1000 Miles To Freedom, Happiness, And The Meaning Of Life

Rockhopper here, they say life's a beach, so let's drive one, and let's take a drive up the coast of South Australia. Here we go, we get to drive on the beach now. This should be fun. We'll go up the coast, head north toward Adelaide. And finally, we can camp on the beach. I had driven over a thousand miles and had finally found a place where I was free to roam and camp. For the first time in the trip, I felt as if I had found a region where I could be free and happy. I felt like a dog let off a lead and was ready to run down the shore and play at the edge of the waves. I was at a stretch of beach often referred to as the Kerong. It starts just north of the town of Kingston SC and stretches all the way into Kerong National Park, a 30 mile, 50 kilometer slice of ocean wonderland which is free for all to explore. I had the shimmering ocean beside me, the waves rolling in and fanning out across the beach. Seagulls and terns flying by, gently lapping waves, nudging seashells toward shore. And you can pull in here and just camp amongst the little dunes, just right at the beach, right on the beach if you like. You can do that to the south as well from Kingston. Yes, for the first time I could freely drive a strip of sand beside the sea. I could park wherever I wanted along it, camp wherever I wanted along it, and stay as long as I felt I wanted to. The rules, 40 kilometers an hour when nearing another vehicle or camper. I always had to be aware of tides, especially when parked overnight. Four wheel drives were best for this type of travel. Beach driving, yeah I'm liking this. Alright. Woohoo. Enjoying the beach. Driving in style. Fresh air, windows down, smell of the ocean, oh yeah. The Dalai Lama says the purpose of life is happiness. And the purpose of our existence is to find that happiness. And that's to paraphrase him. And I finally found happiness. Here on a beach in South Australia, away from Victoria and New South Wales. Where I have a feeling more of freedom. Unlike the constrained feeling of New South Wales and Victoria. With all their fences and restrictions and regulations. It seems like wherever there are more people there are more restrictions. Which is why I really never visit the east coast of the US much. Because there are more people and it's much harder to camp and roam around freely. That's why I prefer to stay out west. Because there are less people and there are less restrictions. However that is changing. People's rights and freedoms are eroding away. The powers that be are quietly confiscating many rights on every level. Remember, if you don't fight for the rights you have, you won't have any rights to fight for. I think those are called fairy turns. I was as free as the birds on the beach, wheels as my wings, and flying down the sand. That's from where I've come and I came along the beach all the way to here. And you can come up along this right up into here and there's some people camped here. I did have to put it into four wheel drive low to get up this little embankment here. They call this granite rocks because of the granite rocks. I drove onward heading north up the coast delighting in the beautiful day. And the warmth of a summertime beach drive. As I drove this lovely expanse of wild ocean. A ribbon of sand is my highway. A day kissed by the sun and cooled by salty sea breezes. I thought maybe heaven is a place on earth. I climbed atop the dunes to have a look inland to see what was out there. And if you look out there it looks like some sort of salt flat or estuary. I'm not sure. It's got a whitish tinge to it. I'm not sure what these things are but they look like giant furballs that something coughed up. And you can rip them apart. They're really fibrous. There's really no driftwood along this beach. So I'm just kind of picking some roots and sticks and stuff from up here to make a fire later. I put a stick in the sand to gauge how high the tide will come in. I don't think it will go as high as the vehicle but always good to make sure. I'll just keep an eye on the tide and see what happens. I think I'll just park it there for the night. Home sweet home for the evening. On the beach. Time for a swim before dinner. Looks like I might be the only one around. I was the only person around. This stretch of beach was all mine. I was appreciative of this. Knowing that to have a strand of sand all to yourself is becoming increasingly rare in the world. Got the fire going on the beach. It was a little harder than expected because it's so salt encrusted all the wood and sticks. Same as last night. Nothing too exciting. Just some peas, a couple kinds of beans, and some cheese on top. But, you know, you really can't beat the ambiance. And judging by the sticks I placed in the sand, the tide shouldn't get any higher. It looks like it's already stabilizing and going back out. So I should be safe where I'm parked. We all need a few things to get by in life. But we don't need all the goods manufacturers and advertising companies lead us to believe we do. Having more things doesn't make you a better person. It just makes you a person with more junk in the long run. And having all that junk doesn't make you happier in the long run. Happiness comes from within. I use my money mainly to buy experiences, not stuff. And look what I found. A beach waiting for me and full of happiness. I love the unspoiled ocean where it's just me and Mother Nature. She's my main girl. She's always been there for me. She brings out the happiness that's within me like no other woman can. What makes you happy? It's sunset and I'm the only person out here along the beach in any direction. I've got the whole beach to myself. When the sunset of your life arrives, what will you think about? These are the kinds of moments you'll likely remember at the end of your