Viv picked me up just before 8am and we chatted as we put the trolley on the back if his son (in law?)'s ute. We talked about what the world is coming to.
He dropped me off at the same green drum beside the guide-post, where I finished up yesterday, and barped the horn as he drove back into Berrigan. Said he'll call up some time to see how I'm going. What a gem!
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This is Matt who met me 20 km before Oaklands…
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Asked if I was ok, or needed a hand. He's heading North to ride a lot of km on an old push-bike, as part of the shearers riders, going on the Shearer's Ride out of Texas in Qld (as the shearers did in the early 1900's), with a vintage cyclists club.
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He's driving up to Texas via the Fossicker's Way. This might be a good way for me to take. We'll see.
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He gave me a bannana and a bit of cheese cake, for as I go along, spent 20 min yacking, then my daughter rang me, and we parted. Matt was ready to share life, and genuinely concerned to connect with humanity where possible. How lovely to meet him at the back of Berrigan.
Sometimes these roads have nowhere for walkers to walk accross bridges over culverts etc . No space for a wheelbarrow or a trolley like mine. You have to check no traffic is coming and run, to make sure you get accross in a car lane before something does come.
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Looking back at one I just made it over:
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Other times, there's heaps of space
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A panorammic look at this land…
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And with water:
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A white sedan going in my direction passed and slowed down,
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Ruth Smith (88yrs) from a property "Ellimatta", which she said is just a few km down the road, was at a "bible-study" of country women in Berrigan (?), where Muriel also was, who (along with her husband David) had me over for a cuppa yesterday arvo. They must have talked and Muriel said she's "...so gratefull to my heavenly father.. you'd better join me for lunch, and another cup of tea." So off she drives, & off I walk, again. Looks like it's lunch at Ellimatta today!
I've just passed Swan Lagoon Road, hope her house isn't up there. Can't see it. Passed the 15km sign, and a "Welcome…" sign…
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Ruth said it was only about 450m off the road. I just passed Oakview.
I should have got some idea of how far out of Oaklands, Ellimatta was, or how many km i had to go…
Live, & learn, or as my son says: Live, & lurch!
~12:15pm, about 14km out of Oaklands, this is what I saw!
Just then, a 4 wheel drive pulling a BIG trailer load of wood pulled up to deliver firewood to Ruth. We got talking and this was her son Craig, along with his worker Marcus. We talked, and then unloaded the trailer of wood (that tipped, to make it easier to collect the wood from the back).
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Then along with an old friend of Ruth's, who was visiting, and helping with house maintenance, David… I went in to lunch before 1:30pm.
It turns out we knew some mutual friends (Laurie & Elvita McIntosh) and some other people, & David was from Cowra, which is near Orange.
The people you meet along the way! Sometimes it feels like Australia is very small, for all its vastness.
ReplyDeleteStill, $35 for a roo. Is that a good deal? : )