WalkingDay 39 (Thur, 18 July 2024CE; 120km - …km from Charters Towers)

 

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WalkingDay 39 (Thur, 18 July 2024CE; 120km - …km from Charters Towers)

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Up 6:30 to bird calls. I sit for and hour and a half thinking  … In the Judaeo/Christian Scriptures (Torah), God, YaHWeH is  called "The Ancient of Days"...  But I am a "Recent of Days" & today's opportunity for me is..

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Up at 8am… pack, eat, toilet, walk. Listening to a new translation by Robert Altar, of one of those old prophets of doom on selve-serving nations: Jeremiah. Not sure how Australia would stack up, or me. Well made me want to check my heart, not my rituals, or other religious observances.

About 11:30am I’d come ~9 km.

Just crossed over a lovely river (mostly sand), when I see a motor home coming down the road towards me. A lady comes out and sits on the car-guard-rail, & she says with a plastic takeaway meal in her hands, would you appreciate a coffee or a meal for tonight?  I said, what about both? She (Fiona), then told her husband (Frank) and they ushered me into their dining room for fresh coffee, rice crackers with freshly made humous, tomato, & onion. And we talked, & talked… what a lovely time.

Frank and Fiona from Adelaide, Port Noarlunga heading to the table+lands

By 12:30 they offered to take my trolley another 26km up the road, and share dinner with me at that end! 

Here they are with my trolley just fitting in their motor+home:

Yippee!

I stopped in for a daily toilet stop at the nice hybrid toilet a km up the road. Then at ~1:15pm I’m off again….

Who--wee!

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As I’m walking along, a road-train also going to Charters Towers slows down and pulls off to the side of the road when the other cars go past and I catch up he comes back and wants to chat. He's seen me the last few days twice a day as he travels on this road, and I don't have my trolley on me now have I ditched it? Am I ok? Do I need water? Glen Walker (Scottish - we might even be distant relatives??) Anyway he wants to give to Movember and help me out any way he can… even getting a face-book page?? How amazing! He mentioned Red Rooster and someone he knows with a motel who'd likely let me have it very cheap…

Thanks Glen! How thoughtful. 

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Now I’ve just got to make the gravel pits in 11km. Nice to think of Fiona & Frank there too!

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WalkingDay 38 (Wed, 17 July 2024CE; 152km - 120km from Charters Towers)

 

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WalkingDay 38 (Wed, 17 July 2024CE; 152km - 120km from Charters Towers)

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Up about 6:30am stayed in sleeping bag going over Get Real, to get it into me. Then up, 

Waved goodbye to the two caravans nearby about 7:15am, packed, fixed towing chain (old zip tie had broken), & sign that was coming apart (black tape was coming away from laminated sign), ran out of sticky tape, cereal packet tore, etc

On the road by ~8:05am.

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Let’s sing!

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One of the truck drivers from upcoming roadworks kindly stops & let's me know what’s coming up

Then I walked through one lot of road works, with a chaperone vehicle behind me while I went flat chat through the stop light section, (and at the end, they let me use their moveable toilet while I was passing). Thanks fellows. (That running got me through even quicker than I would have gone through that valley)

Talked on the phone to family for 20 min. Lovely.

About 2 or 3 km further on, at the second lot of road works with traffic lights that went for ~1.5km, I was allowed to go through off the road, on one side, then the other so the traffic didn’t have to all wait for me.12:26pm I arrived there & met Ali Abdulkhani from Melbourne,

but in Townsville since 2019, working with Main Roads, (staying while working at BCR), originally from Iran. Thanks for your friendliness & willingness to think outside the box.

Walked through and had a break in the shade under flowering wattle

 after doing 14 km with a heavy water laden trolley (1:15pm - 2:14pm).

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On the phone to family & friends. Then walked in the moonlight till 8pm, Another trucker stopped to check I was ok. (Didn’t need water etc) and then another Asian driver did the same. Got to this sign, where I camped. Then checked blog and off to sleep.

