Destination Dubbo
I spent the time before flying to Australia worrying in case the planes came down and the fact that Lisa’s children would be left motherless and it would all be my fault although she did offer to go with me to see my friend K. I thought of us floating about in the sea until we succumbed either to drowning or the cold, possessions and dreams ruined.
Lisa’s little boy came with us to the airport and there was the exact reversal of what was to happen to me in two more weeks but no time to dwell on that now. The day had dawned and we were off to Australia, landing in Singapore and confined to an airport till we reached there and then onto Sydney and finally, the little plane to Dubbo. Strangely I don’t recall much about the travelling now except the tiredness, in and out of planes, wheelchairs although I am perfectly able to walk but it was the airport assistance required which caused that. What I do remember most was the funny little plane to Dubbo and the delay in getting there when all I wanted to do was get there earlier not later than planned and the sheer exhilaration of walking up the street where my friend lives.
It’s not the Sydney Opera House
Dubbo isn’t people’s first choice when visiting Australia as it’s based out in the sticks and parts of it are a bit run down but other parts are nicer. It doesn’t have the attractions like the opera house or the Harbour Bridge but it does have the other half of my working brain, housed in the head of my soul mate who is Aspie and blind, too. I was so, so pleased to be there and apart from the excitement of meeting after five years, was the most unusual sound which I heard on the Tuesday after getting there. A bird, the likes of which I never hear in Britain, gave the most melodic call and it was truly amazing. K didn’t know what it was, probably taking for granted the sound of the Aussie birds just as I do the British ones but I thought it was magnificent. The sound is on my phone now as Lisa recorded it. Sitting in my friend’s living room I kept thinking: “This is where you record or write all your messages to me when I am in Britain”. “This is where your piano is” and I couldn’t believe I was actually there.
So much to see & do
There was lots to do over the coming two weeks, including a visit to Taronga Western Plains Zoo, the Flying Doctor Cafe, Japanese Gardens and the old Dubbo Gaol as well as a trip to the Blue Mountains where it rained and was much colder than Dubbo whose winter days are like British spring days but whose nights are bitterly cold. The first night in the guest house was freezing cold at first. I went to the bathroom and knocked my deodorant off the sink and thought I had woken Lisa but hadn’t, as she was already awake. I didn’t want to wake her but I breathed a huge sigh of relief when she put extra blankets on the bed and I slept comfortably in a nice enough apartment for want of a better word. It wasn’t called Tallarook for nothing. Rooks made an almighty racket first thing in the morning and if the curtains weren’t opened quickly enough for their liking, they banged on the windows. They do not sound like British crows or rooks but don’t caw with Aussie accents just in case anyone is wondering.
What came next?
In the next article I will tell you about the zoo. Never before have I visited a zoo like it. K recalls all the facts we were told about it but I don’t. I’d like to think this is because of my age but it isn’t. The autism hasn’t affected me like this in that I have a wonderful memory for facts as she does. Soon she will have completed eleven courses since leaving school. That’s some feat but I don’t learn like that. I’ve just read or am in the process of reading a book in which it has been said that apples contain seeds containing cyanide which makes them poisonous but if the animals spit them out then the apples propagate so the seeds don’t get consumed as well as the sweet apples, so preserving apples for the future. Little bits of info stick like that but surprisingly perhaps for someone with autism, it’s the people I recall from the trip better than the facts about where we went but there are things I recall so watch this space for more.