I wake up this morning in my bunk bed at Holiday Village backpackers in Byron Bay. I look at the other three beds around me, bodies curled under blankets that resemble the other ¾ of the MyPOWER team. I roll over and try to go back to sleep. I start thinking. Twenty four days before we get back, that’s six journey entries each. What will I write about today?
Since crossing the NSW border it has been bleedingly obvious just how close the finish line is. I think I can almost see it. But (and this is a big but) we’re not there yet. I said to my friend back home the other day, “I can’t believe how close we are to finishing the tour but at the exact same time, I want to make the most of these last few weeks”.
It took us about a month to realise that the MyPOWER tour isn’t a boys camping trip gone long. At first we were giddy with excitement even putting up our tents, “Imagine doing this for a year boys?” We all had smiles on our faces as we couldn’t really believe what we had gotten ourselves into. With the power of hindsight as a seasoned MyPOWER tour veteran I can now look back at that time and think of our freshness and blind excitement. We were almost cute... almost! When we set up our tents the other night, there were no comments except for the usual quips at each others’ pride. Oh I almost forget, our only comment now about camping is made by whoever is first to get to the peg stage of the tent set up. “How’s the peg sicho(‘sicho’ – MyPOWER speak for situation)?” The response is either “Bangin’!” (which means really good) OR “Rubbish” (really bad). Or a combination of both; “My front pegs went in rubbish but it was banging at the back”.
Today as we look at the map to work out the distances we have to cover over the next 24 days there is one thing that screams up at us. There is a one spot that no one can take their eyes off, one spot that attracts all our unwanted attention. A tailfeather sticks up from the map in Sydney. We are chasing that tailfeather. Eventually we will get there, but for right now, we are resisting “finish line fever”. Now we are in NSW, we will soon have cycled over 17,000kms and it isn’t easy to stay motivated to keep moving. This nomadic lifestyle is starting to grow thin. But every time I think about how little time we have left I get an injection of reality. I imagine myself at home thinking the tour is all over and I realise that I still have the chance to make this the best three weeks of the tour. So I will do my best, I’ll try my hardest because it is a crazy feeling. I can’t describe what it’s like; chasing the tailfeather.
Quote of the day
“With the catching ends the pleasure of the chase”
-Abraham Lincoln