That’s the phrase that keeps going through my head as I’m travelling around WA.

Not everything can go exactly according to plan when you’re travelling, and unfortunately for me, anxiety makes it even harder to let go and just let things happen!

Yesterday I left Monkey Mia and travelled South to a town called Geraldton. Due to a bad experience with the shuttle driver who took me to Monkey, I wasn’t going to get the shuttle back, and hitching a lift with two other volunteers who were heading back to Perth was the most cost effective and sensible seeming way to move forward.

When I got here, I checked in to my AirBnB, sat down on the bed and burst into tears. Going from the beautiful beaches, blissful remoteness, and friendly faces of Monkey Mia to the utterly juxtaposing overcast skies and small city that reminds me painfully of Salisbury was too much for my sleep-deprived head to cope with.

Fortunately a quick FaceTime chat with Beth helped me to calm down and rationalise; leaving Monkey was hard, but I’ve done that bit, it was amazing, and now it’s time to keep moving. And I can always go back!

As for my next steps, I have to stop feeling like I’m wasting days. Today I slept almost all day, which sounds like the ultimate waste of a day, but truthfully, after a spate of late nights and early mornings, I needed the catch up.

Tomorrow I’ll go out and see what the town of Geraldton has to offer – I’ve done some research and I know I can fill a day. Tomorrow evening I get back on the bus to Exmouth, where I’ve made the decision to hire a car for the rest of my trip. The logic there is to make things easier, and allow myself the freedom to go where I want, when I want, rather than relying on buses that only run twice a week!

I’ve learned three things:

1) You’re allowed to have a rest day – we’re all human and we all need to sleep!

2) Sometimes you have to take what feels like a step back, before you can keep moving forwards.

3) You can’t control everything. Even the best laid plans don’t always work out, but there’s a solution to every mishap.

It’s all part of the experience, and now I know for the future. I’m living and learning.

And I’ll tell you one more thing – I bet people didn’t expect to read a post like this on my blog about the epic experience of travelling around Oz, but not every second of every day is filled with joy and excitement. That’s part of the travel experience too, and it wouldn’t be an honest account of my travels if I didn’t mention the shit parts.

Tomorrow’s a new day – wish me luck!