Funny you should ask!
I've heard it said that people living together in isolated situations (I.E. Antarctica, a boat, small rural village) tend to celebrate every little occasion. And develop an unusual affinity for costume parties (or "dressing up"/"fancy dress" as we say in NZ). Well, we did too!
You have seen pics of Rachel's Birthday. The R Party.
Here is what happens when Australia Day coincides with Ellie's 20th birthday and a long, 12 hour drive day. As is customary on our trip, the birthday girl gets to choose the theme. Ellie chose to hold a "no clothes" party. And before anyone gets all excited or rushes forth with judgment, it simply means you wear an outfit made of things that are typically not considered clothes.
No-one is naked!!! (Well, not completely anyway)
Claire, Danie and Lou dressed as hula girls... complete with paper-plate "coconut shell" tops and crepe paper "grass" skirts.
Me, in my crepe paper two-tone evening dress... the last time you will ever see me wearing hot pink!
(We don't want to ask what Ewan is up to, in the background)
An array of outfits once deemed to be plastic bags, sarongs, Argentinian flags etc
Yep... It was a day to remember. (Although, I'm sure some cant and some don't want to!)
Messy!!!
Other days the fun and games revolve around charades, card games, and my personal favorite; Celebrity Heads. (Where the sticker of a name of a famous person/character is put on your forehead and you ask yes or no questions to guess who you are.)
I would guess that with the exception of Reece (ADHD???) everyone become accustomed to early starts, followed almost immediately by falling asleep to the vigorous motion of the truck. So mornings passed pretty quickly.
(Various ways to remain seated/upright while sleeping...)
The long driving days and "bush camp" evenings were really the only time that 21 passengers spent time together as a group. We tended to break into smaller parties once camped in a town or staying in a hostel. For this reason, bush camping is one of my fondest memories.
I think Brendan was glad to be here too.
Then of course there were those random encounters. Events that are memorable for so many reasons. Not losing a limb for instance - Archie!
Meanwhile this local fellow is thinking to himself "why didn't they just drive around it - like we all do?" And the answer is of course... Because that is not manly enough! We need to hack something up, lift a dead weight and suffer in inclement weather to really feel good about ourselves!
Mission accomplished!
So then it's back to re-organizing the "stuff" we have packed, accumulated and deposited in our lockers. And I hear you ask.... Where exactly are these lockers? We haven't yet seen where 23 backpacks might fit in the truck.
Under each seat is a well. Big enough (in most cases) to fit our large backpacks and much more. Out of sight of non-passengers and therefore hidden to the average opportunistic thief, should he come on board. But, for the most part, easily accessible... if your arms and legs are long enough!
For Claire, it's a stretch... and can take a while!
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