Chapter 1: New Friends

Tuesday Week 2

After breakfast, Dave got back behind the wheel of his RV. He wondered to himself for the umpteenth time why these vehicles are called RVs. He thought that it probably stood for 'Recreational Vehicle', but to him it was much more; it was his home as well as his transport.

He drove his RV back to Conjola, where he rejoined the Princess Highway going north. As he left the small town, Dave saw the young couple standing on the side of the road trying to hitch a ride. He was holding a surf board and standing next to a beautiful young girl wearing brief shorts and T-shirt. Two large backpacks sat on the ground in front of them.

Sensibly, they were standing at the end of some roadwork just on the outskirt of the town, immediately before the speed limit increased to 100 kilometres per hour (KPH). Dave knew that travellers are more likely to stop when driving slowly rather than when they are speeding along the open road, but generally don't like stopping when they are within the town boundaries, for what could simply be local hitchhikers.

So Dave, driving to comply with the 40 KPH speed limit imposed because of the road work, could see the girl clearly as he got closer. She was very attractive, slim and around 165 centimetres tall. He guessed that she had no bra on under that white T-shirt. The young man looked clean and tidy, around 180 centimetres, thus he thought it would be worth the risk to give them a ride.

Dave figured that the young couple would probably have limited opportunities to get lifts, carrying that surfboard with them, and thought to himself that he could do with a little company for a while.

Dave pulled over and asked the young couple "where are you headed?"

"Cairns, eventually" the young man said, "but we are just going with the flow, surfing when ever we can. Don't care if it takes us three months to get there, we are in no hurry. We hope to stay up there quite a while."

They looked alright, although clearly one cannot judge a book by its cover, Dave thought to himself, but the girl was certainly worth looking at in her T-shirt, obviously not wearing a bra as her nipples were visibly straining against the material. Her fairly brief shorts showed very nice tanned legs too. Nevertheless, sensibly Dave didn't want to commit himself for too long in case they were boring or obnoxious, so merely said "you're welcome to throw your gear inside and I'll give you a lift for while".

In addition to the two seats in the front of the RV, there were two more seats immediately behind these, large and comfortable, facing towards the entertainment system. This was in addition to the two seater lounge against one wall. But these two lounge seats could be swivelled around to face the front when required for passengers. There were also seat belts cleverly hidden so you didn't see them when the seats were being used as lounge chairs.

As Dave helped them stow the surfboard and their meagre belongings inside the RV, both introduced themselves; Peter and Jill. Dave thought to himself that they sure seemed to be travelling light for people on the road for a long time, but realised they probably couldn't carry much more than the two backpacks, especially as Peter was also carrying his surf board. He later found out that there was limited camping gear and a few changes of clothing, plus a minimal amount of food, in their packs.

"Where would you like us to sit?" asked Peter. Well, Dave thought, as least they are not being presumptuous.

After he had turned the lounge chair behind the front passenger around to face the front and locked it into position, he replied, diplomatically "why don't one of you sit in the passenger seat and the other in this lounge chair and then you can swap seats when we next stop," although he thought to himself facetiously he would like Jill to sit on his lap and Peter to sit in the 4WD behind. Close up he could see that she was definitely a real looker and young, probably only 19 or 20, but she could easily pass for even younger.

As they set off, with Peter in the front passengers seat and Jill behind him, Dave asked "so what's your story, where are you from and why the trip?"

During the next 30 minutes, on the drive towards Ulladulla, Peter briefly told their story.

"I'm 22 and Jill is 20. We both came from Melbourne and have spent several weeks getting this far. Lifts have been a bit hard to get and I am sure that if Jill wasn't with me I'd have been lucky to get any lifts."

Modestly Jill piped up denying what Peter had just said. "Don't be silly I had nothing to do with us getting lifts", but Dave thought Peter was spot on.

Peter continued "we have been surfing where ever there were good waves and camping in the small pup tent stowed in my backpack.

"We have been good friends for about 20 months, some months after Jill finished school. However, she's only been able to get some part time work, nothing full time or permanent, mainly waitressing in a number of different restaurants. I have never had a full time job either, partly because I love surfing too much, but during the past year, once we had made our plans for this big adventure, I worked whenever the opportunity arose."

"What did you do?" Dave enquired politely.

"What ever I could, but mainly a bit of labouring. During this time we both saved what ever we could so that we could undertake this trip. I'm hoping to surf all up the eastern coast of Australia, but especially in northern NSW and Queensland" Peter answered.

"What about you Jill, do you surf too?" Dave asked feeling that it was Peter who wanted to do the surfing, while Jill tagged along.

"Sometimes, but I like watching Peter surf" she replied, confirming what he thought.

"I was lucky I managed to get all our gear very cheaply from one of the charity stores just before we left Melbourne. So far we have been sleeping wherever we can, using our small pup tent and blow up mattress. Naturally this has meant living a simple life. We are hoping to get an occasional bit of work to supplement our meagre resources. While the trip might take us up to three months, we both wanted to stay in North Queensland for at least 12 months. We definitely have no plans to return to Melbourne, though" Peter continued, while Dave thought he meant Jill would try and do some waitressing while Peter surfed.

As they were driving past a beach, Peter exclaimed optimistically "look at those great waves. I'd like to catch a few sets of them on my surfboard."

Why not, Dave thought to himself, I've got nothing better to do. "Alright" Dave said "I might throw in a line and see if I can catch some fish for our lunch while you catch some waves. Sound like a fair distribution of duties?" Dave added, tongue in cheek.

Chapter 2 »