(Bega) Downshifters

[Spoken Word]
I was driving to Bega for the day
I'd had enough of the place that I'd been staying at for the past week or so, so I told my friends I was heading off to visit my uncle
He does live there, in Bega, but that was never my intention
I could've made anything up, but lying this way seemed less dishonest
I'd had enough of the South Coast
I wasn't really taking it in
But that was never really my intention

I headed off that morning in the car that I'd bought the previous month, off two British backpackers who had driven it south all the way from Queensland, even though it couldn't shift out of second gear
It was forty degrees that morning, and the car started overheating again
I pulled off on a dirt road about fifteen minutes from where I started, and called emergency roadside assistance

I sat in the back of my station wagon and started reading a book I'd found about how you could live a simpler existence
Away from the pressures of modern life, but still keep your aspirations and your morals intact
And still spend heaps of money, and still make heaps of money
But not have the guilt, and not live in quite as much debt
They call 'em 'downshifters'

I wandered onto a nearby property to fill up a bottle of water from a tap
And in the distance, I saw two farm dogs who were heading my way
I was dehydrated and I was getting sunburnt
But the water coming out of the tap was murky
I could fill up the car with it, but I couldn't drink it
I just kept thinking about, later that day, how I'd be sitting alone in an air conditioned shop
I was gonna get a lunch special
A box of chicken, chips and a can of drink

I looked out again, and the dogs were getting nearer
They were barking now, and they sounded really angry
Shit, they're gonna attack me!
I'd better start running myself
Too fast for me
Fuck, I'm gonna die here!
Mauled by dogs, trespassing on this property
Forty minutes from Bega

Very good!