I have to make my way down to Alva today for my dive tomorrow. I had investigated the buses and trains but their schedules don’t work for me. And they’re pricey too. I worked it out that I could hire a car for one day from Avis, and with the 59 minute grace period, I should be able to make it work. So, I’d have the car for a maximum of 1 day and 59 minutes. With that booking, I had time to kill until the car pickup at 15:15.
The hostel required a check-out from the rooms at 10:00 and exit the premises by 12:30. I hung around all morning writing and doing admin before leaving after midday, leaving my luggage in the coin lockers. I managed to get a great-value pub lunch of pastitsio and salad for AUD10.
Knowing that there were no restaurants or shops at Alva, and I had little time on the way to stop (because I needed to check-in at the dive lodge by 17:00), I went to the supermarket to buy a few things I could assemble into a dinner of sorts.
Pickup for the rental car went smoothly. A little too smoothly – as they clocked me in at 15:08 rather than 15:15 which meant that I’d have to return the car 7 minutes earlier. Here’s to a smooth and speedy dive excursion tomorrow so that I get the car back before 16:07!
The drive down to Alva was smoothly guided by Google Maps navigation on my phone, taking 1h20. The countryside was a combination of brown and green; yep it’s Australia. The roadside was littered with dead animals, largely kangaroos but I thought I saw a dead horse. That was a reminder to myself to take care as my neighbour in Auckland was hit by a kangaroo while on his motorbike leaving Townsville. I’m not sure how I’d avert hitting one if it happened to skip on to the road in front of me.
The dive lodge at Yongala Dive was pleasant. I was in a dormitory of six. There was nothing to do as there weren’t many people to socialise with. I made some dinner of a mixed bean and mushroom salad with tomatoes. It was too much for me so I shared it with Charlie, a cochlear implant surgeon, who came in after me.
Charlie was famished and needed more food. He was going to drive into Ayr to grab more dinner so I joined him. At the Commercial Tavern, we had interesting conversations as he was also a keen traveller. I wasn’t hungry so I had some garlic bread and a beer.
We headed back after 21:00 and I retired to the sound of loud snoring from one of my roomies. Charlie mentioned next morning that he could hear it from his room too!