Loveday Writing

MY TYRES ARE FINE I JUST DON’T KNOW WHERE I’M GOING

Compared to some of the other Travel Tales I have read, mine might seem insignificant or boring, but for me this particular Tale isn’t. My Travel Tale is the first time I drove out of town by myself.

I was travelling from my home town of Wagga Wagga to Wollongong three years ago to enrol in the subjects I ended up taking in my first year of university study. I told my mother that there was no point her taking time off work for one night. I’ll drive up there, stay the night and come back the next afternoon. My father taught me how to use the GPS and set up the directions to get from home to the motel I was staying at and also to get to the university. I packed an overnight bag and off I went.

Now anyone who drives from the Riverina area to Wollongong or even to Sydney will know that it’s a five to six hour trip on average with the majority of it being on the Hume Highway. Instead of taking the Illawarra Highway, I continued to the turnoff to go on to Picton Road so I wouldn’t have to drive down Macquarie Pass. Macquarie Pass is scary enough as a passenger, let alone as a driver who is by themselves for the first time.

Although I experienced a scary moment when I got to the turn off, I was at the front of the line at the turn off having to look out for gap in traffic with two lanes coming from one direction, about four lanes coming from the other direction as well as a couple of turning lanes. I might have those details wrong, I’m not a Picton turnoff expert, but it was that scary. Instead of holding up traffic, I turned onto a patch of grass, got out of the car and went over to a police officer who was in the middle of booking a car full of people for some sort of offence. A kind man in his car at the turnoff asked me if I had a flat tyre and I politely replied “no, no, my tyres are fine, I just don’t know where I’m going.”

The conversation with the police officer involved me informing him of my situation and telling him that I know I’m not in America and I know I drive on the left. He kindly told me that he would signal me when to turn, he did and I continued on my journey. I got to my motel and the university without any other troubles.

My parents found the turnoff situation amusing but also said they were proud of me for being able to figure out what to do and being able to get to Wollongong without any major problems. I was too and I still am, that being said, if I ever need to get to Sydney from Wagga Wagga on my own, I think I’ll just take the train.