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John & Mary Sefton (my old friends I stayed with in Emerald will see if some relations in CT can work out a lift to a church on Sunday from where-ever I get to Saturday night. That would be good. Doesn’t really matter which one. I'm really appreciating the gems I meet there who are trying to recall this creative love regularly.

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Day 37 Tuesday

 Problems puting up pics.   Have to wait till tonight

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Day 37 Tuesday. During last night I got some time to work on learning “Get real” as a important need for me at this stage in my journey through life. Then they drop my trolley off at roughly 25 km further on from where we stopped yesterday, and came back to yesterday’s furthest spot, where they drop me off.  and i walk back towards the trolley, without having to tow it. I’m trying to make the 25 km & camp there for the night. 

A few pics as I go:

They drive off towards Surat & i'm on the road by 7:45 or 7:30 am. 

I download the book Thinking fast and slow and get  walking trying to recall this last few days because i forgot about them with Matt & Annabelle with me. Again “on my own” with my faithful walking companion of creative love. Thank you very much creative love, and there's the other humans with  creative love who have supported this journey. 

Listen to second half of Kohelet & Jeremiah from The Hebrew Bible translated by Robert Altar… amazing. Yeshua (Jesus), was certainly in this line of prophets.  

And then I turn Get Real into a song, record and put link to it on blog-site. During the Arvo I edited it to Draft 2. Hope to record tomorrow.

Pics as I go ..

~11:40am I arrived (with sore feet & toes) at this dam 

where I had fried rice for lunch, recorded poem as song, and coffee, till ~1pm.

Then walked on. Now singing Get real, & further editing it to Draft 2. Got to trolley and rested till 4pm. Then texted daughter and son-in-law who are travelling back. walked on

 through sunset to some moonlit walking (half moon high overhead) with flashing headlight when other vehicles came into view.  I made about 36 km for the day! ) after ~10 km from BCR, yesterday. Now 152km from Charters Towers (CT).

Thanks for the boost Annabelle & Matt with dropping the trolley off, to allow that. Thankyou too creative friendship for such a lovely gift as them, & that. Set up camp in a flat but near the road where two caravans were already set up for the night. Worked on writing the days’ events, ready to upload  if I get reception sometime tomorrow.

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Good night.

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Day 36 Monday.. from ~18km S of BCR to 9.9km N of BCR

 Day 36 Monday. A bit broken sleep. We booked the room for another night & walked the ~18 kilometres into Balyando Crossing Roadhouse and then 9.9 kilometres further towards Charters Towers> I walked together with Annabelle &’Matt, swapping as my walking partner, 

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From one to the other about every 5 kilometres. A fun day.:

Found a tick on my side when about to shower. Matt had tweezers and removed it properly (& gave me some tweezers in case it happens again.

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WalkingDay 35, Sunday

Day 35 Sun packed up camp

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walked 12km in two lots of ~6 kilometres 

and then had half of the day off, doing washing etc. together at BCR where we stayed the night, ate out at the pub, and played some games and watched vid. Clips, charged power banks etc

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Day 34(Sat,13July2024) from 42 km to .. (from BCR)

 Day 34(Sat,13July2024) from 42 km to .. (from BCR)

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onto the road by 9am. A sign I don’t like:

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A cool breeze, and warm sun. Walking while I munch on some brekki and write this blog. What a beautiful day. 

This pic misses the cool breeze, & the grasses shimmering.

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Listening to those ancient Judeo-/Christian Proverbs 

Just heard “Above all else guard your heart, for everything else flows from it.” True eh? What you let yourself love will affect the kind of person you become .  .. I’m seeing it in me.

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Walk, walk, over plain, over rail bridge while talking on phone to my neighbour back home, and waterhole, LH view:

& then RH view:

up rise. Here’s a panorama view  to the East (mostly) of the road, half way up. Rats, these photos flatten it so much that they “lie”:

11:40--1pm-  break under tree with feet up, writing & putting photos in blog & lunch .

