Chapter Five
Lara began her trek across the country at Kalgoorlie, the nearest city to her landing spot. She walked or hitchhiked, choosing not to fly, as she wanted to experience the people and places, and she couldn’t do that from the air. Flying was nice when you wanted to get from point A to point B, but it was not a good way to experience people and culture.
For weeks Lara stayed in hostels, hung out with other young people her age, and played the role of an American tourist. She wasn’t a typical American tourist, however, as the people who met her soon came to know.
As she got more comfortable with her new companions Lara spun tales of her travels through South America and Africa when they gathered around the fire pit at the end of the day. Most young people of Australia had never given much thought to South America. Lara’s tales inspired them such that some of them expressed a desire to visit those countries themselves.
Lara’s next port of call was Melbourne, the nearest big city to where she’d been staying. After the poverty of Africa and the desolation of the Outback, Lara decided that taking in the sights and sounds of civilization was just what she needed. She checked in to a youth hostel for the evening, then set out to explore the city using some of the tourist informational pamphlets she found at the hostel. The local botanic garden intrigued her, so Lara caught a bus to the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.
Many years ago, when she was twelve, she’d seen the Chicago Botanic Gardens when her family had visited Chicago during the summer. Lara had enjoyed seeing all the plant varieties and the various sections set up as an English Walled Garden and a Japanese Garden with three separate islands. Her grandmother had especially loved the Rose Garden, the beauty of which inspired her to add some of the varieties to her little garden. While Lara had enjoyed this experience, it was nothing like what she was seeing now.
The plants and habitat here were like nothing she’d ever seen. The plants and such she’d seen in Chicago were familiar, of course, some of them were even native to Kansas. While here almost none of them were familiar, seeing that Australia had developed a unique ecosystem. Lara marveled at the variety and diversity of the plants on display.
She strolled through the park and stopped to watch the programs ‘Grasshopper Ecology in Australia: Past and Present’ and ‘The Bush Food Experience: International Days of World Indigenous Peoples,’ which she found fascinating. Having spent the day at the park, Lara left at closing for the bus ride back to her hostel.
After Lara made a quick bite to eat in the communal kitchen, she took her laptop outside to write an article about her experiences. She chuckled wryly as she thought that travel articles were the purview of her father and here she was writing one. With that finished, she wrote some emails to her dad and friends to keep them apprised of her trip and her future itinerary. Lara planned to spend the next few weeks on the Melbourne-to-Perth tour she had found pamphlets for at the hostel. The pamphlets were advertisements for guided tours, but Lara planned to walk or hitchhike the route to enjoy the slower pace and avoid tourist crowds.
After breakfast the next morning Lara set off on the first leg, the journey along the Great Ocean Road, and up to the Grampians where she experienced some of Victoria’s most spectacular terrain. She set out along the Great Ocean Road at Torquay, trotting along at thirty miles per hour in deserted areas. The relaxed speed allowed her plenty of time to stop and absorb the sights and sounds of one of the most beautiful sections of the country. The road was built between 1919 and 1932 and was dedicated to soldiers killed in World War I. It was the world’s largest war memorial.
Lara slowed down to human pace through Aireys Inlet and Fairhaven which allowed her time to explore those towns leisurely, but when required she was able to get rides which helped her keep to her planned schedule. Once out of Fairhaven, she ran once more until she reached the town of Lorne at the end of her first month. Lara found a youth hostel a few blocks away from the Road and checked in, then she made her way to the common room where the residents hung out.
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Lara saw a group of two guys and two girls all about her age. As she drew closer, she guessed that they sounded like native Aussies due to their accents. “Hi, I’m Lara. Is it okay if I join you?”
“Sure, sit down. I’m Jake and this is my girlfriend Joan.” Jake was blond with a slim, athletic-looking body. His girlfriend, Joan, was also fair-haired, on the shorter side, with a fuller figure.
“I’m Max and this is my girlfriend Tammy.” Max was dark-haired like Lara with a build like Jake. Tammy appeared to be tall and thin with striking red hair.
