LEAH HELEN: A Little Australian Road Adventure

Oh, the freedom of an open road--two hands on the steering wheel, your favorite tunes blaring through the speakers, and singing at the top of your lungs. There's just nothing like a road trip.

When my friends told me that they were hiring a car to drive to their skydive in Goulburn, I jumped at the opportunity to tag along for the ride. Unfortunately, we woke up to nonstop rain on Saturday morning, but we packed our bags with hopes of clearer skies ahead. Up before the sun, we caught two buses to the airport and picked up the car around 8 am. The girls were meant to jump from a plane at 10 am, so they called when we were on the road to let the flight center know we were going to be a little late. It was only at 9:30, that they decided to cancel the skydives for the rest of the day. Disappointed, but determined to not let the weather spoil our day of fun, we decided to continue down the highway to Canberra, the capital of Australia.

Just as the rain began to let up, we came to a fork in the road. We could either continue down the highway for a straight shot to Canberra or take an unpaved scenic route that would take twice as long. The decision seemed like an obvious one and I beamed with joy as Andy turned the wheel toward an empty country road.

We cruised along, listening to the Beatles. The rain had subsided, so I rolled down my window to enjoy the cool air. I breathed in the sweet smell of the eucalyptus trees, so happy to be away from the traffic and noise of the city. My four friends chatted away, but something outside my window distracted me from their conversation. I saw something move. It was grey and furry. "Holy s***! Stop the car, And!" The car came to a gravel-throwing halt. Before I could explain myself, my seat belt was unbuckled and I was already outside the car. "K-ka-kangaroos!" There were four or five of them along the fence line by the road. My friends scrambled in the car to find shoes, phones and cameras and by the time they reached me, the kangaroos were hopping up a hill. They were wild, timid and frightened, either by the sudden stop of the car, the slamming doors, or probably my shouting. Seeing a handful of them bouncing around an open field was so much better than the time I saw dozens lying around in the zoo. It was definitely one of those magical, "I'm actually in Australia" moments. I'll never forget it.

Eventually our gravel road met the highway and we made it to our destination. Canberra is probably the least impressive capital city I've ever visited. I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't even know it was the capital until two weeks before I moved to Australia; I always assumed it was Sydney. The city lies within its own state called ACT (Australian Capital Territory), similar to Washington DC. The capital was constructed in this rural area in 1908 as a means to settle the competitive rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne. Today the population is only 368,000 and I'm convinced that more than half of that number works in a government-related field.

My friends and I only had a couple of hours to kill before we needed to head back to Sydney and return the car. We snapped a few silly pictures in front of the Parliament house, sat down for a lunch, and then we were on the road again. After we realized there wasn't much to do in Canberra, we were glad we took the road less traveled to get there. Thanks for the advice, Robert Frost. And even if I looked at a map, I'm not sure I could tell you how we got there. Like every good road trip, we got a little lost along the way. But as my friends and I like to say, "you can't get lost if you don't know where you are going." Sometimes, the journey is more important than the destination.