D4 - Geoffrey Chen

昨天来到Taree已经是晚上6点了，没有看到Manning river的晚霞。

这里的Service Station 可以洗热水澡/
Here at the service station, you can take a hot shower.

长途旅行不能有临时凑合的心态，每天的饮食休息和洗漱都非常重要。从悉尼到黄金海岸这一带我已经开车走过十几次，所以比较熟悉沿途的各种设施。下一个洗澡的地方是Port Macquria，那里的游泳池有热水澡，旁边就是图书馆，可以充电看书。

I can’t afford a makeshift mindset on a long road trip—daily meals, rest, and personal hygiene are all essential. I’ve driven from Sydney to the Gold Coast more than a dozen times, so I’m quite familiar with the facilities along the way. The next place for a shower is in Port Macquarie, where the swimming pool offers hot showers, and right next to it is a library where I can charge my devices and read.

我不喜欢打卡式的旅游，所以有些地方我去了很多次，有些地方一次都没去过。身体在哪里并不重要，我只是换个地方看书，我的心思在书上。昨天晚上买了这本Olive推荐的The Insanity of God.

I don’t like checklist-style travel, so there are places I’ve visited many times, and others I’ve never been to at all. It doesn’t really matter where my body is—I’m just changing locations to read. My mind is on the books. Last night, I bought the book The Insanity of God that Olive recommended.

点击这里查看我的读书笔记 click here to see my reading notes

Manning river, Apex lookout 现在水位很低，几个星期前水漫金山。
The water level is very low now — just a few weeks ago, it was like the Flooding of Jinshan Temple.

在这里遇到散步的Mike，他主动和我打招呼，并向我介绍最近Taree遭受的洪灾，给我看了很多他手机里存放的水灾的视频。

他要赶回家看洗衣机，可是他好像有说不完的话，临走时又告诉这附近有一个中国人。我说我去年7月来这里好像见到一位华人，他推着小车，像是带他的孙子。Mike说那不是孙子，是那个中国人自己的孩子，他再婚娶了一个年轻的越南媳妇。Mike问我做什么工作，准备下一站去哪里，我看他这么好奇就直接把我的网址告诉了他。希望他能看到这些旅行记录。

也许这就是小城故事多的原因吧。

对了， Mike就是太喜欢Apex lookout 这个景点才在退休后从Goulburn搬到Taree的。我曾经也有过类似的想法。

I ran into Mike while walking here. He greeted me warmly and told me about the recent floods in Taree, showing me several flood videos he had stored on his phone.

He said he had to hurry home to check on his washing machine, but he clearly had a lot to say. Just before leaving, he mentioned there’s a Chinese person living nearby.

I told him I visited here last July and saw a Chinese man pushing a stroller—it looked like he was with his grandson. Mike corrected me and said it wasn’t a grandson, but the man’s own child. He had remarried and taken a young Vietnamese wife.

Mike asked about my job and where I was headed next. Since he seemed genuinely curious, I gave him my website link, hoping he’ll check out my travel journal.

Perhaps this is why small towns are always full of stories.