Australia is the 6th biggest country in the world and if WA were a separate country, it would be the 10th biggest and yet for some reason it still surprises me every day that we spend so much time stuck in the bus. I always knew it was going to be an extremely long journey but I still don’t think I fully realised just how long it would be!
We finally arrived at Paradoo Cattle Station with a little bit of sun left to appreciate the property. Paradoo is just over a million hectares in total (and it’s the smallest cattle station in the area) though so we couldn’t fully appreciated all of it!
After the most luxurious warm shower (anything could have been luxurious though after three days of cold showers) we settled in for an Aussie BBQ dinner just as Santa Clause arrived! Some Australians celebrate Christmas in July as it marks their winter – even if it is still 25-30 degrees in their winter!
We then moved over to sit by the fire and some of the stations campsite locals came over to join us after their traditional Christmas dinner. We got chatting to a few of the couples, almost all of who are retired and spending the Australian winter months away from the south coast. One couple we spoke to were from outside of Perth and another from Victoria and they would spend 6-8 months of the year on cattle station enjoying the proper Australian heat!!
What a lifestyle! I asked what they can even do with themselves here for 6-8 months (I was struggling to fill one evening with activities) and they just gave the best response I think I could ever, ever imagine!!!! Firstly he laughed and told me he doesn’t ever get bored here and so I asked what he was doing tomorrow, he told me he was having a day off. Then from across the fire his friend shouted – “how can you say you’re having a day off tomorrow, you’ve not even done anything today?!” And he looked at me with the cheesiest of grins and said as innocently as a child – “because I didn’t finish doing nothing today”.
I sat there for a while and thought about my never ending to do list for the next academic year (baring in mind it hasn’t even started yet!!) and wondered if my life could ever look like that. Could I ever master the art of simply doing nothing. It reminded me of the beginning of the second semester here in Australia when I had returned from travelling and organised myself after the summer but university hadn’t really picked up yet (to its whopping 12 hours a week anyway) and I hadn’t started working again and I felt myself starting to question why I was here. I don’t think it was that I didn’t want to be here I think it was more that I wanted to continue travelling and having adventures everyday but it was then that I realised I would probably never let myself have an easy life. Not that I won’t ever have an easy day – don’t get me wrong I love a sloth day as much as the rest but I only love it when it is a sloth day, not a sloth week!
The way I am programmed is both a blessing and a curse I think. I don’t think I’m able to have an easy life – but I also don’t think I want one.
I’m not sure what happened with the group whilst I was deep in thought but by the time I had refocused we were joined by the rest of the elderly locals and they were starting to tell jokes – half of them I could hear and the other half I couldn’t understand but in between that there were a few golden gems!
Sunday brought with it another driving day as we made the final leg of the journey up to Broome. Before lunch we stopped off at 80 mile beach – which isn’t actually 80 miles it’s about a third of that distance, the reason it’s called 80 mile beach though is because in the older days they measured distances with how long it took in a horse and cart to get somewhere. However they didn’t account for the fact you can move approximately 3 times slower on sand!
When we stopped for lunch we happened to get talking to a woman who was 87 and cycling(!!) from Darwin to Perth(!!) for the 4th time(!!!!!!!). I’m 22 and I couldn’t even make it the whole way around Rottnest!! She was an inspiration to the whole group to never give up and never do (or don’t do) what you’re supposed to do. She told us how she probably wasn’t supposed to be cycling these distances but she didn’t care. She wanted to do it so she did!
We stopped off at a few Roadhouses along the way and I came across one just outside of Broome with the coolest of Aussie roadsigns! Unfortunately the Melbourne plate wasn’t for sale
We’ve finally made it to Broome thankfully with enough time for a shower before our Farrell dinner this evening!
eyes abroad 