A pause hung silent ; conversation had slipped into an unconscious motionlessness . I clung onto my hamburger waiting for something to happen , for the past three hours we had been chatting constantly ; landscapes , politics , perceptions , the human condition , had all been discussed but this was something new , a silence . “ Yeah Darl ,” the conversation rebooted . “ That ’ s me .” Intently I looked at my conversation partner in the hope that something special was about to happen as she answered a question by a complete stranger .
Clearly this was a new experience and something to be savoured . The stranger had approached as we ate lunch and asked if the “ little red bike ” belonged to my conversation partner , did her “ name start with ‘ R ’?”
This man , who ’ s name was Gavin , had walked past as we sat out the front of the Simpson Take Away store on the western edge of the Otway ’ s in the Australian state
of Victoria . A separate conversation struck up as he mentioned he ’ d been watching her experience of riding around Australia as part of a series of YouTuber videos .
“ Thank you , Darl ,” she grinned , as Gavin said he had to keep moving , climbing into an earth moving truck . Clearly humbled , she shrugged in my direction . I was curious , was this a normal occurrence of the past 10 months ?
“ No , not really ,” she shrugged again . “ In fact , it ’ s pretty rare , I only have about 250 followers .”
She laughed , a sound I ’ d become accustomed to over the past 3 hours , engaging and infectious , I too laughed but thought , ‘ surely that ’ s not right ’. I made a mental note to follow this up , I never did , it mattered little .
A few hours earlier I ’ d caught up with Rozalyn Konstek Veersma , a little way south , somewhere amongst the Otway ’ s . She ’ d sent co-ordinates and a message
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