Well, it was one of the strangest ideas this person has ever come up with. We will call this person Baz. (I won’t mention any names for Privacy reasons)
It was May 2023.
We were told it was going to be a ‘Mystery Tour’. So, we had no idea where we were going. Which meant we had no idea about what we should wear. Would we be staying in Victoria, needing cold weather clothes? Would we be going interstate to a warmer climate? needing warmer weather clothes. Did we need a very warm fitting overcoat or our bathers? Or both.
It was going to be for ‘Four Days and Three Nights’. Great. We would be staying at the same ‘Accommodation’ for the three nights. That’s great, we won’t have to carry our three suitcases full of all the different clothes we may or may not need on this tour.
Where were we going? What do we need to take? What sort of food would we be eating? Would it be Gluten free? Come on Baz, give us something to go on!
Anyway, 35 of us decided we would humour Baz and go on this so-called ‘Mystery Tour’. A few months was spent trying to bribe Baz to get some sort of information as to where or what this mystery tour was all about, what we might need to wear, which direction we would be going, anything. But, no, Baz would give nothing away. Oh well, we will just have to wait and see what happens.
The big day arrives, 35 people, most carrying enough luggage to last Three Months, simply because no-one knew what they needed to take or wear. Except Baz of course.
Where is Baz? Everyone standing out in the freezing miserable cold waiting for a bus. Which bus? What bus? Would it be a nice comfortable coach or a miserable looking school bus that we could hardly move on, with no air conditioning or heating, or even a loo for emergencies that some of us older folk might have on these cooler mornings. Who knows? Oh yeah, Baz knows.
“Where’s Baz” I asked.
“Oh, not coming, had an operation on the Achilles”. I think the way a lot of us were feeling, we would have liked to have kicked Baz in the Achilles.
But how convenient, Baz organises this so-called ‘Mystery Tour’, then is unable to travel with us.
Our ‘Coach’ turns up about 8.15am. Great, it’s a big coach, looks fairly new, looks nice and comfortable. A proper Coach.
Finally, something is starting to look good for this tour.
Then, the driver steps down from the bus, well, what have we got here? A little white-haired man, in shorts and a T-shirt. We must be going somewhere warm. Warmer than Benalla anyway.
Then the driver spoke, “Good morning, everyone”. Well, at least that’s what I think he said. I think it was a Scottish accent. “My name is Henryk”, he said. Turns out he was Scottish. A very friendly sort of a chap, quite the comedian and very knowledgeable.
Henryk would refer to anything with four legs, i.e. Cows, Horses, Kangaroos, and Sheep, as a herd of beautiful “Aberdeen Angus” Cows. Well, he’s got to be Scottish!
Henryk was a great driver, a great Tour guide, very informative and knew all the great places to visit, eat and drink.
So much happened. We visited so many places, we had a fabulous time, we ate we drank, and we travelled in luxury.
The perfect ‘Mystery Tour’.
Phil Hughes
April 2024
It was May 2023.
We were told it was going to be a ‘Mystery Tour’. So, we had no idea where we were going. Which meant we had no idea about what we should wear. Would we be staying in Victoria, needing cold weather clothes? Would we be going interstate to a warmer climate? needing warmer weather clothes. Did we need a very warm fitting overcoat or our bathers? Or both.
It was going to be for ‘Four Days and Three Nights’. Great. We would be staying at the same ‘Accommodation’ for the three nights. That’s great, we won’t have to carry our three suitcases full of all the different clothes we may or may not need on this tour.
Where were we going? What do we need to take? What sort of food would we be eating? Would it be Gluten free? Come on Baz, give us something to go on!
Anyway, 35 of us decided we would humour Baz and go on this so-called ‘Mystery Tour’. A few months was spent trying to bribe Baz to get some sort of information as to where or what this mystery tour was all about, what we might need to wear, which direction we would be going, anything. But, no, Baz would give nothing away. Oh well, we will just have to wait and see what happens.
The big day arrives, 35 people, most carrying enough luggage to last Three Months, simply because no-one knew what they needed to take or wear. Except Baz of course.
Where is Baz? Everyone standing out in the freezing miserable cold waiting for a bus. Which bus? What bus? Would it be a nice comfortable coach or a miserable looking school bus that we could hardly move on, with no air conditioning or heating, or even a loo for emergencies that some of us older folk might have on these cooler mornings. Who knows? Oh yeah, Baz knows.
“Where’s Baz” I asked.
“Oh, not coming, had an operation on the Achilles”. I think the way a lot of us were feeling, we would have liked to have kicked Baz in the Achilles.
But how convenient, Baz organises this so-called ‘Mystery Tour’, then is unable to travel with us.
Our ‘Coach’ turns up about 8.15am. Great, it’s a big coach, looks fairly new, looks nice and comfortable. A proper Coach.
Finally, something is starting to look good for this tour.
Then, the driver steps down from the bus, well, what have we got here? A little white-haired man, in shorts and a T-shirt. We must be going somewhere warm. Warmer than Benalla anyway.
Then the driver spoke, “Good morning, everyone”. Well, at least that’s what I think he said. I think it was a Scottish accent. “My name is Henryk”, he said. Turns out he was Scottish. A very friendly sort of a chap, quite the comedian and very knowledgeable.
Henryk would refer to anything with four legs, i.e. Cows, Horses, Kangaroos, and Sheep, as a herd of beautiful “Aberdeen Angus” Cows. Well, he’s got to be Scottish!
Henryk was a great driver, a great Tour guide, very informative and knew all the great places to visit, eat and drink.
So much happened. We visited so many places, we had a fabulous time, we ate we drank, and we travelled in luxury.
The perfect ‘Mystery Tour’.
Phil Hughes
April 2024
RSS Feed