Lara smiled, and then pulled up a chair and sat down. “Max, is your name short for Maxwell?”
“No. Maximilian. My mother is a university professor who specializes in Central and South American history. She fell in love with the name Maximilian, so I got stuck with it.” His grin belied his words, which made Lara laugh.
“I think it’s a very nice name. Very masculine.”
“So Lara,” Tammy asked, “what brings you to Australia?”
“Australia is my last stop on my travels. I grew up on a farm in Kansas so I wanted to see the world after college. I visited most of South America, a few countries in Africa, specifically Rwanda, and now I’m exploring southern Australia. It’s been a very eye-opening experience.”
Tammy exclaimed, “That must have been fun, but weren’t you concerned about traveling alone like that?”
“Not really. I took self-defense classes in college and I was very careful not to go into obviously dangerous areas. The people I’ve met were very friendly and helpful so I wasn’t worried.”
“Still,” Joan said skeptically, “I don’t think I’d have the courage to do something like that.”
Lara turned to Max and said, “Max you mentioned your mom studies Central and South American history. I think it would be amazing to hear her stories of Maximilian, Bolivar, and Pizzaro.”
“I bet she’d love to meet you. She travels as often as she can but it’s so expensive, you know. How did you do it?”
Lara expected this question and responded. “I flew into Rio, and from there I caught rides a lot of the time, took trains whenever I could, and just walked. I worked as a waitress on a cruise ship to get across the Atlantic to Africa, then to get to Australia I caught a break. I was able to get a job as a crew member on a private yacht. It took a few weeks but I finally landed in Port Douglas. From there I caught rides to Torquay and here I am!”
“So where are you headed now?” Joan asked.
“I found pamphlets for the Great Ocean Road in Torquay and I stopped here. I’m going to be heading out in the morning.”
Jake glanced at his companions who nodded their heads. “We’re doing the same trip. Would you like to ride with us?”
“I don’t want to intrude—”
“You wouldn’t be intruding!” Tammy said. “We have a van and there’s room for one more. What do you say?”
Lara smiled. She’d enjoyed her time with these people and having some company sounded good. “I say yes! What time are you leaving?” Tammy turned and hugged Lara excitedly.
“Early, around 7:00.”
“Perfect.” Lara rose glancing at the group. “I’m heading off to bed now. See you then.
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The next morning, Lara tossed her pack into the back of the van and squeezed between Joan and Tammy for the first leg of the journey. While Lara had enjoyed the solitude of her first month, she found the company of people her age enhanced her appreciation of the sights. After making numerous stops for sightseeing, food, gas, and other necessities, the company arrived at the park after dark, where the group cooked out over an open fire. Then they all bedded down in their tents under the starry sky.
All through her time in Australia, there were no emergencies for Superwoman which suited Lara’s mood perfectly. While she would never ignore an emergency, the lack of drama soothed her even more after the tumultuous incidents of her Africa trip.
The first stop the next day was at The Twelve Apostles, a collection of limestone stacks off the shore of Port Campbell National Park.
“It’s so beautiful here, isn’t it, Lara?” Tammy asked.
Lara gazed at the tall limestone stacks in awe of the majesty of Nature. “It sure is. We don’t have anything like this in Kansas, that’s for sure.”
Joan looked at Lara inquisitively, “Speaking of America, have you ever met Superman?”
Lara smiled enigmatically before she responded. “No. He doesn’t get to Kansas very often. The last time I saw him was a few years ago after some tornadoes touched down near Wichita.”
Max jumped in then. “I saw him last year when he helped with the wildfires in New South Wales. But even he couldn’t put all of them out.”
Lara shook her head sadly. “No. As powerful as he and his daughter are, they have nothing on the power of Nature.”
The group spent most of the day among The Twelve Apostles, Loch Ard Gorge, which was about three miles to the west, The Grotto, and London Arch. As darkness approached, they pulled in to Port Campbell National Park around sundown and set up camp quickly where the five of them shared cooking duties over an open fire.
