The debate among long-term travellers about the relative merits of using paper maps as opposed to GPS devices to navigate around the country is an ongoing one … but are both missing the most obvious – and the most thrilling – option?
Sure, the sensible majority will say the best solution is to use both a map and a GPS device to get from A to B. But where’s the fun in that?
Following a series of unfortunate events, I recently found myself driving across Victoria using largely unsignposted rural roads in a completely unfamiliar part of the country without maps, GPS, or a navigator … and what an adrenaline-filled adventure it was!
Full disclosure. I was not towing a van and, critically, I was all on my own.
Hooray! Made it to Axedale!
In other words, the pressure was off and any navigation blunders were down to me and me alone.
It happened like this. After driving a family member from the NSW Mid North Coast to the fabulous Victorian city of Ballarat, I was looking forward to heading back using the inland route via Echuca, Dubbo, and Tamworth.
My scribbled directions were hard to read … and even harder to follow!
I had my tent in the boot and was going to free camp along the way. Then, I dropped my phone! While it still sort of worked, the sim card was no longer registering, meaning I could only use it when on a Wi-fi hotspot. And, as this was a straight there and back type of mission, there were no maps in the car.
I knew the trip back from Echuca to Tamworth and beyond was pretty straightforward though, and how hard could it be to get from Ballarat to Echuca?
Before setting off, I looked at Google Maps and wrote down a list of all the turns I needed to make … ‘Right on McIver Road, left on Sutton Grange Rd’ etc etc … and I made a list of the towns I hoped to pass through.
And then I set off!
I knew pretty much immediately I was in trouble. A road I expected to be there wasn’t there. I decided to do a U-turn. Then, suddenly, I spotted a sign to Clunes. I followed. I was back on track. There was no radio playing. This was going to be no relaxing country drive. My senses were on high alert. My brain fully engaged. And then it got worse.
Turns that I thought would be obvious, weren’t. Road signs I had expected to be everywhere, weren’t. I went down country lanes. Somewhere around Axel Creek I even went down a dirt track. I had no idea whether I was going in completely the wrong direction or not. And it was weirdly exhilarating. I was relying on sheer instinct. I was trusting myself.
And then, time and time again, I suddenly found myself spotting a road or a village that I recognised from the list I had made. Each time, it was elation. And when, miraculously, I drove into Axedale – one of my target towns – I was simply ecstatic.
To cut a long story short, I made it to Echuca and, as far as I know, without bearing off course too much. The only way I can explain that remarkable fact is that somewhere in my Baby Boomer brain, there is still the navigating instinct I honed as a youngster while studying maps and getting lost (and found) in towns and cities and on country roads across Australia.
I suspect today’s teens and 20-somethings would scarcely believe how we used to find our way around. Sometimes, I can hardly believe it myself.
But I realise now that I miss it!
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Never been lost or bushed..
just “temporarily misplaced”
Old Army infantryman saying..!!
We always use paper maps after being directed into never never land by Google maps on a few occasions.
Google maps is OK in suburban areas but in rural areas it’s sometimes totally
hopeless.