Dance of Happiness: Plan of ATTACK

80 Mile Beach. Another breath taking beach on the west coast.

OUR destination when we left Broome was 80 Mile Beach which was only 350km down the road. Not in any hurry again, I got my tyres checked and grabbed a cuppa at the coffee van on the way out. You will not believe who was there. Yes...McDreamy was also grabbing a coffee, waiting to send us off. ha Kristy and I have that lasting impression on people. (sorry a personal joke for Kristy)

We were on the road again and excited for the next beach. I'm really glad we soaked up so much sand and ocean on this trip because we have missed it in Victoria. Yes the beaches down here are lovely but damn they're cold!
Kristy was back in the swing of things, telling Applejack what to play for us and I was back behind the wheel. All of a sudden a 4wd came up behind us. Probably the second vehicle we had seen that day. It felt odd to me because he wasn't over-taking. When you're that far out and a vehicle quickly catches you but doesn't pass, it's unusual. I didn't say anything to Kristy. Finally he passed but slowly and just stared in on his way. Not a smile or a wave was exchanged. He just stared.
We were travelling on no more then 80km per hour so we lost sight of him until we turned the corner...His vehicle was parked on the side of the road. I instantly had a wave of sickness fill my body as he put on his blinker and pulled out behind us again.
I saw Kristy reach for her phone which in itself was odd as she NEVER had reception on her Vodaphone. Again no words were said. He sat behind us and ideas on self defence filled my head. Kristy was on crutches so I thought he might go for her first. Sounds horrible but this was going to work in my favour because I would have a chance to strike him down with my little axe. The other plan was to drive onto the opposite side of the road the minute we saw an oncoming vehicle and Apple would beep his mighty lil horn uncontrollably.
As I wrote earlier our next stop was about 350km which didn't seem far but in this situation it was a horrible feeling. I didn't want to say anything to Kristy incase she got scared. I felt like I had to stay calm and keep her safe. I'm not a tough person but I really felt like I was going to have to fight hard! ha
I would speed up and he'd speed up. I slowed down and he slowed down. It was making me really sick and not a car was to be seen. All of a sudden three 4wd's came up behind us and overtook quickly, leaving us alone with him again. He went to the other side of the road and passed slowly again, looking in as before but this time with a hat and sunglasses on. Kristy broke out nervously "oh my god Alyce, he's freaking me out!"
"Me too mate" I said and slowed Apple right down.
"What do we do!" she said.
I just replied "I don't know but we've got an axe in the back".
She slightly laughed and we lost sight of him again. It was honestly the worst drive I had ever experienced. I haven't felt that fear that I can recall. As I read over what I've wrote it sounds as though this all happened quickly in but it didn't. He followed us for a long time and my body was in defence mode big time!
The feeling didn't go away until we saw the 80 Mile turn-off however when we saw the badly corrugated road and 6km sign it all came back. Every truck rest and corner we approached made us scared to think we might see his vehicle.
Finally we saw caravans set up at the park and we had found safety at last! I told Kristy of my plan to defend ourselves and she filled me in on her text saved on her phone to her dad. It had the guys number plates and where we were. Between the two of us we had the situation covered and both of our instincts said at the time "THIS MAN IS NOT RIGHT".

We will never know what that man was thinking and although it is a horrible thought a little part of me is intrigued to know. We aren't scaredy cats. If we were we wouldn't have taken on the trip around Australia and I certainly wouldn't have ventured into it alone but I truly believe something wasn't right that day but I am thankful nothing happened. We still talk about it to this day and hope that no one else ever came across him. I never told my family until the trip was over. My dad was already in a panic that my van would attract crazy people and I wouldn't be missed in a big yellow kombi so I only told him when I returned to Queensland safely. ha