After dinner, Max pulled out his guitar, which ignited a group singalong that lasted late into the night. When Max said he couldn’t play any more everyone crawled into their tents for the evening.
For some reason Lara was restless, unable to fall asleep, so she crawled out of her tent, scanned the group to make sure everyone was asleep, then she silently floated up into the sky. She hovered at about 10,000 feet, then turned onto her back and closed her eyes. The silence soothed her soul, relaxing her even further.
She heard the crash of waves along the shore, the rustle of birds in their nests, and other small animals crawling through the forest floor in search of food. She opened her eyes and saw a sky littered with stars, the unfamiliar constellations easily visible due to the near-absolute darkness. She closed her eyes again and drifted into a calm restful sleep.
Lara woke with a start a couple of hours later to find herself floating over the dark ocean waters, completely out of sight of land. She took a moment to acclimate herself and chuckled, embarrassed that she’d fallen asleep and allowed herself to drift with the wind currents. Luckily it was still full dark, so Lara turned and slowly flew back to her encampment. After she checked to make sure everyone was still asleep, she landed in the woods near the restrooms and made her way back to her tent. She crawled into her sleeping bag then closed her eyes, patiently waiting for the rest of her party to awaken.
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The last leg of the trip, from Port Campbell to Allansford, being the shortest section took half a day, even with stops for views of the sheer cliffs on either side of the road. Thankfully there were no rockfalls when they passed through, though they saw signs warning of them. They arrived in Allansford in the early afternoon.
Jake pulled the van into a parking spot near the center of town. “So where should we eat?”
“I found this place in this tourist magazine,” Tammy said. “The Flying Horse Bar & Brewery sounds good. It has craft beer and the food’s rated good too. What do you say?” Everyone nodded their agreement, so Jake put the address into his phone’s GPS app and they drove over. Once they were seated the waitress came to take their orders.
“I’ll have Salt and Pepper Calamari and Chips,” Lara said.
Tammy said, “Bangers and Mash for me.”
Joan passed her menu to Max. “Inva's Mixed Grill, please.”
“And I’ll have Hawaiian Pizza and Chips,” Max said as he set his menu down on top of the others.
“Chicken, Bacon, and Cream Pasta for me.” Jake handed the menus to the waitress.
“And what would you like to drink?”
“How about a jug of Dirty Angel and five glasses for a start?” Max said.
“Great, be right back.”
The beer was so good that they ordered a second pitcher while they waited. Twenty minutes later their meals arrived, and they took turns tasting each other’s meals. Everyone had a great time.
Lara, sadly, said goodbye to her traveling companions that afternoon. Everyone hugged Lara and wished her good luck for the rest of her journey.
After the meal, Lara found an internet café in the city center where she plugged in her laptop. With a hot cup of coffee in front of her, she completed the article she’d started back in Torquay, extoling the beauty of the area and the friendliness of the people she’d encountered. After a few edits to tighten up the narrative, Lara sent the article off to her father for publication in the Smallville Post. She wondered how many reprints she’d get on this one.
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Lois Lane reviewed the Sunday Supplement for the second time. She had a big hole in the middle of page two that needed something that she didn’t have. As if in response to her need, Jim Olsen knocked on the doorjamb.
“Chief, a new article just came over the wire from Lara Kent. Do you still need something for the supplement?”
“Yes!” Lois replied excitedly and pulled the article up on her screen. She quickly scanned it and her eyes grew wide with appreciation. “This’ll work, thanks, Jim!”
“No problem, Chief,” Jim replied with a grin and left for his desk.
Lois quickly fit Lara’s article into the hole on page two and sent the completed supplement to Printing. With a sigh of relief, Lois also sent an email to Accounts Payable with instructions to send the standard freelance payment to Lara’s bank contact information. After the desolation and discouragement of Lara’s Africa articles, this one had a distinctly positive tone, a tone that made Lois feel that her daughter had been able to gain some perspective.
Lois printed a copy of the article and slipped it into her briefcase. It would join Lara’s other work in her scrapbook at home.
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Continued in Chapter Six
