A
Dog and a Hat
It seemed like a good idea
from 10,000 miles away. We would land in Sydney and drive a rental
car up the coast to Brisbane. On a map, Highway 1 looked to be
a direct route. What we didn't know was that this old two-lane
road was being modernized and was under construction. It carried
extremely heavy traffic, as it was the only direct route between
these two large cities on the East Coast of Australia.
It reminded me of the highways
we had in the US before the Interstate system. I remember trips
in my Dad's '53 Buick Roadmaster. Every time he passed a slower
car he put his life, and the lives of his family, at risk. That's
why America kept building bigger more powerful automobiles. A
car was judged by it's performance when the "passing gear"
kicked in.
Unfortunately, for my friend
and me, it was a busy Friday afternoon, and our Toyota was no
Buick! Five hours into the drive we weren't even halfway to Melbourne
and we were frazzled and frustrated trying to make time. Finally,
we stopped at a roadside pub to reevaluate our plans.
Looking at the map over
a cold Fosters, we could see that our reservations for the night
would go unused. The pub was a noisy working class bar and seemed
friendly enough, so I gently elbowed the fellow next to me at
the bar and said, "We just arrived from the States. If you
were us where would you go and what would you do?"
The fellow pushed his hat
to the back of his head, looked at his friend, then back at me
and replied, "Well Mate, if I was you, I'd go fishin' with
us". And, after a few more beers, that's just what we did.
We followed them to Salamander Bay and fished the surf for the
whole weekend. Here's my new friend's dog, Sport, and his hat.w
friend's dog … and his hat. |