Summer Down Under (6 page)

Talking to complete strangers was something
that started to come with ease now; if she should make a fool of
herself, something she had a habit of doing, who cared. She’d never
see them again anyway.

Finally, arriving at the luggage carousel she
waited, subconsciously holding her breath until her bright green
and black backpack slid down the chute and made its way towards
her. She hefted it up and over her shoulder. The image was
complete. She couldn’t look more of a touristy backpacker if she
tried. Now, she had to focus on the next task at hand, and that was
finding somewhere to sleep that night. It surprised her that this
did not terrify her as much as she thought it would.

Sam looked around thoughtfully, then spotted
what she was looking for. She strode towards the illuminated
“Information” sign, plopped her backpack on the floor, and smiled
down at the lady behind the desk.

The information clerk looked up at her and
didn’t even blink at her appearance.

“G’day,” the lady said with a bright smile.
“Can I help you?”

“Yes, please,” Sam replied. “I’d like
somewhere to sleep tonight. Do you have any ideas?”

“No worries,” the lady said while reaching
across the desk for a heavy binder. “Would you like to stay in the
city or at the beach?” The lady paused for a moment and took in
Sam’s appearance more seriously this time, then added. “I’m
guessing you would like to stay in a backpackers?”

“What’s a backpackers?”

“They’re like youth hostels. They’re just not
part of a big organization. You can usually find one in nearly
every town in Australia.”

“Oh, okay, a backpackers at the beach then,
please.”

The lady thumbed through the binder and
tapped a page with her finger. “I’ve got just the place,” she said.
“Coogee Beach Backpackers. They will even come and pick you
up.”

“Great. Thanks.”

The information clerk dialed their number,
asked for Sam’s name and gave it to the person on the other end of
the phone. She replaced the receiver and told Sam that they would
be along in about half an hour and pointed her in the direction of
the shuttle bus pick up area. Sam breathed a sigh of relief. The
first hurdle didn’t turn out to be a hurdle at all.

Half an hour later, as promised, she was
hopping onto a minibus, run by the backpackers, and scooting
through the streets towards what would be her home for the next few
weeks. It was her intention to do a lot of exploring in Sydney; it
was such a big city.

Upon arriving at the backpackers, a young
hippy looking guy showed her to her dorm. He told her to take any
bed that was empty. She thanked him and he scooted off, leaving her
standing in the doorway. Sam looked around the room. It was cozy,
in a disheveled kind of way. There were two sets of bunk beds;
three of them were quite obviously occupied. They were covered in
people’s belongings and had not yet been made. The whole room
actually looked quite homey in an odd sort of way.

She threw her stuff on top of the only bunk
that looked vacant. The room was empty, but the sound of voices
drifted down the hallway. At that moment, the strangest sensation
of unease washed over the young traveler. She didn’t like it one
bit. She’d not felt anything quite like it before and tried to
figure out what it was. Fear wouldn’t describe it, she was not in
danger. Nor did she feel anxious or sad. What she did feel,
however, was alone. Out of nowhere, the fact that she was on her
own in a strange house, in a strange country, and as far away from
her home as possible sprang to the forefront of her mind. She
suddenly missed her family. Sam guessed she was feeling homesick.
She’d never been away from home before, and twelve thousand miles
suddenly seemed like a very long way. Swallowing a lump that forced
its way to her throat she took a deep, calming breath. Homesickness
was not a nice feeling; in fact, it was all consuming, threatening
to swallow her whole.

She tried to tell herself that she’d be fine
and that she’d find friends in no time. It didn’t seem to make a
difference. She stared into space for a moment wondering what to do
next when a voice distracted her thoughts.

“Hi,” said a bright soprano voice behind
her.

Sam jumped a little at the interruption to
her thoughts and turned around to see a petite girl with long
flowing black hair, her face lighting up with her smile.

“You must be new. My name’s Becca.”

“Hi, I’m Sam. Yes, I just arrived. Flew in
from Bali this afternoon. Have you been here long?”

