Taking My Ageing Body on a Long Journey to Perth

After making this trip a couple of months before my 70^th birthday, and it was further than I had ever travelled before (Africa had been the furthest), I wrote this as a kind of ‘report’ on how it went, in case it might be useful to anyone else who may be considering flying further than they’ve ever been for the first time. I would welcome others’ sharing their own experiences.

There was a moment on the way when I thought back to how I decided to make this journey to the other side of the world.

The decision began when I received a modest windfall and realised that I could buy a ticket. That was early in 2019 - then it was there in a kind of dormant state - through Covid and beyond.

The plan was to visit my cousin, who I hadn’t seen for about 25 years. Neither of us can remember exactly which year it was when he had last visited the UK. But I knew he would never visit again. I occasionally checked the prices and in April 2024, the right priced flight appeared. And I knew it was a now or never moment - so I took the plunge and booked it.

Swissair, Manchester to Perth, Western Australia, set for November 4th because at that time it’s warm there, but not as devastatingly hot as it can be in December and January.

My cousin lives near the coast, a few hundred miles north of Perth.

I had a thought that it would be a good idea to work up my fitness and drop a few kilos to prepare my body for the challenges of the journey. But neither happened.

I approached the departure date in a rather heavy body with a few general aches and pains, most notably a tendency for my hips to ache significantly after sitting for a little while. OOOH… errr… and there had been one or two high blood pressure readings.

During the four weeks or so prior to my departure, I found myself experiencing thoughts from time to time such as ‘will I die on the way?’. That was briefly once and the most extreme of the fleeting thoughts that passed through. But I felt it wasn’t entirely crazy to acknowledge that, though unlikely, it wasn’t completely outside the realms of the range of ‘events’ that could happen!

Well, of course we could all die at any moment, journey or not. But the stroke/heart attack options flitted briefly across my mind, as these things do.

I am not an anxious type. But I recognised that there were elements of the unknown in the prospect of what I was undertaking. Both good and possibly bad too. I didn’t dwell on any of these thoughts but it was interesting to notice they were arising, along with others such as ‘can I be effective at making sure I get to the right terminals, gates, bla bla etc’ at the right times… In other words, can I rely on myself to get me there?

I’m usually good at journeys in the mental and emotional departments. I go with an open mind and a sense of excitement for the adventure and a high level of trust that it will go well. I have found that this attitude seems to help things to go smoothly. I look forward to unexpected gifts and pleasant conversations with strangers on the way and I have a kind of curiosity and wonderment as to what might happen. If something difficult should happen, then I will just deal with it as best I can. I know that the world is full of kind people. So I am not alone. If help was ever needed, it would probably appear. Yet as my date to leave approached, I felt nervous and at times a little concerned as to how my body would cope.

I am tall, 5 feet 10in, so my legs only just fit in a plane seat. My body is quite broad too, so my arms want to lean over the arm rests and to withhold them from this shared space means consciously wedging them or tightly folding my arms. I usually go for a window seat if possible for a little bit more elbow-and-lean-away room. But of course, that usually means that two people have to be disturbed, whenever I need to stand and/or walk about for a while or use the facilities. There are some physical and social discomforts to dealing with that, especially at night when others are sound asleep.

I did know, though, that despite the concerns I was having, that as soon as I left home to begin the journey, I would be leaving all my anticipatory thoughts behind and be living the moment and just dealing with it all ‘as it comes’.

As well as a few concerns, I also had a quiet excitement about my adventure and was really looking forward to leaving a gloomy, cold November England for 18 days in hot sunny Western Australia.

I love the sun. I don’t do well in the UK winter, so this trip would fulfil in a temporary way - my deep yearning for - like the swallows, a migratory life, as well as time to hang out with my cousin.

Packing

Back in late 2019, when I took a very cheap flight for a week in Essaouira, Morocco, I had decided it would be fun (for the nerdy part of me) to see if I could pack everything I needed for the week into a very small (22litre) bag that can fit easily under the seat in front, on the plane, saving me £50 extra charge for a traditional cabin sized bag.

I had lots of obsessive fun figuring this out and it was highly successful. Swimmys, warmies, waterproof, changes, chargers, toothbrush, wash stuff, towels, hat, scarf, everything I needed to be warm, cool, clean and comfortable. I could easily sling my bag onto my shoulders and walk off the plane lightly. It felt very liberating not having to be burdened with my baggage at any point and since then, I have travelled abroad this way on another three occasions for one to two weeks.

