Meeting Daisy- August 3, 2019

I woke up before my alarm today. Those days are few and far between but today was a great day for it to happen. It meant I had time to go to the gas station to grab some travel sized body wash. I even had time to go for a little wander to find a cute cafe called Source Foods for coffee and breakfast. I had a delicious latte and a total non typical breakfast, southern fried chicken sandwich. I don’t often choose to eat meat, but apparently when I want it it’s for breakfast🙄.

After breakfast I went back to the hostel, stripped my bed, checked out, got my 20 bucks back for returning the key(#winning) did a last charge of all of my electrical things, and then it was time to do the thing that I both have been looking forward to and petrified of for the last 8 days since I booked my Why Not Bus tour. I went to the lobby to meet the people I was going to be stuck in a bus with for the next 13 days. While most people think I’m quite good at chatting and meeting new people, it’s something that isn’t all that easy for me. One on one I’m fine, but big groups I find quite intimidating. I saw all these people with rucksacks and luggage chatting in little groups. I was pretty sure they were all on my tour. I stood back and observed the different conversations before deciding which one to try and mingle my way into. I first braved a group of about 4 or 5 girls. Then I migrated to the next, before actually striking up a real conversation with a girl Emma. Our conversation was migrated from the lobby to outside in the parking lot when Cam, our bus driver and tour guide arrived. I knew within seconds of his introduction of himself and the tour that this was going to be a hilarious 2 weeks. He was cracking jokes left and right and I was so happy about it. It was finally time to meet the bus that would hopefully provide me two of the best weeks of my life. We had to walk a few blocks but all of a sudden there it was. This unique old school looking red and white bus with a little trailer in tow. And when I say little, I mean a bit too little to fit all of our stuff. We played Tetris with the luggage for about 30 minutes to try and fit everything in. In the end, we lost that round of the game and about 3 bags made their way to the back of the bus in the luckily spare seat.

We only had one more thing to do before we could begin our trip. Name the bus! Without a second of hesitation the hungover guy in the seat in front of me named Sam said very mater of factly in a struggling monotone voice “Daisy”. Everyone laughed and the bus was immediately christened as Daisy and decorated with each of the passengers names in the location of their seat. Some people decided to be a bit extra and along side their name drew flowers, balloons, hearts and the occasional penis.

We drove about 45 minutes to an Aldi where we were told to go in and buy whatever alcohol we wanted. A bunch of us were not impressed by the alcohol selection so we went on the hunt for more alcohol through this shopping center next to the Aldi and found a Liquor Land. Gin, cider, wine and 100 dollars later I head to the bus with my new alcoholic tour mates. At the bus, we were broken up into groups of 2-3 and each handed a different shopping list for a specific meal during the trip. Mine was lunch for 20. After learning my partner Gus’ name, back into Aldi we went. Our list said lunch for 20, and contained lunch meats, salad options for the sandwiches, sauces etc. It totally felt like we were in that old game show Supermarket Sweep, and I was loving it!

We then drove some more until we reached the Pinnacles. It was a unique area with sand gold like the Dead Sea sand and phallic like natural structures. It was cool learning a bit of the history around the formation of the structures but also the aboriginal tales that were told to the kids if they were being naughty. The Daisy crew walked around together getting to know each other and taking silly pictures. Then we headed to camp.

Emma and I decided we would share a tent. Neither of us had ever pitched a tent before but after Cam’s demonstration to the group, we almost succeeded. The rain cover was the only hiccup we had. Ours just didn’t look like everyone else’s. It was a little cockeyed. Cam came to give us some little pointers, like make sure to do the opposite corners first when staking it down and in just a few minutes, our tent was perfect.

I cooked dinner for the group along with a few other people. Pasta with vegetables in a cream sauce. We didn’t have the tools to properly drain the vegetables so it was a bit watery but otherwise edible. Then the rest of the night was spent hanging out and drinking by the fire.

It was a great first day and I can’t wait to see what the rest of the trip will have in store for me.

Catch me if you can…

Jo Mo