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So naturally she had to fill them in on her grand plan to drive across Australia.
“Is that sensible?” Alice’s brows knitted.
“That’s awesome!” Polly said.
“I guess it has its pros and cons,” Judith added thoughtfully.
“I feel like I’m listening to the three bears.” Felicity laughed.
“That’s actually a good description of us,” Alice agreed.
Aaron eyed her thoughtfully. “So you’re planning to hire a camper?”
“Yes, or maybe buy one. If I can find one in my price range, then I can sell it and get some money back when I leave. I’ve done it that way before. Me and Evie bought a kombi for our trip across Europe, then sold it when we got back to London.”
“But who will you travel with?” Alice’s brows formed a deep pleat above her glasses.
“No-one. I’ll meet people. I mean, there’ll be camp sites. Towns and what-not.” Felicity surveyed their faces, a little seed of anxiety lodging in her stomach as she realised that no-one, apart from Polly, looked particularly enthusiastic. “Won’t there?”
“I guess it depends on your definition oftowns.” Aaron rubbed his jaw, thinking. “Put it this way: between here and Adelaide there’s a thing called the Little Sandy Desert, or you could go higher and then there’s this other thing called the Great Sandy Desert. Lots of choice really. Desert or desert.”
“I was hoping to go through the middle, visit Ayers rock—or rather, Uluru, that’s its name now, isn’t it?” General nods. “And then drive on to Sydney from there.”
“Probably won’t be your best route in February,” Polly pointed out. “It’ll be 55 degrees in the shade. That’s Celsius, not Fahrenheit. Trust me, I grew up in the outback.”
Felicity wrinkled her nose, doing the calculations. “Oh gosh, that’s around 130 Fahrenheit.”
“Why not stay this side of Australia?” Aaron suggested. “There’s beautiful places here.”
Felicity nibbled on her lower lip. “I’d really set my heart on driving to the east coast.” Another exchange of glances, which clearly designated Aaron as the spokesperson. “In that case, you could head across the Nullarbor Plain to Adelaide, then along the Great Ocean Road. It may not be quite as hot along the coast. But it’s still a trek. Think London to Moscow, and then some.”
“Oh.” Felicity stared at her glass of bubbles, trying to digest all the information.
“It’s do-able. Take you about ten days to a fortnight,” Dan said with cheerful optimism. “And… just so happens my mate has a kombi he’s selling.”
“Really?” This had to be serendipity!
“Yeah, he doesn’t want to part with it, but he’s skint, and his girlfriend wants to put a down-payment on a house. Reckon I could persuade him to give you a discount—you know, mate’s rates.”
“Is that Shocky’s van?” Carts’ eyebrows creased into a sharp v. “Believe me, you won’t want it.”
“Hey, honey.” Judith put her hand on his arm. “Felicity can make her own mind up.”
Carts gulped down more beer with a strained look on his face.
“What’s wrong with it?” Felicity asked, curiosity piqued.
“Shocky gave it a paint job.” Dan said. “It’s kind ofbright.”
“That won’t bother me.” Felicity pointed a finger at her orange and pink Ted Baker cami, which she’d got for a song in Oxfam.
“Go on Dan, tell her what’s written on the back,” Carts grumbled.
“Nah, I’m not going to prejudice Felicity against it before she’s even seen it.” Dan stared Carts down before turning back to her. “I can take you to see it after I finish work tomorrow.”
“Really? That would be fantastic, thank you so much.”
“Cool, I’ll text Shocky now and let him know.” Dan got out his phone and thumbed away.
