After quitting my job I bided my time to wait for guidance as to what was my next step. One week after leaving work I had a new start by shaving my head - this confirmed to my ex work colleagues, family and friends that I definitely HAD lost the plot and was completely crazy! For me it was one of the most liberating things I had ever done. It was a new beginning of being free, letting go of insecurities and not caring about trying to fit into society through looks. At that point it was the scariest thing I had ever done in my life and a pass to the test of feeling the fear and doing it anyway. It was the start of a new beginning.
After about 6 weeks I found tenants to rent my house and all of a sudden the adventure was real! I had spoken to a guy on the phone who lived in Mt Isa and was involved in camels. After seeing a 'camels for sale' add in the local NT Newspaper I called up to enquire, thinking it wasn't possible to get camels in Darwin. I was right but after a decent chat I asked if I could come to Mt Isa to learn as I needed a starting point. This was met by enthusiasm so the first step was put in place.
From Darwin I decided to head to Perth so I could drop off some stuff at my parents house and spend some much needed time with friends and family. For my trip South I decided to advertise for a travel buddy and ended up taking 2 backpackers on the trip. We took just over 1 week to drive from Darwin to Perth. It was a quick trip due to sightseeing limitations on account for both money restraints and travelling with my dog Rusty. I was so clueless at this stage to even backpacking and disclosed to my travel buddies in the car that I had budgeted about $2000 for the trip to which they gasped and said they had about $400 each - barely enough to cover fuel!!!
I spent a lovely few weeks in Perth catching up with a variety of people. This was the most time I'd spent in Perth since leaving to live in Darwin so it was nice to have leisurely catch ups and spend quality time with loved ones. I have been blessed in my life to have SOOO many amazing people. As I've got older I've realised it's quite rare for many to keep friends from school or have many close friends they can rely on - I have an abundance and am forever grateful for the people close to me in my life.
From Perth Rusty (my dog) and I had a road trip by ourselves to Mount Isa. The thought of travelling on my own was quite daunting at first, especially crossing the Nullarbor by ourselves - I'd heard all sorts of stories of UFO's over the years! As it turned out there was nothing to fear and we had a most enjoyable trip with the highlight being camping on the side of the road in the middle of the Nullarbor plane with the most amazing sunset and serenity. In the early stages I'd always made sure to camp at paid camp grounds for the security of having other people around but the isolation of the Nullarbor inhibited this from happening - and thankful I am.
We got to Mount Isa in just over a week which contained many hours of exhausting solo driving - I was quite frankly buggered when I first arrived and it took me a long time for my sore back and hips to recover.
I was expecting to find somewhere to stay in Mt Isa, perhaps stay in a camp ground the first night, but was pleasantly surprised that my new camel friend welcomed me straight into his family and instantly made me feel at home. Rusty and I settled in and ended up staying for about 5 weeks.
This was the start of my interaction with camels, such a long way to go but a start - woo!!!
Timeline of events:
12/2/10 Quit my job in Darwin
17/2/10 Shaved my head
30/3/10 Left Darwin, Northern Territory Australia
6/4/10 Arrived Perth, Western Australia
6/5/10 Left Perth
14/5/10 Arrived Mt Isa, Queensland Australia