days when it's time to leave this earth. You're probably not going to think, Boy, I'm glad I bought that $6,000 couch. It was the best thing I ever said. You're probably not going to remember how much money was in your bank account in a given year. Or even care. And I've heard that when the end is near, no one wishes they had worked more or tried harder for that promotion. You might think you could have spent more time with your family and friends and made time to show up at events that were important to them. You may wish you'd traveled more and seen the world. Keep in mind that your days are numbered and that life has an expiration date. And we never know what that date is going to be. I've known people that died suddenly without any warning and were only in their 40s. What a great way to start the morning. A long expanse of beach stretching out before me. Feet in the sand, ocean breezes caressing my face. This is my view. The only sound is that of the wind and the waves and the seagulls. Good morning from the beach. Today I'll probably drive up this way, heading north. And it's another maybe 25 k's to where I can get out again. So I'll head that way and see what I find. I continued heading north to a potential exit point where I could drive over a sand track and head inland and eventually reconnect with the highway. Looks like it may have been a little blue penguin. It's got a little bit of a blue coloration to it. I just found out when the high tide is. It's right now and it came up in the night. So I could deflate the tires a bit and keep going and I could go along the soft sand. But then I'd have to re-inflate the tires and that could take like an hour. I do have an inflator in here but it's just kind of a pain. So I might as well just sit here, have lunch, go for a walk and then when the tide recedes a bit just continue on down the beach. After several hours of hanging out here, going for a little walk and waiting along in the water there and just looking at whatever's in the sand I think it's time to get rolling again. The wind here is quite strong. It's really blowing the little sand grains and it hits your legs. It feels like tiny needles hitting against you. It's blowing pretty hard here. Especially at night last night it was just ripping. It was kind of shaking the van. Can I get out of here I wondered? Deep sand. Was it worth it to deflate the tires knowing how long it would take to re-inflate them? I checked it out. 28 mile crossing. It's pretty sandy, pretty deep sand and it's one of those things where you have to deflate the tires down to about 15-16 pounds of pressure and then of course you'd have to re-inflate them and sit there for an hour and fill up each tire and I don't really feel like driving down the highway with only 15-16 pounds of pressure in my tires. So I think I'll just turn around and go back to the granites, the rocks and just head up where I know I can get up because I already went up there before and just get on out of here. It would probably be just as fast and a lot less trouble than inflating and deflating the tires. I've got the low tide on my side. Yes, the low tide was definitely on my side offering me smooth, hard-packed sand to travel on like a beach highway with easy passage. Here to the south it seems like there are wider expanses of hard-packed sand. It seems to narrow a bit and get softer as you go to the far north end. Well, I can just park it here for the night again and out here in the ferocious wind as you can see it's blowing the sand around. It only took me about 25 minutes to get back to the granite rocks and right there is where the exit point is so I can get out of there tomorrow. Might as well park it here on the beach again this evening. It's a nice place. Why not? Good scenery, right? This is the view outside Mi Casa My home for the night. Beachside. Beachfront property. Home on the beach. Time to exit the beach and see where the road takes us today. We're back at the granite rocks and this is our exit point where we're going to leave the beach. Four wheel low. And we're out. We're going through Korong National Park. Two rights. Can't make Korong. Getting worried about the gas situation here. The last place, Salt Creek, didn't have a petrol station. They really need to take down their fuel sign. Getting a little bit nervous with the gas situation now. I'm wondering if the red light's even going to come on. It hasn't yet so I don't know if it will. Got to test the vehicle I guess. And it got 5 over 500 k's on this tank of gas. So that's good to know on the upcoming stretches because it's going to be a lot more remote than this. This vehicle is a bit of a gas hog. I've never had one that got such low gas mileage. I've always had more economic SUVs. Here's to hoping that I can make it to the petrol station. Looks like we're going to make it after all. There's the petrol station on the left. Little town of Meningi. But we are here. And not a moment too soon. Starting to wonder if that red light even works, fuel indicator or not. Or if there even is one on this car. At least I know the car's capable of doing a little over 500 k's. That's about 300 miles. I just met these two girls. Ellie is driving and her friend is a passenger. Ellie's been driving around all over for about 4 years now. And you can come and meet them right here. Hi, welcome to the Pussy Palace. I hope you guys have a great trip. Have fun. It was nice meeting you. Nice to meet you. All your details are on my phone. Bye guys. See you. These two women seem to have found their road to happiness. Traveling and exploring and enjoying life. When you're taking your last breaths, will you think fondly about that couch or wish you had worked more? Or wish you had spent more time with the people you love or wish you had traveled to those far away places you've read about but were too afraid to go?