Before leaving home I noted that our weekend practice sessions were one thing but not being able to head home on Sunday night was another altogether.
We soon got into the swing of things. With a few exceptions we have felt part of a considerate and at times even caring community of travellers. While boundaries around personal space do vary, typically there has been an unspoken agreement about what is acceptable and not in campgrounds. People often have been on the road for a long time. If someone is in trouble you offer assistance. As a community we were often hundreds of kilometres from the nearest services.
However, where there were fly in/fly out tourists 'doing' Australia such as at Kings Canyon I noted a distinct change of culture. There we dealt with 2 Wicked vans full of English yobbos, and I overheard another English guy saying from there they were flying to Cairns, then going to Port Arthur, and home (ie 'doing Australia). There were also hundreds of French tourists 'roughing it' for a few days. We had a chuckle at a poor young French couple in a little hatchback. They parked next to us, there was a heated conversation during which she refused to leave the vehicle. After an hour she got out, moved a couple of stones, got back in the car and they drove off presumably to investigate the cost of rooms. They were back later having reconsidered. I only hope that the beauty surrounding her overcame her culture shock.
Once leaving Yulara things returned to normal. Quiet nights, starry skies, friendly neighbours. On the whole we've been incredibly lucky.
This morning after another frosty night a caravan woman in dressing gown noted our fire from last night and asked whether it was fun. It took awhile to recover from our shock. There's nothing like a good fire but there comes a point where 'fun' becomes a matter of, if not survival, certainly wellbeing.