“Ooh, Bali,” the petite brunette cooed. “I
loved Bali. I arrived a couple of weeks ago. This is a great
backpackers, you’ll love it here. Everyone is really friendly.”

The young girl spoke quickly without taking a
breath, almost singing her words. Sam felt her shoulders relax. As
Becca continued her friendly chatter, the homesickness monster
slunk back into the darkness.

“Have you seen this view?” Becca asked,
strolling over to the window to hold the curtain aside. Sam
followed and stared, again.

“Wow, I didn’t realize we were this close to
the beach.”

The view from the window was such that you
could see the whole of Coogee Beach’s half moon bay directly below
them. The waves were much wilder than those in Bali. They crashed
up against the shore. Sam spotted some people surfing. They flitted
in and out of the waves. Some of them fell, but most looked like
they were glued to their boards.

“They’re crazy!” Sam exclaimed. “They’ll kill
themselves doing that.”

“C’mon” Becca said with a smile, grabbing
Sam’s arm “Let’s get a milk shake and go down to the beach and
watch; they’re really very good.” Becca could see the newcomer
looking over at her belongings and added. “Don’t worry, there’s a
code of honor in these places. No one touches anyone else’s stuff,
but keep your money and passport with you to be on the safe
side.”

Sam felt relieved as she grabbed the small
bag that held her valuables and followed her new friend out of the
door.

A few minutes later they were sitting on the
edge of the beach, milk shakes in hand. The sound of the surf was
almost too loud to talk over, but Becca attempted conversation
anyway.

“So, what brought you all the way out here?”
she asked.

“Oh, I just wanted to see some of the world.”
Sam replied. She wasn’t being completely honest, but then others
didn’t need to know the sordid details of why she came to be
sitting on that beach so far from home.

“You?”

“Same,” Becca replied. “Had to see the world
before I settled down and ended up with a family. Then it would be
too late, hey?”

The two girls sat and watched the surfers for
a while. Becca was right, they really were very good. Sam was
astounded at the way they held the waves. It was as if they were on
some kind of mechanical device keeping them above the water. She
cringed at the thought of trying it herself, though. With the grace
she possessed, she’d be lucky to stay upright on a surfboard if it
was planted firmly on the sand.

“What are you up to tomorrow?” Becca trilled
over the sound of crashing waves, obvious excitement in her
voice.

“Umm…”

“Well, that settles it,” she said, looking
pleased with herself. “You’re coming with me. I am going to show
you around Sydney. There are some really cool places to visit. I’ve
been here for two weeks now so I’ve managed to see quite a bit. It
will be fun showing someone around.”

“Great,” Sam accepted with a smile.

Sam stayed in Sydney for a couple of weeks
and after having the main attractions under her belt, she got itchy
feet to move on. She decided to see some of the country first
before settling down to get a job. She bought a bus pass that was
valid for a year. Unfortunately, it gobbled up a large chunk of her
cash, but she figured she had enough to last her another month
before she needed to find work.

With all her belongings neatly packed away in
her backpack, she hopped on a bus heading north up the east coast
of Australia, stopping at several spots along the way for a day or
two here and there.

Her trip was allowing her to meet the
kindest, most generous people, and she was only a few weeks into
it. All along, though, the thoughts of Daniel were never far from
the forefront of her mind, but what happened in Bali started to
seem like a distant dream now. She’d had some surreal moments in
her journey so far and it was becoming harder to think of him as
reality and not just a figment of her imagination.

After riding the bus for many hours, it
eventually pulled into a town that she’d originally decided to stop
at, but as the bus meandered its way through the town to the
station, she had an uneasy feeling about it. It may have just been
the eerie mist hovering in the air because they were driving
through town very early in the morning, and the sun was just
starting to peek above the horizon. Even still, she just felt
uneasy.

One thing Sam was learning on her journey was
to listen to and react upon her gut instincts. Her number one rule
had become if something didn’t feel right she didn’t do it, no
exceptions. It had kept her out of trouble several times. Being a
young single female in a strange country there were precautions to
take to stay safe. She had grown accustomed to the little voice in
her head telling her what to and what not to do. Right now it was
screaming at her to stay on the bus, so stay on the bus she
did.

