Whoops

Okay, this one is definitely the first real problem I have faced on my trip so far. Weekend means sleep in, and sleep in I did! There was just no reason to get up and wanted to soak in extra sleep. After I woke up I spent some time chatting with my sister and we decided to head to the beach to tire out Tala. Since she is a working dog she needs the exercise or she one sleep right, too much energy.

Wow, it was such a beautiful day out! So nice in fact I got really sunburnt haha. Didn’t help that after the beach I mowed the lawn for my sister as a thank you for the hospitality. The beer goes down a treat after a long day in the sun and was a nice way to end the time with the fam.

I packed my stuff said my goodbyes then stopped into Reanna’s to say goodbye to the nephews and her. It had to be quick since I wanted to make it down on time and was stopping into catchup with a friend on the way. We just went to the beach and had a good chat and a walk.

After that, I stupidly just went on my way to Coffs Harbour, about 2hr and 45min drive from where I was. I completely forgot to fuel up before going and boy did I regret it. I assumed there would be fuel along the highway and surely I could find one before running out.

I was at about 1/8th of a tank and started looking for signs for a station and looked on google. There wasn’t any directly nearby so I just kept calm and put in the closest one. As I neared the exit something made me not turn off because it looked like a big detour and I didn’t want to drive for ages.

Then the light came on and I could feel the anxiety. I started to panic and put in the next closest station and went for it. To my surprise when I arrived it was closed for the day. Since it was about 8:00 pm most stations close except for the big ones. I eagerly looked for the next closest on google and it was about 5min down the road…

When I got there it was closed for well looked like it was only for trucks too!!! Of course, the nerves started to kick in and I could feel myself going into panic mode. I put in the next closes big one because I didn’t want to drive and it is closed. When I got to this one after driving in high gear to try to save some fuel, It was under construction! How the F*ck is every place closed. So I put in the next one starting to freak out since my fuel indicator was on the line. Again closed for the day and at this point, I had no idea what to do.

I pulled over googled a 24hr servo and just yolo’d it, surely this has to be open. It was about 14min and if it wasn’t open I was stuck! So I started on my merry way shaking in fear that my car would run out before I get there. As I get closer I start seeing 24hr fuel signs and my anxiety starts to lift.

I finally arrive with the indicator below 0 and to my absolute horror, it’s CLOSED! I try not to panic and look around for one of those 24hr pay things. Fortunately, there was one… unfortunately it was out of order. FFS! How can my luck be this bad?! It is probably due to the bypass now not going through Grafton so the stations aren’t built upon it yet.

I had to do the one thing I was avoiding, and that is called for help, I called mum. I was about 1hr away stranded and she was the closest person who could come save me. Luckily she had a jerry can and she swiftly made her way over. I am just sitting in my car writing this blog now to try to pass the time but the service here isn’t that great. Thankfully this is a trial run and I am glad I learnt something; FUEL UP BEFORE YOU LEAVE!

This whole ordeal has got me thinking, is this for me? Do the positives outway the stress? I probably should have planned more, like got a van with a bed, or booked accommodation along the way. But that wasn’t my intention. Part of this journey was being able to be adaptive to problems. And be okay that things don’t always go as we expect. But at the end of the day it is a story, and a story I will have forever. And I think that is priceless.