I'm still pondering the marvel of how I got to Bundaberg. It wasn't on my itinerary. It wasn't even on my mind. And when I first arrived here, I had no intention of staying. But here I am still after 3 weeks and 2 days. And let me tell you how it happened.
Blame it on the cyclones. I had flown from Brisbane to Gladstone because that was the nearest airport to my dream destination which was (and is) Agnes Water. Why Agnes Water? Because, while traveling on the bus, I sat beside a lovely Indian man from Bangladesh who told me that he'd lived there and it was "heaven". In fact, when he had to leave, he wept because the people there were so nice and the place was just "heavenly". He told me I had to go there.
That kind of thing doesn't happen very often about a place to go to. So, I did take it seriously. After staying for a while in Brisbane, I made up my mind to see this heaven on earth that this man spoke of. But, I didn't want to take the train again. Not again. So I flew and when I got to Gladstone, I found a cheap backpackers bunk house and stayed there overnight, purchasing a bus ticket to Agnes Water for the next day.
However, that night I got an email from Greyhound telling me that my bus trip was canccelled "due to unforseen circumstances". In clear speak, there was a cyclone that flooded the bridges making passage impossible. So, I stayed another two days in Gladstone and booked another bus ticket.
The night of the bus trip to Agnes Water, I went to the gas station shop and waited for the bus inside but suddenly decided to go outside, in case the bus was in a hurry. Well, the bus didn't show up. So I prayed. It took 15 to 20 minutes of desperate prayer before that bus showed up and as I walked towards it, the bus driver called down to me that I was not listed on her passenger list! What?
She allowed me to put my bags on under the bus and then said, "I can't take you to Agnes Water tonight but I can drop you at Mariam Vale. Do you still want to board?" Well, I had come this far and it was already dark, so wherever Miriam Vale was, at least it was closer to my destination. So, I said, "Yes."
However, when we got to Miriam Vale, it was pitch dark and the driver said, "There are no taxis going to Agnes Water tonight and I don't feel right about dropping you off here in the middle of nowhere. Do you want to get off at the next stop? It's Bundaberg." Sounded German to me but, what the heck, "Sure."
We arrived in Bundaberg at 12:40 or so and as I got off the bus, the driver asked, "You gonna be right?" I said, "Sure. The McDonald's is open." It was dark and as I walked with my luggage towards, McD's, cockroaches came alive under the wheels of my suitcase and scattered in all directions ahead of me. It was creepy. At first they looked like big globs of gum stuck on the sidewalks but as the wheels approached, they rose up and scurried off. (I discovered later that there had been massive flooding in the town turning the sidewalks into a huge lake. The cockroaches had apparently come up onto the sidewalks to get out of the water that had drained off before I got there.)
At McD's I had to ask a customer what town I was in. I looked up the cheapest hostel I could find and then a security guard came and gave me directions on how to get there. At 1 am, I stood at the Dingo Blue Place and rang the bell that didn't work. But a couple came out on their way somewhere and got ahold of the house mom who had gone to sleep. She was pregnant.
She didn't want me to stay because she had so many people reserved to come in but in the end, she took me to a fully air-conned and empty room and let me stay for free! I had asked, "Do you want me to pay tonight or tomorrow?" She said, "Don't worry about paying. You've been through enough for one night."
That night I slept deep and sound.
Next morning, I started walking with my suitcase wondering where to go and got, "Stop at the first restaurant." So I did. As I opened the door, a lady jumped to hold the door for me and I put my suitcases beside the door, ordered breakfast and afterwards, told her to have a nice day. She started talking and before you know it, her husband gave me his seat and left. So we sat talking a while. She invited me to her church the next day.
I started walking and came to a library, thinking, "I need an electrical outlet to charge my phone, an internet connection to look for a hostel and a toilet for the usual reasons. And a library has all that!" So I went to the library and found a hostel called "The Bunk Inn" which was only a few blocks away.
Not only did they have a bed but it was a single unattached bed. In other words, not a bunkbed. It was clean and comfortable. So I booked on for a week and then another week and then I moved to the big dormitory for another week. The main lady in charge became friends and we hung out together a bit and shared war stories.
Conversations were interesting and I even went to the beach which was only 45 minutes away. It's going to be hard to say good-bye to my new friends here but I'm getting used to it as people, especially backpackers, come and go frequently. Nobody stays for very long unless they get a job nearby. As for me, I'm still trying to get to Agnes Water. I booked a ticket for Tuesday. We'll see how that goes!
No comments:
Post a Comment