We always think that when we fail, it's like the end of the world.
We weigh failures so much heavier than success because we cruise through
success but don't know how to deal with failure...
Did I make a poor choice? Why does when I fail, a lot of things seem to hit my face into the brick wall all at once?
My time here in Northern Territory hasn't been all that great... And my time here hasn't been great memories so far. The only jobs that I can get here are retails or fast food restaurants; which I don't really want to take because I came to Australia to learn new things, not repeat what I've done.
So my friend and I ended up booking a car to go to a road trip
around Central Australia. Last year, she has already went on a tour group of
all the places that we've planned to go, but she wanted to see some more things
that she didn't get to do last time such as taking a picture with the Alice
Springs town sign or climbing Uluru and many other things. This trip was kind
of stressful on me because she is a very slow person that takes her time with
everything. I wasted a lot of time just waiting for her to get ready to start
the day. Not only that, but I'd find myself waiting for her where ever I go.
She's also a big mess too, so I always find myself cleaning after her. I was
pretty satisfied about getting to visit Uluru, Kata Tjuta, and Kings Canyon.
She wasn't satisfied because she has already done all of these things. I told
it's not because I didn't want to go to those extra places, but it's because we
don't have time... On top of that, we really wanted to go to Uluru - Field of
Lights which is a new thing where they setup lights all around Uluru for the
year, but the event was cancelled two nights in a row due to the rain.
So anyways, we left for the trip on Sunday and planning on heading
back on Wednesday afternoon. Two days earlier, Uluru area had a HUGE raining
storm; 120 meters of rain (360ft) which resulted in road closure around that
area. Central Australia gets rain three times a year... Lucky me to be there
when it decides to rain. The stormed moved on to Alice Springs by the day we
head out for the trip. When picking up the car, it didn't even phase me that I
might encounter trouble due to the rain so I didn't purchase full premium
insurance. I thought I was going to be okay, which was weird because every time
I rented a car in Melbourne, I'd buy full insurance. On our way out, it was
pouring baddd. It wasn't until we reached the intersection to get to Uluru when
it started getting better. Throughout the trip, we had really nice weather
actually; the perfect weather for hiking.
Then it went downhill from here on out. I had fun at Kings Canyon
and I met a French guy named Raynold while hiking and he has been all over the
place, studying abroad at Ohio too. We departed at the finish line and we went
out way wishing each other good luck. I filled up my tank and continue on my
way. Google Maps showed me the shortest route back to Alice Springs which
turned out to be the back road with unpaved roads and it was just all gravel.
It is highly recommended that we only go on this road if we have a 4-wheel
drive. Our rental car was a front-wheel drive. By this time, I was already way
over the 500km limit that I was given for the car rental. We have already spent
a lot of gas. So I took my chances and tried to get back home via the back
road. I was still hesitant about it because I had a feeling that I might cause
some damage to the car but I went with my guts after an hour into the gravel
road. Worse decision ever. On our way back, we encountered a HUGE puddle of
water left from the rain storm a few days back. I tried to drive around the
side so I can avoid the puddle because I didn't know how deep it was. People
say there were puddles 2 meters deep which was why roads were closed. While
driving around the side, the car decided to get stuck because the mud on the
side of the road was super soft and the wheels could not get any grip. Our car
got stuck and I started to panic. I went out and told Louie to put the car on reverse
and I'll try to push the car from the outside, but it didn't work. We found a
car not so far from ours that was jacked, completely broken into, and robbed of
all the seats, stereo, wheels, backup tires, everything... We took the bumper
off to try to use that to dig ourselves out. It also didn't work. This was
located on the back roads, there's no street lights, there's no phone signal
even for Telstra, there's nothing except trees and sand, and it was 6:30PM
almost getting to sunset. No one drives here from darn to dusk because it's
super dangerous; that's when the animals come out which will wreck your car if
you hit them. We tried to call 000 and 112 because you know, emergency numbers
are supposed to work during your worse case scenario, but we couldn't even call
those numbers without signal. The only option for us is to wait. Wait until
people drive by to see if they can help pull us out. We put on the hazard
lights, but the car battery decided to die after a few hours. Two people drove
by before the sun set, but they couldn't help us because they didn't have the
equipment. We told them to send help once they get to the next town. I started
to feel hopeless and scared and then I started to realize. All my life, I've
been protected by my mom and everything was good for me. In situations like
these, I am completely clueless on how to deal with it. I just get scared,
frustrated, and upset. I started to worry if I was just going to die here;
either get eaten by an animal, someone comes over and tries to loot us, or
something. We tried to get past the night by sleeping it off, but my body was
so alert because I was scared that if I fall asleep, something bad will happen
especially with no hazard lights on.
