Adventure's End

Outback Adventure - Part 7
On the start of our trip, the van felt full of possibility.

Now it felt claustrophobic with our bags and their contents thick under our feet.

A drying towel over the back of a neighbour's seat was sending out wafts of mouldy smells. My swimsuit sat damp on the top of the backpack between my legs.

We were looking worn and dirty, too. My ankles were spackled so thickly with red sand they looked sunburt. And if I described how my scalp felt... well, you'd probabaly stop reading.

In the sun department, I seem to have won the sunscreen war. My arms received some tan, the hairs a blondish hue, but no skin was indelibly harmed on this adventure.

On the trip back, our guide Mark pointed out that if we wanted to kill someone, this would be the perfect place in the world to do it. All that's here is sand, rocks, insects and sky. In fact, he went on, many people have been murdered here and never found. We all nodded with feigned interest and concern.

The clan gathered at a saloon named Bojangles with Mark that night, all of us sparkling clean. Some of the girls even wore dresses. It was a lovely evening, but the clan in the city is not the clan in the bush.

I plucked out my iPhone, took it off Airplane mode and re-entered reality.