Chrysalis

The year is 1991 and I live in Kununurra with my husband. Unfortunately, marriage does not suit either of us. We tend to live our own lives, while residing under the same roof, with the exception of when he would get drunk. Then he would take me on an extremely abusive, physically and emotionally, wild roller coaster ride.

Kununurra is a very hot, dry town in the far north of Western Australia, with very little rainfall throughout the year. Water is scarce and terribly expensive. The town is unsightly red dirt wherever you look, not a garden or lawn in sight, as no one would be able to afford their water bill.

Extremely hot in summer, you will be dripping with sweat just walking to your letterbox, only a hop, skip and jump from your front door.

One very hot Saturday morning, a good friend of mine was taking a truck loaded with dry goods up to Darwin, staying overnight and returning to Kununurra the next day. He asked if I would come along, as he could do with the company on the long eight hour drive.

Now an excuse to get out of town, away from my husband for a weekend, heck yeah! Especially as I had never been out of the state of Western Australia, at the grand old age of 25. Darwin is over the Western Australian border, in the Northern Territory.

I felt like it would be similar to travelling to another country. Excited much?

Saturday morning arrives and a large road-train pulls up outside my front door. I’ve been pacing the verandah, itching to get under way. This is the closest thing to a great adventure in my life in many years. I have always loved travelling and I’m like a little kid on Christmas Eve, just waiting for the big guy in the red suit to visit me.

We are off, the truck steadily eating the miles, as we talk and sing loudly to the radio, cracking ourselves up laughing. Our own little party in the cab of the truck.

The landscape is the same red hills and dry spindly trees of the outskirts of Kununurra, until we start getting close to the border. Suddenly it begins to change, ever so gradually at first, but changing all the same.

We begin to see Boabab trees and Pandanus palms, the hilly country levelling out and greenery begins to appear, more and more, until it’s green as far as the eye can see.

We cross the border and head closer and closer to our destination, when we start to catch glimpses of the buildings in the city of Darwin. Edging closer and the well maintained roads are smooth riding, wide enough to be classed as a four lane highway. Median strips down the middle, filled with native trees and palms swaying.

The trip from the border is swift, as the Northern Territory has an open speed limit on its’ roads. For this reason they ensure the roads are always well maintained. Hit a deep pothole at 160 kilometres an hour and you’ll never see the light of day again.

Before we know it, we are on the very outskirts of the city and for me, it was love at first sight. Yes girl, you fell head over heels in love again, this time with the city of Darwin. I’ve got sixteen hours before I have to leave the comfort of her arms.

I tore that city up in those sixteen hours, while my friend worked at delivering and unloading the truck, before he headed to a hotel to crash for the night.

Sleep, no time for sleep, I need to make the most of my time with my new found love. Wasn’t hard, nightclubs open until 6am, restaurants serving food until 3am, after which kerbside hotdogs stands took over, so you’ll never go hungry. The people I met were laid back, friendly and knew how to give a girl a magical time.

I hit the bars and I drank and danced my way through that city, absorbing it’s very essence deep into my veins. I did not waste a single minute, right up until I found myself back in the cab of the truck, returning to Kununurra once again.

Kununurra never felt like “home” to me, but by golly, Darwin welcomed me with open arms. It truly felt like it was where I was meant to be.

Within a couple of months, I was telling my husband I was leaving his sorry abusive arse and I was heading “home” to start my life anew.

Hadn’t worked out the details but as my husband was binge drinking and becoming more physically abusive, I made the decision to leave tomorrow.

I packed a suitcase with half a dozen little summer outfits, mini skirts and crops tops and the likes. I included my medical records, a carton of cigarettes, a spare pair of shoes and the last $13.00 I had to my name. I was more than ready for the next chapter of my life.

I left my suitcase at the house while I dropped in to visit friends to say my goodbyes. When I returned my husband tried forcing me to stay. I grabbed my suitcase and made a run for it but he jumped in our car to give chase. Luckily for me, a woman was walking down the street, at the exact time that my husband clipped me with the car and sent me flying. The woman yelled out to me that she was ringing the police, which naturally scared my husband away.

I managed to walk approximately two kilometres out of town, where I sat on the side of the road, in the blistering heat, for twenty four hours before a road-train, with two truck drivers inside, pulled up beside me and offered me a ride. Glory be they were heading to Darwin with their load.

I’ll never forget those two guys for as long as I live. They could see I was hurt, black and blue in places, a real sight to behold, and they never said a word.

What would I do when I hit Darwin? I have not got a clue. To make things even a little harder, it was 23 December, just two days before Christmas, so any chance of getting help from a government agency was non existent. I figured I’d find a park bench somewhere, when the time was right. I refused to stress as I was just ecstatic that I got out of that no good town, alive.

As it turned out the company the truck drivers worked for, had booked two rooms at a hotel. However one of the rooms would not be used, as one of the drivers had his own place, along with a family, in Darwin. So they kindly offered me the room, free of charge for 3 days. After that they would head off on their next trip and I’d be on my own.

These two guys bent over backwards to lift my spirits, as they knew I’d been to hell and back, without me saying a word.

I rang my husband to let him know I was safe, as I thought that was the right thing to do. I figured it would stop him filing a missing persons report on me. He was so angry I’d left, ranting and raving on the phone, informing me he’d purchased a return airfare and demanding I board that plane. I told him it was never going to happen and hung up.

After diving through the shower to freshen up, I opened my suitcase to grab a change of clothes and promptly burst into tears. The straw that broke the camels back! My husband had re-packed my suitcase. Gone were the mini skirts and crop tops and hello to ankle length skirts and wrist length blouses. I was utterly devastated.

Still what could a girl do but accept her fate? It was going to be hot in the tropical heat of the Northern Territory, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Once I pulled myself together, I went looking for the truck drivers, as we had arranged to head out to get something to eat after we’d all cleaned up. Walked out of the hotel to find a white stretch limousine waiting for me. Wow, what had these guys done in the short space of time I was in my room?

The chauffeur ushered me inside, where there was a ice cold bottle of Dom Perignon champagne sitting in an ice bucket. Three crystal champagne flutes by its’ side. My two newfound friends helped me paint that town every colour of the rainbow, as that limousine chauffeured us from restaurant, to bar, to nightclub, until dawn peaked its’ head over the horizon. A truly magical night was had by all.

That was the welcoming I received when I returned to my true love, the city of Darwin. To me this was a match made in heaven and I went on to live my ‘happily ever after’, to a degree that anyone can do so.

My new adventure, with my new love, saw a 25 year old battered woman, shed her black and blue bruised skin and emerge from her chrysalis, a confident, courageous woman. She went on to conceive two beautiful boys, work full time in a career she loved and purchase two houses in the township of Batchelor, a mere ninety six kilometres south of Darwin. A lifetime away from that young girl with a carton of cigarettes and $13 dollars to her name!

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Originally posted on Medium