Despite my Australia flight ticket including a rather generous baggage allowance, I decided I just wanted to take my small bag, for the freedom and for the physical ease of having just one small bag that I can comfortably walk a long way with.

Even though I say ‘a long way’, that leads me to another detail. I do have ‘grumbly’ knees and have occasionally had an acute knee pain situation that - while it happens rarely - when it does, it is very painful and debilitating. As well as travelling very lightly, I bought a compact folding walking stick to incorporate into my luggage as ‘insurance’. (I am very glad to say I did not need it.)

I also invested in a pair of knee length compression socks, as that is advised, to protect against deep vein thromboses.

I have a step count app on my phone and it told me that on the journey out I walked over 6,500 steps on day 1 and 3 and 4,000 on day two of my journey. These were just walking from train to plane and plane to plane to train to bus etcetera on a trip that was otherwise completely sedentary. The walking was good for me and my knees were fine. Interesting to note how much walking is involved though.

Here is what my outward journey consisted of from my house in Sheffield UK to my cousin’s home in Western Australia:

times are approximated:

Drive to train station 10mins

Wait 20m

Train to Manchester Airport 1h 25m

Wait 3h

Flight to Zurich 2h

Wait 2h

Flight to Singapore 11h 15m

Time at Singapore 6h 30m

Flight to Perth 5h

Train to bus terminal 30m

wait for bus 2h 30m

Bus to Geraldton 6 h

Drive to destination 20mins

Approx journey time door to door: 42 hours

My main areas of concern were

The big, more than11 hour flight Zurich to Singapore… concern… hip pain.

The unknown as to how my body would cope generally.

Forgetting something vital or making some mistake with timing or gate numbers etc.

How it went

Here is the story of HOW I took this ageing body on a very looong journey!

Well … HAHA the first and second glitches occurred before I left home!

First… I FORGOT to check in online at 7.30pm the night before I left. OK I was very distracted tidying my house for visitors who were coming while I would be away … But as I slept rather fitfully on the sofa, I suddenly awoke at 4am and remembered I hadn’t checked in. I tried to at that point but was unable to seat select and came out of the system unsure as to whether I had even completed the check in properly. This had two effects. The first was an insecurity about not being checked in. The second was … Am I really flaky??? Too flaky? Can I rely on myself to find my way across the world through all these airports, trains and buses? So there, right at the beginning, I experienced a self doubt concern. Now I know I am an intelligent capable woman… but am I? How could I forget something so important?

The next thing that happened was that the taxi I had ordered for the station did not turn up and at the very last minute I had to ask my neighbour to drive me there. I slow-ran for the train, watching my feet to make absolutely sure I did not trip. Not tripping is always MORE important than catching the train! It’s good to remember these kinds of things when hurrying or stressed! I made the train by one minute. I could have got a later train, but I had the issue of wanting lots of time to make sure I was properly checked in. Aside from the rules I have… ‘always allow greater extra time to get to the airport in case of transport issues on the way!!’ And… ‘The further away the airport, the more extra time needed.’ I had planned to be at the airport three hours before departure. (I once very nearly missed a plane because of a train diversion on the way to the airport).

As I settled in to my seat on the train, I discovered how unused I am to running! I rather shockingly had a coughing fit that lasted for 20 minutes and was forced to reflect on my lack of fitness! I felt dismayed that my fitness has diminished over years, without me fully realising how much. I had had a very strong body all my life. That’s why I never took regular maintenance very seriously. I have taken my health and strength for granted. I know that as we get older, we should do regular maintenance but I hadn’t done a great job of that. I feel rather embarrassed to admit this. But I want to write an accurate and honest report on how travelling with an older body can be. And my, only moderate rather than good level of fitness, is a factor in how it went. This wasn’t the ideal time to find out just how unfit I was!!

Thank goodness, my breathing recovered. So the thing is. These kinds of events can be, at the least, unsettling and,at worse, cause significant anxiety!

Anxiety is clearly a factor to be considered and in many cases cause people to decide not to undertake a journey for reasons of anxiety alone. It is clearly a factor that has to be acknowledged and dealt with the best way possible. And, of course, anxiety stuff can be intensified when travelling alone.

I do not regard myself as someone with a high tendency to anxiety. But one of the things I have observed about this journey is the moments when certain concerns arose and how I dealt with them.

