UNBROKEN

FIFTY FIRST INSTALMENT

The next morning we packed our things that we had unpacked the night before.

I remember walking in to the bathroom and standing front of the mirror for a long time. I was staring at myself and thinking 'have I made the right decision?' Tears fell down my face again.

I was moving to the other side of Australia and wouldn't see Mum or Barry for a long time. Years maybe.

Grant yelled out "Emily! We have to get going before it gets to late".

I walked out the lounge area and looked around searching for the phone as soon as I found it I walked over picked it up and dialled Mum's phone number. It rang and rang until it rang out. I had forgotten that Mum had to go to work and Barry would have been at school. I couldn't say goodbye. To say I was Heartbroken is an understatement. I walked over to were Ava was playing with her teddy. I picked her up
"Nanny" she said holding her hand out towards the door as she had done many times before when we were going in the car to see Mum.

"Not today baby girl, we are going for a big drive" I said struggling to hold back my tears.

We walked out the front and the car was waiting for us. When we got in I had completely forgotten about Silvester peeing in the car and it stunk so badly. This did make me giggle a little as I remembered the day before when the poor guy got in thinking he was great and then seeing his face well it was priceless.

We went out through the blue mountains and the scenery was so beautiful. It was a few months before the fires were to come as they did every year, the fires would go through this bush land and the landscape would be blackened. We drove for hours until we got the the Nullarbor.

The Nullarbor is the arid land in the middle of Australia. Australia is a vast country, the coasts are green and lush but in the middle is red dirt, cactus, wild emus, kangaroos, wombats and not much else. There is 500 km between service stations or towns. The towns may only consist of one family and they live over the stations.

We travelled for 2 days. We had air conditioning in the car but the temperature was so high that we couldn't turn it on while driving as our car couldn't handle it.

It is not easy traveling across the Nullarbor as you can travel before the sun comes up or when the sun goes down. You always needed to start driving after Dawn and stop before dusk or you could hit a kangaroo, Emu or Wombat. It is really dangerous. Hitting any of these animals could ruin your car they have been know to stop trucks. When trucks travel they straddle kangaroos (hit them in the middle of the truck) so they don't ruin the truck. Your probably think you should try not to hit them well this is almost impossible as they jump in to the headlights and it blinds them.

During this trip I got a lot of photos of Ava. This was the first time she got to drive a car she got to sit on Grants lap and hold the steering wheel. She was so happy and kept clapping her hands. It was really cute. The best part of the trip was stopping at the Great Australian Bight. There is a chain that is set as a fence and to deter people from going to close the the edge. The stupid thing about this stop was the sign. The sign was so far away from the fence (on the inside closest to the edge) this sign explained the Bight. There was a sign saying "please do not pass chain, high winds can be dangerous". Well I wanted to read this sign so I got Grant to hold Ava while I climbed over the chain fence. When I got to the sign it was only about 5 metres away from the edge. As I stood there I looked over the edge, the sign was not wrong the winds were so strong I had to hold on the the edge of the sign.

The Bights is right at the bottom of Australia, when you looked down there is a 60 metre drop. The waves crash against the base of the bight. What a wonderful sight and the feeling that you are at the very edge of your country is amazing. I made my way back to the Ava and Grant and we started off on the next leg of the trip.

I think deep down I was blaming Grant for taking me away from my family and to top it off I was still thinking did I do the right thing? At this stage I was 18 married and a mum of an 18 month old at the time I thought I was so much old than I really was.

Looking at my child now I realise how young I really was. I didn't want to make love to Grant or even be held but I did it because I felt I had too. I was his wife and this is what wives should do.

We continued travelling for days then we stopped at Port Augusta. I will never for get this place it stunk of sulfur. If you have never smelt it before this of breathing in rotten egg. It is disgusting. I do not to this day know how anyone can live with it. There are 13500 people living in this town. I didn't want to stop but we had to as it was getting late and we needed to eat and sleep.

The next morning we headed out really early as I did nothing but complain about the stench (I have always had a sensitive nose). Grant was not happy but it was great to get out of there. I promised myself that if I ever had to travel this way again I would flight over Port Augusta.

We travelled 2650 km this day and got the the beautiful Margaret River. The roads where paved in Pine trees and when we got the the little old town I was so happy. We had made Western Australia and we were on the other side of Australia right on the beach. Beautiful golden beaches and massive waves. Margaret River is known for its Surf world wife but let me tell you if you ever get to go to Western Australia you can not miss this place. We went down to the beach with Ava and she ran up and down in the sand. The sun was setting.
You have not seen a sunset if you haven't been to Western Australia. This is the place that made me fall in love with sunsets. I will explain further the sunsets in Western Australia as my story goes on.

The next morning we made our way up the coast for a 3 hour drive too to Rockingham. We made our way out to Garden Island (the Navy Base) so we could organise a house. We got given one set of keys to look at a house. The house was a three bedroom house nothing great but a military house. We took it and moved in a few days later. Hopefully this new house could become a home....