When All Else Fails, Celebrate Books, Small Children, and Not Dying
What to notice when you can’t get to Uluru.
A rental company was paying me to drive their campervan through the centre of Australia, from Darwin down to Adelaide.
The dream lasted for a day.
A town further down the highway went into lockdown.
So I stayed a night in Adelaide River, a tiny town 2900km north of actual Adelaide, before heading back north the next morning.
But traveling is never really about perfection. It’s definitely not about perfection in this case. The unexpected can wreck a trip, and it can also make it worthwhile.
So here are some good things that happened to me in the Australian Not-Quite-Outback.
Overheard conversation at a camp kitchen:
A father was talking to his three blonde sons.
“Here’s a responsible task for you, young man. Go to the shop and buy some bread.”
The young man is about nine years old. The shop is the petrol station around the corner.
