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No.52. in my series of short stories.
It was in 1978 when we once again would travel Australia's outback in our Red HQ 1973 Holden Kingswood sedan with our seven year old and a two year old. Our two children were never a problem they sat for hours on the long trip, we stopped often to have a swim a snack and just some downright fun.
We had an interesting adventure during our visit to Mt Isa. Setting up and sharing a 3-man tent in the caravan park. School work to be done by the eldest had consisted of a scrap book with a post card from every town we went through a short story, and always drawing.
After setting up camp we decided to play cards but the lack of cards added an unexpected twist to our plans. The obvious solution was to buy some by heading to the caravan park shop where the manager sold me a pack of cards, and invited us to join him and his wife for a game later that night, this added a nice touch of community spirit to our trip.
It's often these unplanned interactions and connections with people along the way that make travel experiences memorable. First we played a card game with the kids in the tent and later engaged in a game of poker at the caravan park managers quarters. This did create a lasting memory, and it showcased the spontaneity and sense of adventure that often comes with road trips and camping. To our surprise when we arrived to play cards the husband and wife had set up a game like you would expect at a casino. Full croupier caps and sticks (A croupier stick or rake is used to gather up chips in a casino,) snacks, alcohol, lots of coins and the overhead lowered lighting that makes it all so much more mysterious. It's these impromptu moments that can turn a simple nights stopover into a highlight of the journey. It was a little scary as we were running on a budget, and for the first time in my married life I was to have so much faith in my gambling husband. Well we kicked ass and won all their money, I think they were somewhat startled that we were so tutored, little did they know that we regularly had card nights at home with family and friends. We had won all the cash they had and they didn't want to lose any more, so they kept on trying very hard to win it back but couldn't pull a trick, we ended up with a weeks free rent in a really luxurious caravan at the park and everything supplied.
We packed up the tent and put it back in the boot of our nice red HQ 1973 Holden Kingswood and enjoyed our free caravan. We had forgotten what air conditioning was like .
Everything seems better when you dont have to pay for it.