Setting off at last….

After an incredibly full few days and going to bed at 1am we woke at 6.30.  My eyes literally wouldn’t focus for nearly two hours. 

It was a busy day again and we weren’t finally ready to leave until after lunch.  Yup, that's true to form!  Peter says every trip "We'll be better organised next time" (raucous laughter from me) and each time we plan a trip he decides to work some shifts just before, doesn't do what we plan in the way of preparation or doesn't keep to the schedule we work out......And every trip I try to get too much done in the way of miniatures and end up not being ready on time.

But finally we were ready. I walked out to get into the car to find Nathan standing there examining his right hand and looking very pale.  He had fallen (which he does a lot with his poor balance and because he has no depth perception) and couldn’t move his index finger.  I had a fair idea it was dislocated from the look of it and called Peter – it’s often handy to have a nurse on hand! He confirmed that it was dislocated and I turned to put my handbag into the car, asking whether we needed to take Nathan to the casualty dept of the hospital. ‘No need’ says Peter ‘it’s back in again.’ He had put it back into place and Nathan hadn’t even whimpered! He was so stoic about it, just said that the finger was painful to move.  He’s so brave when it comes to bigger things, but creates a fuss over little things lol.  He was however extremely pale, and I sat him in the warmth of the car and gave him a butterscotch to suck to raise his blood sugar, and after a while gave him some pain tablets. His finger was very swollen but he could move it now.  I was still concerned about it and not sure whether or not to take him to the hospital.  We waited and kept an eye on him until the shock died down, then kept an eye on him in the car as we drove.

There was heavy traffic for the first couple of hours so progress wasn't wonderful but there's no feeling quite as good as heading out with that caravan hitched on behind the car - Peter and I feel free!  

We pulled in to a Service Centre after a few hours for tea (evening meal).  There is a service station, several restaurants etc there.  We went to our favourite one as usual then continued on our way.  We were headed for a truck rest area that we have stayed at before and were happy when we reached it.  There is no water or electricity, just a toilet.  It is not far off the highway, so we could hear the passing traffic all night but we were ready for an early night.

Next morning - Friday 4th May 2012

We woke at 6am, having had a reasonably good sleep considering our proximity to the highway. We took our time and didn't leave until 8am, when it was 15 sunny degC with a gorgeous clear blue sky.

At 6.30 a bus from a boys' school pulled up - right beside us.  Of course, in such a 'crowded' area there was nowhere else to park!

I took some photos to try and give you some idea of the place - I couldn't find where my camera was in the car so took them with my phone.  Sorry about the quality. Think of an area that will hold around 50 B-doubles, in around 5 rows.  There were only about 4 semi trailers in the place, plus our caravan plus one campervan. On a lower section is a smaller space with parking for cars. So of course the bus had nowhere to park except right beside us lol!  Good job we were awake anyway.

Looking from halfway down the area towards the toilets and our caravan on the left.  With all this space you can see why the bus had to pull up so close beside us we could hardly open the caravan door lol!

Highway on the left - trucks passing all night, but we didn't care!

Bushland to the other side.

One side of the area has the highway going past, separated by just a few metres of grassy area.  The other side has dense Aussie native bushland.

Nathan's finger was even more swollen in the morning and the bruising was coming out nicely.  But he could move it freely and use it as long as no pressure was put on it so I began to relax a bit.  I had no means of putting an ice pack on it unfortunately.  Every finger on that hand and the palm of his other hand were also grazed.

The highway has native bush on each side, and native trees have been planted on the median strip as well.  There's not a lot flowering at the moment, but it's a great feeling to have the Aussie bush around us.

Around 20 minutes after we set off we passed Ayers Rock on the right side of the road.  Has someone moved it from the Northern Territory and plonked it down here? No, this is a v ery much smaller and an extremely tatty version, man made. It's a cafe and looks very much out of place among the gum trees - a parody of the real thing, which is quite glorious. Here's a couple of photos of it that I found on google, taken in different times of day and in different lights.

We stopped for fuel at 9.15, and as we were leaving more than 30 bikers pulled in, members of Gladiators Australia.  The waitress commented that she hoped they didn't get off their bikes.  I queried "aren't they good bikers then?"  and she shook her head and said, "not these ones!"

There were certainly some - interesting - hair-do's and colours, and some very interesting tatoos on faces and heads.    We were about to go out the door when one of them threw open the door of the restaurant and several strutted in.  There was some horseplay on the lawn outside but all harmless.  I was still quite pleased that we were leaving.

I drove the last couple of hours and we arrived at the Convention Centre at Stuart's Point at 12.10pm.  It is 502.4 kms from home.

Some interesting names on the way:

Tom Cat Creek

Riddles Brush Road

Barradanyaw

Borirgilla