We get up at 8 am, get things packed and have breakfast at 9 am. The weather is kind to us – it is sunny and clear. We sit on the balcony and enjoy the view. Unusually high ferns surround the house, and Tiina calls them fern trees. Their leaves are large and Tiina does not want to miss the opportunity to take a few photos of them.
We thank our hosts, pay and get moving. We have to cover some 400 kilometers and at least part of the road is in mountains. We drive again through Uki, take a last glance at it and continue. At one point there is a beautiful view of Wollumbin and we say our good-byes.
Soon we are out of mountains and we see a different kind of Australia. It is more flat with more primal colours.
It is a long drive and at some stage Tiina starts to experiment with camera. Our road goes through various forests. There are some consisting of eucalypts, others are more of mixed trees. They are all very different form what we are used to see. A thought comes to us that we would be in trouble navigating these bushes as we’d have difficulties in spotting various marks and differences in trees and bush to mark our road. Our eyes just don’t see all the details there. Fortunately, there are no kangaroos jumping on the road.
We pass some places associated with dark pages of Australian history. During a brief stop we read that Aboriginals were surrounded after some quarrel with farmers on that cliff and forced to plunge into their deaths.
On the brighter side we see a place has become so very much associated with crocodiles and Australia!
But it all is only secondary. Today I have only one eye for all that surrounds us. The other eye looks into what is ahead.
I count kilometres to our destination…300, 200, 120, 90, 36, 20…we are almost there. My mind is focused on Michael and he seems to be focused on us. We miss one intersection, make a circle, come back and there…we stop in front of a house that fits the description given to us. I take a phone and ring.
‘We are here – right in front of the house!’
‘In the blue car?’ There is a smile in Michael’s voice.
‘Yes’
‘Come in, let’s have a cup of tea!’
We get out of a car on a bit wobbly legs after long sitting, and Michael opens the door. We step in. He is a strongly-built man with high forehead and grey hair. He is taller than me and he has wide shoulders. He smiles warmly, his voice is very clear when we say hello and shake hands. In the electric light of the room I see that his eyes are bright and are not nearly as dark as I thought.
Through my mind goes a thought – ‘so this is how he looks!’ So this is how the man with whom I have been interacting over the Internet for 10 years looks. He looks quite human after all. Am I surprised or disappointed?
We are at Julie’s mother’s place. We sit and drink tea. Discussion takes off easily – we are first time in Australia, we’ve seen coastline and whales. Then we switch to current affairs and politics. Discussion rolls easily and fluently.
Weather is getting cooler and fire has to be lit in a stove. Michael explains that they live a bit further away with Julie – it is a half an hour drive on a gravel road with considerable potholes. Michael drives a van and takes the lead; we follow with our small car.
It is dark outside and Michael drives fast. We try to stay on board. On the gravel we can’t keep up, though, as we have to dodge potholes and slow down. Michael waits. We reach him – by now the only lights around are these of our vehicles. It is total darkness and we haven’t got a clue of what sort of landscape we are driving through, except that the road is curvy and goes up and down. We drive over a bridge that is so low that creek flows over it and stop under a large tree. There!
Now we get a sense that we are surrounded by hills, but it is very dark and we do not see much. We go inside. The house is not a big one. Julie comes to greet us – she is a tall woman and she looks with such a warmth in the eyes when she greets us. Julie has been cooking a dinner for us.
Now it is time to hand over the most aerodynamic beer, the stone, a book for Julie and a box of chocolates. Michael and Julie look a bit puzzled while we do it. But the beer gets opened and Michael goes and puts on his Indian clothes.
Michael shows us the way to the caravan where we’ll be sleeping. The heater is on and it looks quite cosy. We took our stuff in there and return to a house.
When I enter the living room with a large fireplace and see Michael standing there, I have a distinct feeling that it is not just a house I have entered and it is not just a human being that stands in front of me. That is the very moment I realise that I have put myself into a highly challenging situation.
Has something changed in Michael’s eyes? Do they look different? Has their expression changed? I don’t know, but I realise clearly that even being inside that house is a challenge to a part of me. Part of me rejoices being there, the other part is already under fire. Something in there, in that house is coming after me. Michael is not just a man, but there is something unfathomable connected to him, actually – behind him. He is a human-looking front, façade for it. All these realisations and feelings go through me in a fraction of a second.
Michael seems to realise clearly what is going on with me and switches back to a worldly discussion about driving, Wollumbin, what is going on in local university, politics and so on. Meanwhile we eat an extremely tasty Indian food cooked by Julie. She is an amazing cook! We sit in front of fire and talk, talk, and talk more. We could probably talk forever! Periodically I become aware that part of me is being challenged energetically. We go and wash the dishes with Michael. He washes, I dry them up. That goes smoothly!
Julie and Tiina become sleepy and leave, I cannot go yet. I’m here with Michael! I want to talk just about anything with him. I’m so curious, but I don’t ask questions – 10 years of interacting over the web have developed a habit in me of catching all bits of information Michael spares, then collating them and looking for an answer myself.
I feel tremendous attraction, and simultaneously there is that unfathomable quality there about him. He talks with me about all sorts of earthly things, but I know that another part of him communicates with me simultaneously at a very different level. My attention is split. All sorts of thoughts run through my head simultaneously. Part of me is restless and wonders why the hell did I come here – in the middle of nowhere. The other part knows that something big is afoot. I want to run and stay simultaneously. Yet I want to stay much more.
We sit in twilight, and talk. Michael is struggling with his computer. Time goes, I get sleepy, too. Time to go to sleep. I walk out and see some kangaroos or wallabies no more than 10 meters from the house. One of them must be the bugger who’s been eating Michael’s fence! They run after seeing me. I get into the caravan and fall immediately asleep.
