[prompt: 'vacation' 22/3/19]

"Can you see the sign from where you're sitting?" Rod threw his hands in the air almost as expressively as that time he'd returned from their bathroom to announce the water of the southern hemisphere ran down the drain counter-clockwise - the opposite to the northern hemisphere. He could absolutely vouch for it... he'd just seen it in situ in the 'powder room' of their flat. Thankfully, our big bear of a Yugoslav friend was most observant about obscure, but crucial, matters like that.

Now, as we all looked over our shoulders from our seats at the bar, we could see what he was indicating. One arrow to Esperance, where we planned our nine day getaway, and the other to Adelaide, the capital city of our home State, South Australia... a mere 20 hours of non-stop driving time difference!

"Aren't you tempted?" he asked, a devilish gleam in his mesmerising dark brown eyes. He was like that... the great, impetuous fool.

At first we all laughed. And the barman kept polishing glasses, his demeanor unimpressed. If his bored expression could have been translated into words, it would have said something like - just more tourists passing by; probably go out and take photos of themselves to prove what cowboys they are... intrepid explorers, etc. etc.  Nothing too much about his attitude changed when the other three of us laughed, lifted our glasses, and said, in unison, "Ohh yair... sure!"

But then, this bizarre moment happened, wherein we all raised our eyebrows over the rim of our beer glasses, and puffed out a pathetic-type 'HA!' and found ourselves discovering that one couple had the cash to take us there, but no more. The other couple had a cheque book that could be used 'over there' and bring us all home again... and suddenly the excitement began. We could barely breathe, imagining the surprise reunion with the families we missed so desperately.

Small matter we had only rough camping-style gear with us. Small consideration that it would take all four of us changing drivers to get us across that vast expanse of Australia by road... near 2,500 km.[1,500 miles] of it! We were young, free and taking a Christmas break from work. WHY NOT??

As we pooled our resources and began our particular daredevil-type chuckling, the bartender's jaw dropped, along with his tea towel.

"You're bloody serious," he said. His tone implied this was NOT an everyday occurrence.

As we headed out the hotel entrance in a state of nirvana, we were near-hysterical with the joy of our decision. "Adelaide, here we come," we shouted.

Two days later, our families and friends applauded hysterically... once they recovered from the shock!

Three days after that, we repeated the trip, in reverse. We were REALLY THAT young!!