It wasn't until 7:30AM when I saw a car drive by. I immediately
got out of the car and that person saw me, so he drove back to see if I needed
any help. He turned out to be going home from his work. He worked at a gas
station and just so happen that he had a radio to contact his office to send
help. He didn't have the tools, but he said he called and sent someone down
with tools in 30 minutes. God really answered by prayers. I knew He was testing
my patience and I know he's going to help me. If it wasn't for this person,
we'd still be stuck there. 40 minutes later, another car came by with the tools
to pull our car out. He was super nice and even offered us two bottles of water
just in case. He pulled us out and told us not to avoid the puddles. By this
time, the puddles should be died up a bit and it should be pretty shallow. We
are safer to drive in the middle of the road where there's elevation and gravel
with rocks so the tires would have a grip. He made sure we were all okay before
he let us go. He didn't even charge us for coming all the way out to help us.
We finally reached the next town by noon, rested, and got back to Alice Springs
by 3PM. We went to the YHA and asked for a water hose and vacuum cleaner to
clean up the car so it wouldn't be so obvious that we were on the off roads.
The next morning, we returned the car and indicated that we had
some damage to the front of the car, but nothing major. We paid for the extra
km and left the shop. Half an hour later, Thrifty called and told us that we
need to go back to the shop because they found damages that we need to discuss.
We went back and turned out from what they say, the car is heavily damaged to
the fact that it is not safe to be on the road and they can no longer rent it
out. At first before I returned the car, I thought okay, maybe the damage would
cost be a few hundred dollars which I don't mind paying. The manager came out
with a very frustrated mood and told us we need to pay for the full recovery
damage fee which was AU$6200... There are heavy scratches on the bottom of the
front bumper. The chassis is heavily damaged due to me hitting a few creek
cracks. The chassis is tilted to the side due to the damage. "The car
can no longer be rented out or driven. You were just lucky to be able to make
it back to Alice Springs safely." They said there's no way I can argue
because the pictures of the car shows that it's heavily damaged and I must pay
for the cost. I had no choice but to pay it. I didn't even have enough money in
my Australian account to be paying that amount of money, so I just put it on my
Capital One credit card. They said that they will have someone come and
evaluate the car and if there's some possibilities, we will be refunded a small
amount of it is fixable. But I have an idea that they'd rather keep all the
money.
We left the shop and I did not know what to feel. I had a blank
face and I just continued to walk back to the hostel. I can tell that Louie was
heavily frustrated by the look of her face even though I told her that I will
be responsible for the full amount. I already convinced myself that it was
meant to happen and we cannot control it because it's that one time I decided
not to buy insurance. We just have to accept it and move on because worrying
about it won't change anything. It didn't hit me until later into the night
when I realized $6200 is A LOT of money... I started blaming myself that I
rather save $100 on the premium insurance than to avoid the $6200 fee. I was
going to treat my parents to a trip to Australia before my visa expires. I was
going to drive to Darwin and travel a bit more before looking for another job.
Everything seems to be happening too fast and everything seems to be going
downhill so fast. I also lost Louie; we stopped talking to each other because
I've been really annoying to her about her had habits. I fell in love with
someone that only loved me back as like a brother... I burst out in tears in
the bathroom because I couldn't hold it in anymore. Too much stress all at once
and I didn't know what to do or what I'm doing.
We can't always win. There are times when we have to face the
unfortunate events. It is important to fall and hit rock bottom but be able to
pick yourself back up and keep on going.
My mom like to say that just pretend you paid tuition to learn something new. In this case, I've learned that it's not a wise idea to rent a car without insurance and it's not wise to travel on the off roads. But I still couldn't accept the fact that I just lost $6200 just like that. I tried to check my travel insurance, but they don't cover car rental, which is dumb because I paid US$1000 for that junk. Last night, I decided to cut my travels short. I cancelled the relocation car to Darwin regardless even if I'm losing out on my $100 booking fee. I started looking into jobs anywhere in Australia just so I can earn some money back before my visa expires.
Satie said that I might be able to get a job with Gensuke, the
restaurant that she works for, but I don't know... I kind of don't want to go
back to Melbourne. I have already said goodbye to everyone and I told them that
I won't be back until August before I leave for home. Plus, there's nothing
waiting for back in Melbourne. She doesn't love me the way I fell for her. I do
have my family there, but I believe I will see them before I leave Australia.
Louie on the other hand, she's actually a wonderful friend. I love
how she seems to always be positive about everything and she'd just laugh
everything off. It's just that her habits are different than mine. I tend to
blame others when things don't work out the way that I wanted. But I really
just need to stop and think about all the things that others have assisted me
on this journey through Australia. I believe every one of them are wonderful
people in their own way and I hope that I can continue to be with them, in our
hearts and memories.
I will keep telling myself that I can pick myself back up. I need
to be strong. These unfortunate events are only lessons that keeps me growing.
I don't fail enough to be the strong person that I want to be. I will make it
on my own and I won't disappoint my parents, friends, family, peers. This is an
experience to be learned and grow from.
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