The next stop, several hours up the coast,
was a town called Mackay. This town looked very inviting as the bus
drove through it to the bus station. Sam decided to give it a go
and staggered off the bus feeling travel weary as she grabbed her
backpack, which had been off loaded by the driver and placed on the
sidewalk.

By this time she was incredibly tired and
feeling homesick once again. The feeling seemed to affect her more
when she was tired. If she could have gotten on a plane right at
that moment, she would have gone home. But she kept telling herself
she’d feel better, and she was certainly not about to go back home
and look like a failure for only lasting a month.

She found an ad for a backpackers called
Bazza’s pinned on the station notice board. It was just a block
away from the bus station. Without hesitation she wandered down the
road and through the entrance. The manager greeted her with a big
bright smile.

“Welcome to Bazza’s,” she said, as Sam all
but crawled through the door on her hands and knees into the
reception area. “My name is Sophie and I’m the manager.”

“Hi, I’m Sam,” she said, pulling the backpack
from her sagging shoulders and plunking it on the ground in front
of her feet. “Got room for one more?”

“Sure do,” said the cheerful manager,
gesturing to the hallway. Sam picked her pack and slung it over one
shoulder before trudging after the slim brunette to her room. This
place, Sam noticed, was actually built to be a backpackers, unlike
most of the others she had stayed in; the majority of which were
converted houses.

The room Sophie showed her to had four bunks
in it. This time, though, Sam could tell that she would be the only
person to occupy it.

“We don’t have a same sex policy here as lots
of couples travel and they don’t like being separated into
different rooms. It just so happens we don’t have any couples
staying here right now, and for the time being, you get this room
all to yourself,” Sophie said. “Come on, let me introduce you to
everyone, we have a great bunch of people staying here right now.”
She waited while Sam unloaded her backpack onto one of the bunks
and led her down the hall to the kitchen.

Sam stopped dead in the doorway.

“Hey, everyone, meet Sam. She’s just arrived.
Make her feel at home, won’t you.” Sophie announced in her bubbly
voice.

They all stopped what they were doing, turned
to look at Sam and smiled.
They
were all men!

“Th-there aren’t any women staying here?” Sam
whispered anxiously to lady standing at her side.

“Ah, don’t you worry, girlie,” Sophie said
sensing the unease in Sam’s voice. “These guys are all teddy bears.
You’ll be fine. Besides, you get the shower room all to yourself.
Now, I have to go and finish up in the office.” With that, she
patted Sam on the back and left her standing in the doorway, like a
spare part at a wedding, in front of a room full of men who were
still
looking at her.

“Er, hi,” Sam squeaked. “Well, it’s been a
long day, I’d better hit the sack.” Just as she was ready to turn
tail and run for her room a voice called out.

“Hey, Jensen. Grab Sam a beer, she looks like
she needs one.”

Sam stopped in her tracks. A beer did sound
tempting. She was famished and thirsty from her long journey up
there.

The voice sounded American and she looked in
the direction from where it came to see a tall, stocky guy with
curly black hair and a cheeky grin.

Another guy, the one called Jensen,
approached her with a smile and a beer.

“Here you go,” he said with a strong
Scandinavian accent, handing Sam her beer. “This’ll make you feel
better.”

She wondered if she had the words ‘homesick
and lonely’ tattooed on her forehead.

“Thanks.” She accepted the can being held out
to her

“Well, don’t just stand there,” another man
called. “Come in and take a load off. We won’t bite, honestly.”

Sam took a hesitant step over the threshold
into the kitchen and decided that none of them outwardly looked
like mad ax-murderers. She decided to take her chances.

Within minutes she was glad she did. They
treated her like a long lost sister. Each and every one of them was
a perfect gentleman. They all made her feel so at ease. Some of
them had been in
Oz
for several months; others had only just
gotten there. They all swapped stories, told jokes, and Sam laughed
so hard her stomach hurt. It didn’t take long for her to realize
that the homesick and lonely feeling that plagued her earlier had
all but disappeared.