Remember 2021?

I was in Adelaide, bored, with incredibly itchy feet. On a whim, I quit work in June.

I planned to travel within Australia for a few months. I had friends and family to visit in Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, and Cairns, plus I wanted to hike and camp. I was so excited, I bought a new tent and put it up in my lounge room.

Greater Sydney went into lockdown on 23 June, but I was determined to go. Surely the days of long lockdowns were over?

I hit the road on 7 July, pitching my tent for the first few nights in Port McDonnell. The tent was chilly overnight, but I knew I would be in warmer climates soon.

I crossed the border into Victoria (completing the requisite online form), arriving in Halls Gap to hike and immerse myself in nature, before heading to Melbourne. I pitched my tent at a caravan park, spoiling myself with a hot shower. Within a few days a hard lockdown was called across Victoria. I decided to stay, this would be fleeting and temporary, I remember telling myself.

I ended up at the caravan park for 33 nights in my tent, where I was the only guest for more than two weeks. When I realised no one checked, I started doing hikes of up to 6-hours every day, relishing the fact that I had an entire section of Grampians to myself. How’s the serenity?

When the lockdown lifted, I headed south. After a week, another hard lockdown was enforced across Victoria, and I was in my tent for 27 nights at Aireys Inlet. This time I had beach and cliff walks to fill my days.

Immediately after this regional lockdown lifted, I drove the length of the Great Ocean Road, without another soul on the road. It was sublime.

Two weeks at a free campsite close to the SA border, where I met a couple from the UK, was spent watching sunsets over the lake, stargazing, collecting firewood, perfecting campfire cooking, playing cards, and sharing stories. When the UK couple received an exemption to enter SA, I drove east, over Mt Hotham in my little Mazda 2. I spent two weeks in Mallacoota, which had been ravaged by a bushfire at the end of 2019. The regrowth after fire was amazing to see.

I meandered along the coast, ending up at Wilsons Prom, where I stayed for ten days, hiking most of the trails. Then through the alpine region and up to the Murray River, exploring large tracts of regional Victoria along the way.

Melbourne was emerging from lockdown, so I cautiously edged closer. I spent the night of Thursday 28 October in a caravan park outside Ballarat. Every fibre in my body was aching for the hug and bed that was promised in Melbourne the following night.

But on the Friday morning at 5.30am, during a violent storm, a great weight suddenly caused the tent to collapse on top of me.

I was trapped, but thanks to a little table and stool in my tent, my body was not crushed, as they were shouldering the load. I was completely uninjured, but it was akin to being buried alive.

I could move a bit, so I felt for the edge of the tent and finally found the zip. Once I had a small opening, I frantically ripped to create a hole and then clawed at the fly until I pulled the tent pegs from the ground. I shimmied my way to the small entrance I had created, pushing the mangled and splintered tent poles to the side as best I could. I crawled out through the branches into the darkness, cold and rain, wearing a t-shirt, leggings, and socks.

I was overwhelmed to have escaped, but when I turned, I realised I was lucky to be alive. Half a tall oak tree had severed, and fallen directly across not just my tent, but my car as well. The car had taken the brunt, saving my life, at the expense of its own. It was crushed!

At the sight of this and the realisation of what a narrow escape this had been, I allowed myself a moment to cry and laugh hysterically in the rain.

A few days later, my exemption request was granted to return to Adelaide. I hired a car one-way. I had spent 114 nights alone in a tent over winter, but the 14 days of quarantine on return to my little unit, was the hardest hurdle of all.

This is no ‘woe is me’ story.

This is an ode to the beauty and diversity of regional Victoria.

An ode to adventure.

But mostly, a reminder to make the most of where you find yourself.

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