GLITCHES AND STITCHES

Sometimes the worst of days can also be the best of days. Late afternoon, on Friday, I realized that something I had hoped would not happen was indeed happening. Only one week traveling and my Fibromyalgia was kicking in. As the pain spread across my back/ ribcage and I rested on my bed, arching up to breathe, with a hot water bottle to my back, I wondered, forlornly, what would happen if it got any worse and I didn’t have hot water ready for the hottie. OMG! The world would end! Yes I had the pain killers and the Voltarin, but the hottie was somehow soothing as well as restorative. OK, I admit it, it was my sookie blanket! I WANTED the heat. Then I remembered someone on facebooks’ Fibromyalgia Australia’ had said there were now padded strips,  that just heated up when you stuck them on, giving a fair few hours relief. I had planned on traveling to Metung for a hot shower and to park up overnight at their rest area, but it looked like a trip back to Bairnsdale, and the Pharmacist there, was more important. And to add insult to injury – my DVD had been freezing through most of the movies’ action scenes. Iron Man 3 nearly became Iron Man 0. I definitely had to go back and get a DVD cleaner too. Life without a hottie and a DVD was just not worth living.

So, on Saturday, I travelled from the beautiful Nicholson River Rest Area back to Bairnsdale and found not one, but THREE, different types of Heat pads (I chose the Deep Heat ones because they were bigger!) and the DVD cleaner. Then grasping my two precious purchases made my way to Metung. I didn’t put the heat pad on straight away as it said not to get it in water. So either the shower was on hold or the heat pad. I made a bad choice. The shower near the tennis club was free and very hot (Whoo Hoo) but very dirty (Urrrgh). And the rest area, a little way out of Metung, was a very small, equally scrubby patch, hidden opposite the bay and its pretty little boats, with – you guessed it- yucky toilets. I found this so strange, as Metung itself is a white, pristine, postcard little village with a beautiful harbor and very nice boats and yachts. Hmmm. One rule for the wealthy.. another for the….

I didn’t stay.  And on to Lakes Entrance. Which is beautiful and friendly and…. Not into free campers. This is not due to the very nice nice people who live there but due to the HUGE number of caravan parks(20), who obviously don’t want free campers! In fact ,two weeks earlier the council had opened two free camping spots (a friend of mine had been lucky enough to use the one at the Skate rink with free hot showers), but had to close them again. So I just briefly looked out at Jemmy’s Point which had been one of them, and the spectacular scenery it afforded over the bay, before moving on again.

And so to Burnt Bridge rest area, after a slight miscalculation in route. OK I got lost. I went to Lake Tyers Beach instead. Look I was tired!  But when I finally did reach Burnt Bridge…. It was perfect!

This place is so tranquil, there is almost a spirituality to it. Sunlit and silent, it welcomed me in. There was only one little camper there before me, so I was able to park directly in front  

of the Aboriginal pergola surrounded by its large tree trunks and native rocks. Climbing down from my cab, to stretch and walk as well as my pains would allow (I was onto my third pain killers) I somehow felt safe and settled again. And something else magical happened that afternoon. The campers were a young Canadian couple Kelly and Keenan who turned out to be two of the nicest people I have ever met. They, like myself, were very much about preserving nature and helping animals. Keenan, was a lovely guy, a protector and a supporter. And, in Kelly, I saw many of the same traits that existed within me. To me, Keenan was the rock and Kelley the fire. An awesome couple.

It was a great night, spent chatting in my little Grey Chihuahua. Especially as they had beer (little old beer monster me) and I had wine (Kelley’s tipple). They even gave me a DVD to play. It was a very special one, and I felt honored to have been given it.  It was Kelley’s favorite movie, and Keenan had bought her it for Christmas, though she had one back home too. Point Break. I will watch it tonight. In fact I will watch it many times in the future, and treasure it, as it will always bring them and the night back to me.

As they said goodnight I hoped my Fibro fog had not been too bad, as I had struggled to get the sentences together sometimes. I had even forgotten (many times) to tell Kelly to have a look at a favorite movie of mine, ‘The Lakehouse’, if she hadn’t already, with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves (also in Point Break). But they never showed any uneasiness. And as I stuck the heat pad on and went to bed, I may have had the pain… but I was happy.

Sometimes the worst of days can be the best of days.

May your Journey teach you of the beauty in all nature and creatures.
The Grey Chihuahua