Reflections
I've mentioned that the road trip with my son was my second crossing of the Nullarbor. My first was on a bus from Perth to Melbourne in 1983 when I was twenty-one, the same age he was on our trip.
As I shared in a June 2023 blog post to mark my son's twenty-first, I spent most of the 1983 journey in a stupor of sleeping pills. I remember getting off the bus at Southern Cross in the middle of the day, where it was very hot, at Norseman late at night, where it was very cold, and in Adelaide at dawn the next day, where I joined a group of backpackers a very early-opening pub.
Apart from this, I have no memories of my first crossing of the Nullarbor.
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That 1983 bus trip was 40 years ago. But even with our occasional "falling outs" and silences, I hope my son remembers his first crossing of the Nullarbor clearly and fondly 40 years from now.
It's unlikely I'll be around then, but while I am, I won't forget our dad-and-son road trip, especially standing with my son in front of the Nullarbor Plain road sign.
© 2024 Robert Fairhead
N.B. You might like to read Love Being a Dad, a blog post I wrote for my son's eighteenth birthday in June 2020.
Robert is a writer and editor at Tall And True and blogs on his eponymous website, RobertFairhead.com. He also writes and narrates episodes for the Tall And True Short Reads storytelling podcast, featuring his short stories, blog posts and other writing from Tall And True.
Robert's book reviews and other writing have appeared in print and online media. In 2020, he published his début collection of short stories, Both Sides of the Story. In 2021, Robert published his first twelve short stories for the Furious Fiction writing competition, Twelve Furious Months, and in 2022, his second collection of Furious Fictions, Twelve More Furious Months. And in 2023, he published an anthology of his microfiction, Tall And True Microfiction.
Besides writing, Robert's favourite pastimes include reading, watching Aussie Rules football with his son and walking his dog.
He has also enjoyed a one-night stand as a stand-up comic.
