Our last day was spent doing a winetour in the Borassa Valley. This is what South Australia is known for..the 96 wineries, all within a 20km radius. Jason had said from the beginning of the trip that when we get to Adelaide, we'll spend our last day visiting all the wineries, tasting all that's on offer and getting drunk in the process. So that's exactly what we did. I can now say that I'm a wine expert..when it comes to knowing that "mixing around 30 different kinds of wines isn't the way to go, when you don't want end up feeling pretty sickly". That's all I can say on the subject.. From white wine, to rose, to dark red, to port, to muscat, to mead.. They all passed my palate (as they would say in wine-jargon), and I don't plan on drinking anything made from grapes that consists of alcohol for next while.. Or maybe the next few days or hours anyhow..
We camped that night in a suburb in Adelaide by the beach. Both pretty drunk, and still not being able to grasp that this was the end of our roadtrip together. I was up at 3.30am the next morning, trying to pack, in the still of the night. We headed to the airport, and nobody would have guessed that I was hungover as bedamned.. Why? Because there was simply too much going on, when it came to just about everything, that the hangover was the least of worries: leaving Jason, ending the trip, saying goodbye to Myvan, thinking about where to stay in Cairns and nearly being convinced that this could end up being a big mistake. The hangover wasn't there, but the nervous and sickly feeling was very much present. Ending the trip on a clean note..I had a shower in the airport, checked-in my bags.. and then it was time to say goodbye.. We didn't drag it out and I was also almost certain that I'd come back down to Victoria to work with him, in 4 months time. Almost, I say, as nothing is ever a certain in this life. But I figure if we do end up missing each other that much, then it won't even be a question if and how I get back down to work with him in Nyah. I just simply will make it happen.
An amazing trip.. 8 whole weeks (exactly) of driving, seeing, doing, being, laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes complaining, sometimes disagreeing.. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week we were in each others company. We said, after the first 3 weeks, that it was a risky thing we did: deciding to do a massive roadtrip together, after no having seen each other in 2.5 years.. It could have been disastrous. But it wasn't anything but that. It was amazing. We both have said it's a trip a of lifetime. And it was.
I've been on roadtrips before, and have traveled around with people on the odd occasion, so it's saying alot when I say that this trip literally WAS the trip of a lifetime. It wasn't just because of what we've seen.. When I did the West Coast for example, 2 years ago, the experience was totally different. It was rushed, it was scary, it was chaotic. But the scenery over there is out of this world. Some parts would probably even be prettier and more breathtaking than some of the places we've seen over the past weeks. But with this trip, it was just about perfect because of the freedom, the van, the company, the way we were able to communicate whenever either of us was down and out. It was the fact that there was no pressure, no stress, no time limit - even though we knew our money would run out, we still managed to get into that frame of mind where time really can stand still. It was the unknown that made it so amazing. When I traveled the West Coast, we had a plan, a tight schedule, that we had to keep following.. and that's why the experience was so different from this trip. Also traveling with just 2 people is so freeing, compared to traveling with 5 people.. We were on the same wavelength when it came to flowing with the moment. We knew each others weaknesses and therefore we knew what to do when we they would become apparent, due to certain situations. He also pushed me, into doing certain things that I would never even have considered doing, 2 or 3 months ago.. He brought out that adventurous side in me, that I sometimes feared I was lacking.. How grateful I am, for this experience..
An amazing journey, and I'm sad that it's ended. I really am. I know I'll miss Jason's company, I'll miss the van, I'll miss the freedom, I'll miss living in the moment and I'll miss the unknown. But, all good things must come to an end, and this next step I'm taking, I need. I have listened and I know what I heard.. "This is the time for me to branch out and be independent again, no matter how hard saying goodbye was.."
"What a trip.."
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