A Guitar Down Under (3)

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We were having Australian coffee one day when someone joked that their ancestors had been convicts. I said, "That's not very nice."

But it turned out to be true! The British had called it 'Transportation', and sent thousands of convicts to Australia (this was ages ago of course). And to their credit, it was a sort of humane alternative to execution. I guess I would rather be sent on a crowded and smelly prison ship with no medicine and little food or water thousands of miles from home - than be led to the gallows.. hmm. 

My hosts even took me to the graveyard where some of their ancestors had been buried. As we approached, I was expecting to see row upon row of headstones. But these particular graves were simple in the extreme. Just row upon row of narrow and primitive graves, perhaps with names, and sometimes no name at all. 

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This was all part of what I learned while singing in Australia. I loved the free spirited demeanor of the Aussies! As if they couldn't stop smiling for even a moment. You know - "No worries!" It was such fun. Joyce had arranged the singing engagements, many in remote locations. Just imagine for a moment, driving for hours through amazing countryside, passing tiny villages and strange looking birds and almost getting lost; arriving at someone's home and forever being welcomed with a hug, a meal, and: "I'm so glad you've come!"

Some of what I saw at the time (things may have changed since):

• cell phone use while driving was already prohibited (this was the year 2000)
• a restaurant could not send your extra food home in a 'doggy bag', for fear it would spoil and they would be sued for food poisoning
• it was pre 9/11, and getting through Customs was a breeze!
• I learned how to make the most delicious pumpkin soup
• we visited a lady who owned a baby kangaroo who slept in a bag, and I got to hold it
• Australians loved watching Alias, starring Jennifer Garner, the following year. They wouldn't miss an episode

The best of all these things was the privilege of staying with, riding with, eating with, talking with - Joyce. She of the year in New Zealand, the long black hair and the voice of an angel. We solved (or tried to solve) all the problems of the world, in that car on those drives. Leaving wouldn't be easy. 

But one morning I awoke to find I could hardly move, due to missing my husband so terribly. Our host heard me crying, kindly led me to a telephone, and said, "Talk all you want, this one's on me."

10,000 miles from home, I dialed a long series of numbers; waited breathlessly until it began to ring; waited while it rang; heard the 'click' of the receiver as someone picked up; loved the voice I heard on the other line.

"Well hello, my darling! It's so nice to hear your voice.."

10,000 miles just got a whole lot closer.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

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