Dear Jaclyn and Heidi,
Back in the early 1980s, I took my young family on a trip around Australia. We were on the road for a year and had the most incredible time and have the most incredible memories. I have been dreaming for decades of doing the same thing again and now I can’t help but be disappointed. What were once idyllic, quiet beach towns are now very developed, mining has changed the look and atmosphere of so many places, dirt roads have become bitumen roads, and remote bush camps have become crowded, litter-filled party spots. I knew that things would have changed in the past 30 years or so but not by this much! My wife Janice feels pretty much the same way. We have been on the road for about six months and had planned to do this forever, but now I’m not so sure. Help!
John
Most people take a little while to adjust to life on the open road, John, but normally it is because they miss their family, or the luxuries of their own home, or simply that they’re struggling with the nomadic nature of their lifestyle. Your problem is that you are travelling with ghosts. When we look back, we tend to look at things through rose-tinted glasses. We tend to remember everything as being perfect and block out the bad memories. You’ll remember the children happily playing in the sand but not the arguments and the screaming, you’ll remember the adventure of the corrugated roads but not the anguish of a breakdown in the middle of nowhere. Cherish your memories of that wonderful first trip, John, but then put them away in a box somewhere and concentrate on making some new ones.
Jaclyn
And the kids don’t listen to real music any more, do they? Not like Elvis, or Bill Haley? And the stars aren’t as bright, as they used to be, John? And there never used to be mozzies like this in Kakadu, did there? Your trip isn’t saying as much about how Australia has changed as it is about how you’ve changed, John. The colours of Karijini are just as remarkable, the Outback is still vast, and the sunsets are as awe-inspiring as they’ve always been. If you wake up every day looking to negatively compare it with a long finished ‘perfect’ trip, you are going to have a bad day, John. And you may as well pack up and go home. But, if you wake up every day looking for the wonders and the joys and the friendship that the Big Lap can bring, you will find it is still there … in bucketloads.
Heidi