I think the two main areas of challenge that can inhibit us from having a smooth and comfortable journey are -

Physical discomforts

and

Fears and anxieties that arise from uncertainties or unexpected problems arising on the way.

When I got to the airport, I went straight to the check in hall and waited for the desk to open. As I went up to the desk I heard the lady at the adjacent desk, who was checking in for the same flight, gently telling a man that he was not going to be on the flight to Zurich, my first flight, adding ‘the flight was overbooked and, in that case, we take off the last ones to check in’.

He was very polite and dignified but I could see he was totally gutted.

As you may imagine, hearing that, I had a moment. I thought ‘Not sure if I’m even properly checked in. I wonder if I will be thrown off the flight too and if I am, what will happen to the rest of my journey?’ It was kind of a hold my breath moment. I had done this before. I was in limbo waiting to see if it would be alright or all wrong for just a few minutes but was kind of suspending any reaction I might have until I found out. That is what I call a holding breath moment. It’s a way of deferring anxiety until I know for sure whether I have a problem or not! So I don’t ‘waste worry’, in case I don’t have to.

I was hugely relieved when the lovely lady on my counter reassured me all was well and she could fix all the seating for my ongoing flights too! PHHEEEEEWWWW!

The unknowns and unexpecteds in a journey like this can be a significant source of stress! I seemed to have had many of them right at the beginning!

Well. The flight to Zurich was pretty straightforward and the walk between planes was welcome after two hours sitting.

After Zurich came to the 11 hour flight to Singapore.

It was every bit as challenging as I feared it might be and more. About three hours in I began to think ‘I don’t know if I can do this! Not another eight hours!’ … due to the intense aching in my hips from simply sitting in my seat.

I was in a window seat at the back. There was a lovely woman sitting beside me who had some pain issues with her back. I had already been able to help her to experience a measure of relief from her pain using simple meridian tapping.

With her and the guy on the aisle now asleep and me jammed into a tiny space by the window, I had to now deal with my own pain, with nowhere to go for another eight hours except out into the aisle which meant waking two people up, so couldn’t be too often.

Feeling rather desperate, I did three things.

I intentionally felt the pain I was in very fully… and accepted it.

I instructed my body to deeply relax, despite whatever it was feeling.

I tapped meridian points, which is an effective way to release stuff and instructed my unconscious to release all emotional attachments to the pain and all related discomforts in the situation. As a result of doing these three things, my pain went from unbearable to - though still very uncomfortable - bearable.

During the following eight hours of the flight, I spent quite a lot of time standing in one or the other of the recesses next to the galley or the mid cabin toilets. Leaning on the walls and moving my legs and hips around. Flexing my feet and shoulders from time to time.

I survived the long flight.

I was so very grateful that I had the choice to be able to stand!

The staff were very sweet on all the planes. On those long haul flights, you can go to the crew at the galley when most of the plane is sleeping and if you ask , they are very happy to make a cup of tea or other refreshment for you. I really appreciated this, and the kind smiles they gave me too.

My 6.5 hour break at Changi Airport, Singapore

I had done a little research on Changi Airport before my journey and had discovered that there were lots of facilities there. I was looking for something restorative, and the highlight was that there is a rooftop, open air pool at the Aerotel hotel inside terminal one with a bar and bistro. I couldn’t think of a better way for my body to recover. However, I found out that it closed at night and that I would be transferring at night. I was pretty sure I would completely miss it. But I had somehow got my Singapore arrival time wrong… oops was that another mental aberration? As soon as I got into into the terminal, which was T2, I found an information desk and a delightful woman informed me that not only was the pool still open but but it would be open for another three and a half hours until 10 pm! JOY!!!

Finding someone to help you can be much better sometimes than just figuring it out yourself.

It does several things

Makes sure you’ve got it right or saves you having to working everything out yourself. When tired it’s easy to make cognitive errors.

Provides moments of human connection. It feels really nice to have a caring person enjoying helping me while I enjoy being helped.

My flight to Perth was due to leave at 00:25 so that would give me a safe two hours after the pool closed in T1 to get across to T3 for my Perth flight.

This pool experience was the very high point of the journey and came exactly when I needed it. It was a great gift!

It was the last hour of daylight as I arrived at the pool, which was a good size, maybe 20 metres and in a curvy shape with lots of loungers and a jacuzzi, not too busy and with a very friendly helpful barman serving drinks and food as well as booking me in, giving me a towel and so on.

