Hitchhiking in Australia

While in Australia my friend Phil had planned a trip up to Brisbane to visit his sister for his birthday. We were booked to fly JetStar which departs from an airport way out in the country rather than Tulamarine near Melbourne. I back figured the time and set the alarm so we would have ample time to get up, shower, do some last minute packing and head off to catch our flight.

We set off for the airport with plenty of time to spare. As we made our way onto the road heading out of Sunbury, Phil mentioned something about being low on gas and that we should stop at the next town and get some. I really did not have any idea where that might be so I said OK and did not think much of it. As we turned onto a not so busy country road some ways out of town the car suddenly stopped. Out of gas!

Phil was berating himself and somewhere in there I discovered he had not stopped in town because he thought the time was an hour later than it really was and figured we could stop in the next town for some gas. He was beating himself up so badly... I figured I might as well take the positive approach and pointed out that hitchhiking in Australia would make a great story when I got home. We had plenty of time and no other recourse. We walked back to the road we had turned off of as it was a direct shot to town and more likely to have cars so we could hitch a ride back for some gas. Back we go heading towards Sunbury on foot.

It is odd how you learn to judge time and distance by your means of travel. I didn't think we were all that far outside of town. It had not taken all that long to get where we were by car after all. We stepped out onto the main road though and away it stretched into the distance.... I began to realize this could be a really long walk. There was nothing for it but to keep going.

I asked Phil if it might make more sense to wait until we saw a car coming towards town and then try to thumb a ride. His reply was, "We don't pick up people who are not already trying to get to their destination." So we keep walking. A truck pulled over but it was illegal to ride in the back so that was a wash. A bit later a woman and her son pulled over and were able to give us a ride back to town. This is when you realize just how long a walk it could have been. All the road you ignored on the way out suddenly looks a lot different on the back.

Phil ran into an acquaintance at the gas station who gave him a ride back out to the car. I waited at the gas station since he only had room for one person. It seemed to take them a while to return. When we were back on the road Phil explained how the nozzle on the can had been defective and they had to devise a make shift funnel. I had to laugh because there wasn't much else to do at that point.

This ate up our spare hour and then it really was the time Phil thought it was when we set out. All's well that ends well as the old saying goes. We got to the airport and found the flight had been delayed 20 minutes so we ended up making it in plenty of time after all.