Winging To My Fifth Continent, And It Very Nearly Didn't Happen

Australia is the fifth continent I would be visiting, having done Asia, Europe, Africa and North America in the past. When I was studying in school – seems a long, long time ago – geography lessons had just five continents. Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and America, they were. Even the Olympic flag, designed in 1914, has five rings to signify co-operation and participation of the five continents. Therefore, going by the early lessons in school, I would be visiting the ‘final’ continent, albeit the smallest in size. To bag the last two, namely South America and Antarctica, I have to plan for an expedition to Antarctica from Argentina. Another dream to be pursued, surely.

Well, back to the present dream. Yes, it almost went up in smoke a few days back. I had done the car rental booking from Sydney way early, more than four months back, through Apex Rentals. The deal was for a Mitsubishi Outlander for 37 days with full cover for less that AUD 2000. Last week, with the intention of securing a trouble free car, I emailed the company telling them that I would be travelling the perimeter of the Continent and hence, would require a car in good condition with tyres that could withstand 16,000 km of Australian Highway 1. It was merely meant as a marker for the rental company to allot a good car of more recent vintage. However, I fell out of my chair when I read their response. Very politely I was told that the car from Apex Rentals has geographical restrictions. And the restrictions applied to Tasmania, Western Australia, Northern Districts and some parts of Queensland. They had picked a cavernous gap in my planning. I had not read the fine print and hence, this situation. I had presumed that Australia being a single country would not have any such limitations. I have never hired a car outside India and I missed out this important point.

Frantically, I checked various other car rental companies and hit the same road block – all of them had geographical limitations. I also consulted a site, DriveNow, which is supposed be an authoritative website for travel related information. What I read there was also like a ‘death warrant’. All doors seemed hopeless closed. My options were limited. I could retain the existing booking by rerouting the entire 37 days expedition, avoiding the restricted areas. I did this by designing a leisurely route through New South Wales, Victoria, Southern Australia and Queensland with a couple of days in the National Capital, Canberra. If I were to finalise on this, the objective of doing the Australian Highway 1 would have to be given a go by.

While I made the contingency plan I also sought the assistance of a friend and former schoolmate, Suresh Sebastian, who lives in Perth. He assured me that there would be a way out of the conundrum. In a couple of days he came up with the only option left, a practical one to keep the objective of driving the longest highway in the world. Hertz, the international car rental company, had just one restriction – that of taking their car on the ferry to Tasmania. They said that they could give me another car in Tasmania. That was fair enough. In any case the transit from Melbourne could either be by ferry or flight to Tasmania. I decided on the latter, because it was a cheaper and faster alternative. The revision of plans also meant a few cancellations such as the original car hire in Sydney and the Tasman ferry. I was worried, naturally, about financial implications. The cancellation policy of Apex Rental was that they would charge me 10% of the hire charge in case I cancelled within 30 days of the hire date. I was within that and hence, anticipated a AUD 200 penalty. However, when I explained the circumstances under which I am being forced to cancel the reservation, the Manager waived the penalty. Wow customer service. I was not so lucky with the Tasman ferry, though. I lost AUD 160 while cancelling the Spirit of Tasmania booking.

I finalized the plan to hire a car from Hertz in Sydney for the drive on the mainland. And booked flight tickets by Jetstar from Melbourne and hired a car in Tasmania to cover the AH1 in that island. The revised plan also meant a wee bit of change in the early part of my itinerary – stoppages in Eden and Mount Gambier were included. Beyond Adelaide the route and hotels remained the same. All is well that ends well. The tension and anxiety for nearly a week leading up to this day, when I am on my way to Australia, cannot be described on a piece of paper. The palpitation was not imaginary. The expedition had been on the drawing board for nearly four years. And, almost as I was to get on to the plane, the plans were in tatters. It brought home most important fact; the fine print is avoided to one’s peril. 

As the time was drawing close I became paranoid about the baggage. I took some out from one bag, put into another. Not satisfied, I fetched some others from the second bag and put them into the first bag. Then I came to suspect that I had chosen the wrong bag. Just prior to leaving home I decided to empty the bigger bag and weigh it. The empty bag itself weighed in at 5 plus kg. Definitely not the right one. Fortunately I had mail ordered a sports bag for just this eventuality. The tare weight of the sports bag was just a kg and half. I repacked yet again. Finally, I managed to distribute the permitted 30 kg baggage allowance in two bags. To reduce the weight of the carry on to the permissible 7 kg I stuffed all the heavy items such as power banks, extra mobile, external storage devices, camera lens into the jacket. I had once succeeded during my visit in the US in 2013; I expected to replicate that and get away with it.

As I would be away for two months my cousin, Abraham, agreed to keep the car in his building. I drove to my uncle’s (Pius Joseph’s) place for dinner and blessings. A leisurely meal of chappatis, chicken, beef and prawns with liberal helpings of potato and broccoli preparations over lively banter was just the right combination to take my mind off the worst that could happen during check in. Lindt chocolates, gulab jamun and plantains got priority over badam halwa and laddu. After a half past ten I transferred my luggage into an Ola cab and took leave of my cousins, Thresi and Abraham, and their spouses and Uncle and Aunt. It was time to be alone.

After scanning the bags to be checked in I found myself in front of a very pleasant girl at the Cathay Pacific counter. To my great relief I found that the bags were just over 30 kg and accepted by the counter clerk without a demur. My flight schedule also underwent a change. I would be taking an earlier flight from Hong Kong, thereby reaching Sydney earlier. While the change reduced the idle time in Hong Kong I would have to wait longer on arrival in Sydney for my pre-booked car. I guess it’s better to arrive the destination earlier than stay longer in transit. The queue at the immigration, as is normal in Chennai, was long. However, the queue moved faster than I anticipated. I didn’t feel time passing as a verbal duel between two groups waiting for immigration in another queue broke the monotony and made the amble a bit more enjoyable. When I got to the immigration counter I was asked the purpose of my travel to Australia. When I mentioned that I am going there to drive solo on the longest highway of the world the officer was all ears. He even forgot to stamp my passport as he was avidly listening to my journey by car to London. I dared not look back at the queue, for I knew that they would be much annoyed with the conversation that was delaying them! The officer told me that he was very fond of driving and described his adventurous drives to Coimbatore from Chennai! Soon I was through security too. With more than an hour to kill before boarding I secreted into the special lounge to stretch my limbs and release the nervous tensions that had built up in me over the past week. For, at the start of the last week I very nearly called off the expedition; at best I thought I would have reroute substantially if geographical restrictions ruined the proposed drive along the Australian Highway 1. Yes, this expedition was that close to being called off. Now, after four years dreaming, reality was beginning to roll out.