I swam and lounged and had a couple of really nice chats with some women there, then a nice hot shower, some food and a lie down… oooh yes, a lie down, on a comfy lounger as a sickle moon rose into the night sky above. WOW! Couldn’t be better! Cost of entry was about £16 and that included a clean towel and free locker. Worth every penny. As I swam and gazed up at the moon, I felt a sudden surge of joy.

On the flight to Perth, I again had a window seat and was lucky enough this time to have an empty seat beside me. That way I could change my position to a sideways position with my feet on my bag to change the shape of the pressure on my hips, which was really helpful. It’s surprising how doable it felt in comparison with the very long previous flight… even though five hours isn’t short!

The swim and rest at Changi had definitely helped my body so that the five hour Perth flight passed very well.

At Perth, emerging out into the early morning light and almost no one around I met two lovely friendly mine workers who I walked with as they showed me the way to the metro line for the bus terminal six stops away. One was silent and smiley. The other young and full of life and chat. Rather tired at this point, it was so very nice just to be guided and chat with two warm friendly strangers. These are the moments that really make a difference.

I also decided to ask at an information counter, to make sure I was getting the right train and she told me it was free of charge for someone with a long-distance bus ticket as I had. I hadn’t known that. Yay. Australia felt welcoming.

At the bus terminal there was a cafe open for early workers calling in for their hot drinks, breakfast sandwiches and so on.

I had a coffee, a frittata and a small and extremely good blueberry brioche cake which had melt in the mouth softness and sugary crunchiness around the edge. Very yummy!

Then I went outside into the morning light, where there was a green area with benches. I lay down full length on one and it was such a relief to be able to lie fully stretched out after all the sitting. Simple comforts and pleasures like this along the way really help and are well worth grabbing whenever possible. Moments out under the sky help me too.

The bus driver was a cheerful fellow and as the bus was half empty, he told us we could move seats to get more comfortable. Great! That was truly a gift for me as the bus seats, though comfortable, were rather narrow. So now with a double seat to myself, I could move, change position, get my feet sideways and on my bag again, making the next six hours a lot easier. The bus did a rest stop on the way at a roadhouse café, which was also very welcome.

As I watched the sunlit landscape whizz past on that last part of my journey, I began to experience a sense of relief and pleasure because I seemed to have survived the journey as well as I clearly had.

I reflected on the nice people I had interacted with along the way who really helped the journey along. Lisa, the woman next to me on the long flight, the flight attendants who made me a cup of tea when I was standing for so long in the night and who were so caring and helpful. The two women at the pool, one who suggested I visit the museum in Geraldton at which her friend is curator. ‘Tell her you met me’. The barman at the pool had a lovely friendly, sweet way about him. The two miners who walked me to the train (my first welcome to Australia) and the woman from Woolagong waiting for the bus who chatted to me about her life and her knee op as we passed time before the bus came in.

The main challenge for me on this journey was definitely the pain I experienced in my hips with all the sitting. I got only short bursts of sleep maybe two hours here and there. But the human connections I made along the way really made a difference. And the aircrews, cafe, bar staff, information counter staff. All were so very helpful that I felt looked after in many small but good feeling ways by them all. That feeling of being looked after really helped. So, though I was travelling alone, I was always surrounded by other humans, sharing in life and helping each other on our way.

As I write this, I’m remembering at the bar in Zurich airport there was a delay getting served and a woman waiting was really getting into complaining mode. Maybe she was in a hurry or otherwise stressed. My internal response was a clear feeling that I do not choose to participate in this behaviour and attitude. This is because it drops me into a much less resourceful state of mind. On a challenging journey, my need to take care of my own wellbeing requires that I maintain as best I can, an attitude of appreciation for even the smallest things, the pleasantest possible level of interaction with the people around me, and a sense of anything’s possible, an openness to things working out well, as well as of course a sense of adventure. Adventure means the unexpected, which will always include a whole range of both challenges and gifts. I smiled and nodded at the complainer and moved along the bar so I would not be part of her experience. The bar staff looked tired.

I have found from my experience, that on a challenging journey like this, it really helps to not only seek and fully enjoy and really relish all possible moments of comfort along the way, however small, but also to savour the human connections and kindnesses that one experiences. They are good fuel in the tank! It also helps, if one is able, to simply and radically trust that all will be well, even though there may be unexpected diversions or apparent obstacles along the way.

This is adopting an attitude of gentle expectation of a good journey and that any blips will be sorted out, perhaps with help if needed. Though travelling alone, there are always caring and helpful humans around.