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Up & at ‘em… or on ‘em. Walked on, & soon got a text from my daughter & her hubby who are joining me for a few days, and decided to stop in the shade at the 30km (from BCR) for a half day off. Work out how to put audio on the blog, and mull on some bits of Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) that seem pertinent to me on this walk. I find I often want to talk; but I'm really here to listen & learn, before I put my foot in things. It's hard for an old bloke to get into your head! This is my poemish reflection on my need. It's called "Get real.." ( btw. I was shocked when I heard quite a well spoken woman (but also a dairy farmer's daughter) talk about "a turd", we didn't commonly use that word growing up, but to her it just meant a small, well formed poo, with their distinct shape.)

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They should arrive shortly. So I'll put the kettle on!

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Then we'll decide whether to camp here, or go to BCR and camp there, and I might walk back in from here tomorrow.

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See you soon-

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er, or later...

Yup. They come.. around 5:15pm that afternoon Matt and Annabelle arrived, & we made camp there 

at ~30km from Balyando Crossing Roadhouse (BCR) for the night, and booked a motel room for the following night at BCR.

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Day 33(Friday,July12th'24) from ~73 km to .. (from Balyando Crossing Roadhouse (BCR))

 

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.slept in till after 7am. On the road by 8:33am.

Thanks for the sleep I got last night away

from vampires of the wing’ed sort that suck

my blood, and in the daylight donor seem to stay.

So thanks for folk who make fly-screen. You rock!

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A lovely time during the morning: looking, thinking, responding, then trying the art of wording…

Result so far: a song along the way today

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Just before 11am a station-wagon pulled up beside me and a bloke and a lady ask “ You right! Everything ok? The car is covered in dust, at least one set of  hair is curly, somehow matching the smiles on their faces. Just checking in, and how i'm going. How delightful it is to be in this world with people like them. Not pushy, not assuming. Just finding out, and happy to move on. I hope we meet again.

Finding out that I’m ok, they move off, and I move on. Thanking them for stopping and saying gidday. And thanking creative friendship for making up friendly people like those two.

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Walk, walk, put feet up, walk, drink, sweat, groan, nowhere to put feet up again, walk, make up a song on what I’m learning. Record it. 

Heading to look for a resting place on the next rise. Then  a truck stops in front of me, and Divan in high viz vest pops out, says G’day, & brings me a cold beer. 

Says they saw me 6 days back, on their way to a job, and wanted to give me a cold beer if I was still at it. I’m glad I hadn’t found a tree to hide under. He has to keep moving. The truck beeps. He brings me back another beer, and they drive off before I can get up to them. But I do catch the driver's reflection and shout thanks. He responds with a thumbs up.I enjoy a cold drink on a warm day…Thank you Divan. Thank you creative friendship! And the other blokes in the truck that didn’t stop Divan…

At the next rise I lay down for 45min till about 4pm.

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There a fellow, Joog (Darren), had his (daughter’s) Ford Territory break down, on the road beside me, where I had my feet up on the trolley. After calling his son to come back - to collect him, we had a chin-wag about what I have been doing and a bit (though not so much) about what he was doing.

How good  that we met. He gave me advice for quicker ways after Charters. I think we’ll keep in touch too. In fact we loaded my trolley onto the back of his ute. He’ll drop it off as he passes me. He said to call him at Charters (he's off work on the weekends)  But there’ll be a bed and a cold beer for me, and a lift back to the highway. How good is that! Thanks Joog. & thanks to who made ‘im! See how we go. I’ve got to be back in Orange on the 29th of July, then if I can I might see how much further I can get before the wet season.

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Another passer by in a high viz vest slows down checks I’m doing ok, and when he finds out I'm right he keeps going, and I do too. 

Thanks mate. And thanks to that bigger mate too.

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Finally stopped at 8pm and made a camp among the mosquitos at

42 km to go to BCR. I wonder how fare I'll get till Annabelle (my daughter) & her hubby Matt get here. Well we might be able to eat at BCR, then drop me back to where I got to walk in under moonlight.

Hey thanks for the way rhis quarter moon is so bright, and will be about straight overhead the first part of the night. Very helpful, cooler, just lovely, it was tonight, and possibly tomorrow night too.

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