Like a regular Indiana Jones

Twas Thursday afternoon and the floods were finishing their devastation of Brisneylands Finest. I was one of the lucky percentage that weren't affected by the sudden rise in water, so much that I was tempted to take on the Channel 9 Flood Reports Drinking Game. Sadly, I had nobody to drink with and not enough Scotch.

But that is not the focus of this story. The floods had caused many businesses to come to a stand-still or just cease to exist through inundation. Mine was not one of those, however public transport had been greatly affected. In the morning I couldn't reach work by train as power had been cut off from the city out to Northgate, or so I was told. Either way I couldn't get past Virginia station. I was lucky enough to have my manager come pick me up as she went past.

Returning home was the hassle. I dislike inconveniencing people, so I didn't ask for a lift home. The manager was headed to West End to feed her mum, and nobody else was headed my way.

So back to the public transport. I checked the website and found that the trains had stopped at eagle junction due to a Power Fault unrelated to the floods. Fair enough.

How about a bus? There's a couple of busses that actually pass both my work and my house, which is very convenient. However they were cancelling their services from 6pm onwards, which meant that any bus from 5pm onwards was going on their last run inbound before finishing up.

Right, so what about taxi? Well I had about $7 to my name at the time.

What does that leave me with? Walking.

What an archaic form of transport. I still remember my father telling tales that he had to walk in imperial distances, 15 of them no less, just so he could milk cows.

So why not. With modern forms of public transport unavailable to me, I decided that adventure awaits. I had little to no idea how to get to Bowen Hills station from work, so I figured I would take the walk. There was a path that followed up along the train tracks that weaved through back streets and up to a park across the creek to the QR Train yard.

Reaching the street next to said park, I found a problem. The footpath and streets next to Enoggera creek were in their own little catchments. I even took off my shoes and socks and turned up the sleeves of my jeans just so I could wade through and see how far I could go. I can tell you now, it wasn't very far. But boy did the water feel good around my toes. It's been a while since I've really walked in pools, let alone swimming. But I wasn't going to try swimming. That would've just ended up as shark bait.

So realising the way I was headed to be blocked, I turned back and decided to make the trek home, beating a trail to my doorstep. It wasn't that far. A 20 minute drive from work can't be that far by foot. I'd never made this trek before so I wanted to do it now, and as I walked, the more excited I was doing it.

I had reported it on facebook though, and I think that's where things went a little wrong. There wasn't really any support for the 10.9 km walk between Windsor and Zillmere that I was braving.

"see what happens when your too lazy to get your licence..."

I had reached Kedron Park Hotel in 15 minutes before I was convinced/guilt-tripped into getting picked up by Kel and Tash. Damn Tash and her "Alex will miss you" Trump card. I had even stopped at Lutwytche shopping centre to tell Scotty about how the trains were down within that time.

Work was a little sad too. Upon entering, I was given a hug for my 'Traumatising experience' and a hand on the shoulder accompanying a laugh in the face. There were supporters, the guys from Harrys Diner were all for it and were apparently cheering me on. And the guys upstairs were really surprised, but didn't ridicule me.

Now I want to do it again. 10.9kms? Well I reached the edge of Kedron within 15 minutes. Google says 41 minutes just to reach the same spot, but obviously that's measuring at Geriatric km/hour. I reckon I could've gotten home in 1.5 hours at least.

There's lessons in this though. First is that walking isn't that hard. I want to do it again, regardless of the blisters on my heels from walking to Kedron Park Hotel without any shoes on. Heck, I want to do it every day. My cardio has gone the way of the smokers, so jumping into the deep end sounds good to me.

The second is Don't Advertise something so outrageous as Walking Home.

But thanks to Kel and Tash for giving me a lift though. And Pizza. And play with Alex.