So one is not really very much alone at all.

I had a precious three weeks with my cousin, lots of sunshine and a daily sea swims at the lovely laid back windsurfer beach, and then came the journey home.

The way I went home was a bit different. As the bus from Geraldton would not get into Perth in time for the plane, I had booked an overnight in a hostel in Perth and was lucky enough to see some lovely friends in the evening and the next morning. The journey had a break between the initial six hour bus ride and the flight from Perth.

Perth to home was about 34 hours.

There wasn’t time to swim at Changi as it was a very quick turnaround.

As the plane was approaching Singapore Changi, they did a very useful thing. They announced a list of the terminals and gates of every connecting flight so I knew exactly where to go before coming off the flight. That really helped a lot to not be worrying about finding out which gate after getting off the plane without much time to transfer.

I went straight to the gate, then when I got there, I could see that I could take an extra few minutes before boarding, I nipped into the Ladies and freshened up and changed my clothes into the warmer stuff that would work for the journey up into Northern Europe and getting out into the November air in Manchester! Leggings and a warm cardi instead of the thin summery cottons I had been wearing. This was well worth taking the time to do. And, of course, I had always had everything handy and with me in my little 22 litre bag!

A dodgy moment on the way home

When I got onto the longest flight, from Singapore to Munich… even longer than the outgoing longest flight… I got to my seat, which was an aisle seat, and found that the large man in front of me was very determinedly (with eyes closed) fully reclined already and it looked to me like that seat reclined more than usual, which was probably an illusion. I went into what I could only describe as ‘victim mode’! I stood for a moment and exclaimed out loud ‘I don’t know how I’m going to fit in there!’. I slid my bag into its place under the seat in front and sideways slid myself into the seat. I felt embarrassed, as I realised the attitude I was dropping into was not useful. That ‘victim mode’ state takes one into what I call a low resonance state. When I drop my resonance, several things happen. I feel weaker. My mood drops. My expectations drop. My connection with other humans is less enjoyable. All these things lower my level of ‘fuel in the tank’ meaning I am less well resourced and I make the situation even more uncomfortable and challenging for myself than it already is. If being assertive is useful, it can help to be firm, but always best not in a complaining way. But I decided that would not help me in the way I needed.

People around were just getting on a plane finding their seats. After squeezing myself into my seat and observing my state, I realised that I felt ashamed of my small petulant outburst and relieved that no one seemed to have heard me… and I realised that I absolutely did not want to be in victim mode!

I prefer ‘smile at the world and the world smiles back’ mode! So I made the decision to completely let go of caring about the big seat back in front, kind of in my face, even when flight meals came. The guy in front was fully reclined for the entire flight including mealtimes! But because an aisle seat had been all I could get (messed up the checking in process again), it meant that, though I had to keep my elbow tucked in so people walking by didn’t knock me, I could get up and down whenever I wanted, which was a great plus, as I needed to spend lots of time up on my feet on that flight due to my hip discomforts. The young man next to me had a quiet and caring demeaner so that was a good vibe I was grateful for.

There are places you can stand and move a bit down by the galley area and the staff were really kind and made me cups of tea while I was hanging around there, getting away from the pain of sitting, when most of the passengers were sleeping. Again those moments of human kindness that warmed my heart.

That flight was even longer than the outward journey as it went to Munich rather than Zurich. But in Munich airport, I had nearly three hours and went straight to the gate, which was deserted when I got there and oh bliss they had no armrests on the rows of seats so I had a precious hour stretched out full length across the seating before the people started to get there. Another gift!

I landed early morning in Manchester and went straight for the train home. The great advantage for me of Manchester airport is that there’s a train station in the airport from which, in daytime, there’s a train every hour to my home city of Sheffield.

At the brief 15 minute change over, on the draughty outdoor platform at Manchester Piccadilly, I was super blessed to have a small patch of wintry sun to stand in. After a long journey and with only a minimum of warm clothes, I was just warm enough with my hooded cardi, leggings, socks and scarf. Thank you, sun!!

Despite a few discomfort-related challenges, I survived the return journey well too.

When I got home, I was jet lagged but otherwise fully intact!

If I ever win the lottery big time, I would probably treat this oldening body to business class tickets! But it’s good to know I could survive the challenges of the basic seating arrangements.

