Theaussiechallenge Post # 24 WW2 Rest Area

Day 25 145 days to go. Distance: today 60km total 2243km. It’s 7.45pm Tuesday 31/7/12 WW2 Rest Area. It’s such a clear light night with the moon a few days off full. It’s a really lovely rest area with a handful of vanners also enjoying the spot. There’s no water but I have managed to score a couple of litres from the kind folk I have met since arriving before sunset. This group are particularly friendly and we’ve been visited by three different couples all very interested to know what we’re up to. Ron and Gloria are from Maroochydore and we shared some chats like neighbors from home. They were able to give me head’s up on water points along the road from Camooweal to three ways which is so great to know ahead of time. The bonus is that there are still many vanners traveling the road and if stuck we can always ask someone at a rest area for a spare litre or two. Once we get to three ways there’s no shortage of water through to Darwin. Ron and Gloria are keen to follow our blog and they generously donated $20 and Ron did an oath. Big time yay!! It still amazes me that these facilities are available for the many travelers enjoying our country. I must admit that the crush I had on the outback has grown into a new love as we continue to date our unique home. It’s very much a honeymoon stage that may be tested on the long roads ahead but it’s the hard yards that build every relationship 🙂 I was so happy to upload our photo gallery before leaving Isa today. I hadn’t planned it but this morning I knew it was the thing to do. It’s really satisfying to close the Qld chapter by sharing our pickies with you. The lady at the Newsagency was laughing each time we extended our internet time. It ended up being 4 1/2 hours worth and the best $24 spent. A little different to the Internet costs in Asia hey? She ended up donating us a new flag for Rube’s trailer and the last egg and lettuce sandwich from the cafe. That’ll be a nice addition to the dinner buffet tonight yay. The cycle here this arv was just plain fun. Rube and I smashed the kms in one hit loving the new tyres. They’re running on 70 PSI as opposed to 40 and the difference is amazing. The fella in the bikeshop said it would make a difference and jeeees louise it really really does. I can see now why road cyclists have high pressure valves on their tubes so they can run up to 80PSI in good tyres. We have car valves on our tubes that don’t go over 70 but that’s perfect for us low flying ducks… quack 🙂 We scored a shelter tonight to roll the sleeping bag under to save packing up the tent in the morning. It’s a decent haul to Camooweal at 140km by the map which will end up being about 150 on the speedometer. I’m not sure why our trip distance is always more, maybe it’s accuracy is out or maybe the road distances are measured once out of town who knows. What I do know is that all going well we’ll be at the border tomorrow night enjoying the rest area by the billabong outside of town that Tim and Stephen told us about last night yay!! It’s an early start in the morn to allow heaps of time to do the yards tomorrow so I’ll do dinner now and rug up in the sleeping bag for a night of z’s and sweet dreams. With the cash donations today that makes it $415.35 with 26 oaths in 25 days. Nice!!!! Talk soon x