THE LAP YEAR
We have just returned from 10 months and 39,373.5km on the ultimate Australian road trip — a lap of the continent.
Our desire to experience remote Australia up close, on an unbroken, epic journey, was only part of the motivation that drove us. The other component was an equally strong wish to deconstruct our lives, which had degenerated into a far too comfortable and predictable rut.
When we left home in February last year, we were as curious about how we would resume “normal” life when (or if…) we returned as we were about what we would discover along the way. Other than circumnavigating the country in a clockwise direction, we had no plan. That was the Now, as my partner Lee and I catch up with family, friends and colleagues, we’re having the same conversation with everybody. And I quote:
“I’d love to do that.”
“Was it expensive?”
“What were the best places you went to?”
“Wow, so you’re still together then? We wouldn’t last five minutes.”
At which point Lee gives me a character reference and says the only times she saw me get really antsy was when we ran out of Tim Tams. Hey, it’s the little things that make travel pleasurable.
It would probably be a very bad idea to embark on The Big Lap as a form of relationship therapy. We witnessed a few nuclear-grade detonations between couples who were completely over living in each other’s pockets. It’s a spectator sport in caravan parks around the nation, pure schadenfreude with a unique
