally easy. If I commit then I’m in and I waltzed up into
a gas station and started talking to people. Gas stations are easier cuz, lets
face it, no one pulls over for a thumb. I caught a short ride to the next gas
station on the highway and then waited like 10 minutes before getting a ride
all the way to my destination. All in all, a pretty easy task.
Kaleb the 19 year old picked me up in some weird old four
wheeler. It had some dials that told you how tilted your car was. I guess so
you don’t flip over. It also had altimeter. Maybe it was a retired plane.
When you’re hitchhiking you’re in this weird social contract.
It’s very temporary yet very permanent. You share a close space with a complete
stranger, for me, for around an hour and a half. It allows a “therapist-like”
dynamic where you feel free to talk about whatever, cuz you’ll never see this
person again. Kaleb talked about his abusive step-dad, moving in with his
girlfriend at 15, now they just broke up and he’s going to see his biological
dad for the second time ever. It’s really cool to gain someone else’s life
story points in such a short amount of time.
We pulled in to the car park (Australian for parking lot)
and I was almost bummed for the trip to be ending so soon. I thanked him for
the ride and threw him some cash. It was his first hitchhiker too. I wished him
good luck with his bio dad and he continued on his way to New Castle.
