Theaussiechallenge Post # 61 Billabong

Day 73 69 days to go. Distance today 125km yesterday 125km 6078km. It’s 7pm Tuesday 18/9/12 Billabong Campground. Yesterday morning I met Les the owner of the campground we stayed in Carnarvon. What an interesting man. We shared a cuppa and his love for Carnarvon and his work. He said the town still works very much as a small dot town with most folk knowing and supporting each other. Les reckons he has the best job and piece of paradise and loves meeting the folk who visit each day. They had Buzz Aldren stay recently when he opened up a new communication centre how cools that!! Les has a shed out back of camp where they gather for happy hour and he has walls of photos from people who have stayed over the years. We were honored to have our picky taken to join the display.He was really inspiring to talk to and so positive it was a pleasure to spend time with him. Les and his wife donated $100 which was amazing ontop of their generosity. Thank you lovely folk xx. What a great start to the day!!! We got on the road about 8am. The scenery was so barren but really beautiful with new varieties of wild flowers that are like little treasures against the red sand and spinafix. There’s allot of low lying shrubs new and distinct to the area. Also new are huge numbers of wild emus and goats. There’s just as many emu roadkill as roos which is always a sure sign of the numbers. I startle small groups of them eating by the roadside particularly first up in the mornings. One of my favorite moments was yesterday morning when I passed a single emu grazing and gave him big frighties. He ran alongside us for about 5km crossing the road ahead of us a few times. He could have just stopped and we would have ridden past but clearly he wanted to show of his bouncing pom pom bottom feathers and speed. What a road runner. He eventually got the smarts to run diagnonally off into the fields and disappeared in the shrubs. Awesome experience!!!! It happened again this morning with three we startled but they ran with us for about a km before turning down an adjacent sandy path. We spotted some domestic goats today but lots and lots of wild ones that are big, black and white with huge curled horns and impressive. The terrain over the last two days has been mostly undulating steeper than what we’ve seen so far but that’s made for some fun descents to reward the hills. There are still patches of open floodways between and the wind particulalrly in these stretches is wicked. Thankfully it’s been mostly sideways coming off the ocean with some tailwinds when the road turn which have been awesome. So we’ve earnt our kms and stops each day.Yesterday was at Wooramel Roadhouse. We were treated an overnight stay freebie by the owners Sharon and Phillip. They couldn’t do enough for us giving us bottled water which I guzzled and a takeaway box of hot chippies and a vegy pie for dinner yum!!! I woke to it raining this morning OMG!!!! We haven’t seen rain since leaving Rocky. It eased up after a brief downpour wih attitude and we got underway about 8am again. We stopped at the roadhouse where the turnoff to Shark Bay is. I had a definite urge to turn but we’ll be back in different circumstances so next time round for Monkey Mia. We stopped for a python lollie which I devoured like a python and headed off sugered up for the last 50kms to Billabong. Before heading we got two donations $10 from Mary and $4 from Jenny. There’s a van park next to the roadhouse at Billabong and I met the owner Ian who like so many other generous folk have let us stay for free. He was explaining how the bore water in this stretch from Cararvon to Geraldine is full of salt and minerals. He has to buy salinated water it’s got so much salt in it. He said water is like gold and salinated water is really expensive. It tastes so much better than the water from Wooramel which was straight from the bore. We drank the other today treated of course but it’s kinda thick not salty as such but you can taste the minerals in it. It’s given me such a windy tum poor Rube 🙂 Ian said you definitely can’t drink the bore water in this area. It makes me appreciate how lucky we are when we can drink water from the tap. It’s something I take for granted but not in this part of the country that’s for sure. Water’s precious and hard to come by and we’re lucky to be looked after so well by the roadhouses to avoid carrying the weight of extra litres. We’ve set up camp and pottered making sure we’re good for more rain forecast overnight. A woman stopped us along the roadside yesterday and gave me a bag of strawberries which I’ve chopped up and sprinkled with sugar for desert super yum!!! On that note that’s about us for the day so I’ll end it up there and check out what’s for main. $1840.85 cash donations !!!!!! Talk soon x

Nurture nature gives us rules
we use to build our comfort.
Do not touch the stove is hot
Don’t step outside your comfort.
Boundaries that keep us safe
are healthy in the making.
But some are made of fear and doubt
And hide the child at heart.

Lead the way my childhood friend
and take me on your ride.
Let me feel the highs and lows
and ride the roller coaster.
We’ll brave the slow and steep inclines
and squeal the fast descents.
We’ll go beyond our comfort zone
and stretch our boundaries.

I’ll get to know you once again
and smile your fearless smile.
I’ll learn to make each day a gift
and laugh at my reflection.
I’ll be a part of what I choose
and listen to my heart.
I’ll give my best to every choice
and grow with you each day.