One thing I did notice… the lovely woman I was next to on the flight from Perth to Singapore was tiny. And as I looked at her, I realised she had masses of space! If you are a small person it really helps on this types of journey!

The toughest moments/aspects of these journeys were

Moments of self doubt when I had messed up checking in.

My taxi not showing up when I was leaving for the airport. I was so glad I had left lots of extra time.

The hip pain I experienced having to sit for many hours.

The things that really helped were

The rooftop pool at Singapore Chiangi airport was an absolute reset for me physically and also being under the sky, after so much time shut inside big metal tubes and huge airport buildings. I drank that in! Especially lovely as it got dark and the moon rose. It’s well worth researching any airport stopover to see what facilities they have before you leave. A friend I was travelling with once, took her gym kit in her hand luggage so she could go to the gym for a workout on a two hour stopover in Dubai!

The times I was able to lie down full length somewhere even just for a short time. The pool lounger, the bench in the little park outside the bus station in Perth, the long seat with no fixed armrests at Munich airport’s departure gate. A straight lie down means a lot to me!

Having two adjacent seats on the six hour bus rides, both ways, and one of the planes made a massive difference to my physical comfort.

Having only my small bag so no extra stuff to lug around or have to concern myself with. It also meant I had my swimming stuff and changes of clothes to hand when needed.

Two long thin tube shaped cotton jersey ‘bags’ I had made that I put some of my clothes in and used as a neck support when sleeping sitting up in a plane seat worked really well.

Timing. I timed the flight so that I was both leaving and arriving in the daytime. It made it much easier both getting to the airport and arriving at my destination. I paid £715 for my return airfare, maybe £30 more than the cheapest possible ticket but I chose it because the timing of it saved me from both a broken night’s sleep before leaving and from needing an extra overnight room in Perth on my outbound journey.

Travelling from Manchester. I have found many times that it’s worth paying more for a flight to be able to leave from nearer to home rather than travel to a London airport. It shortens the journey as well as saves on extra costs.

And starting the journey in the daytime without having to get up in the middle of the night helps reduce the sleep deprivation factor. On this one, I also arrived back in the middle of the day too. It was easy to get the train to Sheffield and home. These things are worth thinking about when designing a journey and booking flights.

The gifts along the way

Simple pleasurable moments. Big and small. It’s well worth fully savouring them, however small, because they ‘fill your tank’. Mine included:

The rooftop pool!! Yes I know I keep mentioning it but it was a massive gift for me as I still had another 20 hours of travel ahead of me.

Seeing the moon there.

Precious human connections and kindnesses. These are immeasurably helpful when going on a challenging journey.

They include -

My dear neighbour driving me to the station.

Two cups of tea made for me by the sweet kind crew member in the dark hours of the night on the very long flight. She seemed so willing and happy to serve me that I really felt taken care of.

Lovely chats with people on planes and buses at airports and at the bus station.

People making sure to help me get to places; the check-in person at Manchester; the info lady at Singapore, the two miners who were my ‘welcome to Australia’ in the quiet early hours of the morning and walked me to the metro; and the info person who told me my fare was free to the bus. Precious.

Not forgetting -

The most delectable cake at the bus station café in Perth.

And just by where I embarked on the six hour bus from Geraldton on my journey home there was a market and I picked up a book which I almost entirely read on the bus ride to Perth. It was an absolute gift. It really connected me to Australia, as well as educating me, in those last hours as I was beginning to leave. Called ‘Not My Country’ by Peter Docker. Published in 2005 and beautifully written.

The entire trip was a gift. It cost me about £950 including everything. Plane, buses, trains, taxis, hostel, swim, food on my way.

In Australia.

My cousin took me to the lovely local windsurfer beach every day, in the company of his highly intelligent and sensitive little dog, a Jack Russell terrier called Ella, who I bonded with massively while I was there. The beach was a rather special place, with a casual friendly community feel, a few camper vans and the occasional food truck. There were local friends there and also friends from all over the world too, who go there for a few weeks every year to windsurf in the perfect wave conditions.

My cousin had moved there many decades ago because he was passionate about his wind surfing but has sadly had to stop in recent times because of work related lung damage. I did a bit of strimming of the grass and weeds on his property every day to help out while I was there before we went to the beach. I had done over the whole plot by the time I left. And helped him move his massive water tank to a better spot before the truck came to fill it. He has a plot of land where he’s building a very simple home for himself. It’s in a tiny village out in the countryside. It was great to see him again.

Glad I went.

My Australian adventure.