Friday, 4 July 2025

Peninsular Day47(Tue 01/July/’25)



From last night’s campsite (99km from Bramwell Station Roadhouse) towards the Jardine river ferry [76km to go (with a 6km detour to take a swim at Fruit-bat fall's, which is 20 km away) at the start of the day]


Leave at 6am, & @ 8:30am first 10 Kms, half an hour break, off again 9am, and walk till 11:30am (done 20km, and at FbF. Where I plan to have lunch and swim, then) take off again at 3pm. to do the last 13 km. 

Beaver & Bev from Warrnambool , been to the tip, and just come now from FbF offer me a cold beverage, which I gladly accept.


On their way to Normanton, then across to the Darwin Races, then back down the centre to Warnambool. Thanks. Fair-dinkum-ness and care in all your relationships!




Geoff from N.F.A., now on the road, been to the Tip, heading South. Stopped to have a chat and catch up for a bit.


Great time of travelling till your second grandchild Geoff. May you be a grand/great blessing to those children.


Gareth & Cara and 2 kids have just been to the Tip, & are heading to Bramwell tonight, and then to Longreach… 


They stopped to give me a cold coke, which I drank gladly. “Cheers! To all that’s good & true!” Thanks you four.


Then a family passing me to go to Fruitbat Falls (FbF), stopped to say G’day & give me a meuslie bar to keep me going: 

(Left to Right: Dakota (twin), Henry, me, Jason (the Dad), Hunter (twin)


& the photographer Mum (Reo), joined in this photo on the right:


Lovely. Thanks for the meuslie bar. They do help me keep going. Very looked after eh?


David and Celeste from Melbourne did the Tip, now heading down the centre back to Melbourne.. 

Stopped to say G’day and give me some change of diet: two little cans of lemon, lime, & bitters, a packet of nuts and some dried fruit, and 5 little cans of chilly tuna, and topped up a nearly empty water bottle… How good is that! Thanks. And how creative is friendship, even friendliness! Thank you!


After walking for about ½ km in on the track off the side to FbF, with 4 or 5 cars passing me, I decided that I have to stop, look at the car, smile, pronounce ( or at least think a blessing on them), be willing to signal and speak a request for a lift, e.g. even standing/sitting on the back of the ute.  Then the third car.. Someone gave me a ride on the back of a ute in on the dirt track to Fruitbat Falls (FbF). That made it quicker to join the ~30 people swimming in the beautiful cool water above or below the 1.5 m. falls. I thanked them, and am grateful for them seeing a way to let me scum a ride in. I’ll try to scum a ride back out to where I left the trolley too. (This trip to FbF is a bit of a side track, to wash, me and my clothes)


There Paddy from the biker tour group who were also swimming donated me $20.00 which I’ll put to Movember, and a le Snack, and meuslie bar and a mate joined in with a nutigrain crunch thing.. thanks men!


Then I sat for lunch, next to a family group (left to right: Patty, Ernst, John, Jo, and Shay.


and they (mostly Nanna Patty), gave me some cold steak from last night’s BBQ, and added in the potatoes, and a bread roll, and tomato, and ham & cheese..


& I ended up doing a line drawing of Shay for the fun of it:


She was stoked. We had fun. 



Jo, Stacey, Sasha, & Len going to the Tip too, but along the old Tele track, gave me a lift on the side-runners of their 4WD, 


and then left me with two cold drinks to keep me going this Arvo

Thanks you four. 


Got back to the trolley, and there is a note 


on top of some goodies 


Apples, a fruit box, some salt and vinegar chips) there for me… 

and their sticker:


Thanks Karsten, Jack, & Zuri; and the creativity that put these together!


Darren & Diesel been on the road for a year, 


was keen to talk and get a photo or two, & took two weighty shackles off my hands. Might even donate something to the Movember goal for this new financial year (at the bottom of this page) Thanks for your time and for connecting.






Trent & Colby (L to R) stop to see how things are going as they pass. 


They are heading to fix a broken down truck which I’d passed soon after FbF. They offer to take my trolley back towards the ferry. I said I'll need to walk it, and I'll need my tent etc tonight, but tomorrow that might work.. They said it might depend on what happens with the he truck. I did say “l hope you get it going.” We’ll see. The road is getting dusty again.

Then 5 min later, from behind, I hear a truck coming and a toot of the horn. Both the ute & the truck! Good.


I remembered to ask & they told me that the ferry starts at 8am.




Thursday, 3 July 2025

PeninsulaDay46(Mon, 30/6/’25)



From last night’s campsite (66km from Bramwell Station Roadhouse) towards the Jardine river ferry [109km to go (with a 6km detour to swim at Fruit-bat falls) at start of day]



On the road ~5:45am…


Thanks for a new day.



After two hours of beautiful walking in mist-like rain, with a cool breeze, and not a scrap of dust… I have walked 9 km, & now have 100km to go to the Jardine ferry, and 47km to the picnic area at FbF.



Graeme & Anne, whom I met a few days ago, had run out of fruit and bread, but offered me some cheese, a tin of peaches, and a fresh aeropress coffee! While stopped I looked around for me hat, to exchange for my head-torch. Couldn’t find it anywhere… that’s strange…


Anne and Graeme a chance to do a (not so flattering drawing - sorry Anne) drawing for the day, and some of their amazing story… Graeme is the author of the Rosie series, and Anne wrote “Glass house”, is a specialist in post-partum depression etc, & they captured a little video and some pictures .. 


Thanks you two,  for your - connecting and “blessings”.


Danni, Brooke, & the kids, a bit later, stopped as promised, with a pie and hot coffee! To which they added a box of Shapes, and… wait for it… my hat/cap, 


(which must have blown off the trolley, but they recognised it, and went back and got it for me) Remi let me practice my drawing, using her as a model. Thanks to Anne, this was one step better than the first one of the day. 


Dom and Amy from Taree stop on their way to Fruit Bat Falls tonight, and gave me a can of Pumpkin Soup.


Thanks you two for your thoughtfulness and willingness to connect.


Ralph and Marion stopped, they are riding around Aus, but  are holidaying for some weeks in a rental car… 


They give me a few apples and mandarins, a cool refreshing drink, & we swap some advice on data (from Lithuania, and from Space X) for if I am tripping the world (like them) & for them texting using Starlink while in Aus, and then they take all my rubbish!  How lovely… thanks you people. A lovely time together


About 12:20pm.. and I've spent a morning enjoying meeting people, learning from them, and glad to be put here on Earth with such amazing beings… [I would say reflecting (in the image of) their maker!] About 95km to the Ferry, so I’ve come 14km so far… would be nice to make 33km again today, but we’ll see how we go.


Meanwhile, I am developing a view of what seems to approximate to that old English word: “blessing”. Very fun! 



Lunch (mid-day) break: 1:30pm-3pm at 18km so far today [91 km from the J.F. (via FbF)]. So another 15km after ~3pm  would take me to the goal of 33km today, & leave me at 76km yet to go to J.F. (via F-b.F). 


Food: Dry 2 min noodles (from Stephen & Diana), and sardines (from John), and an orange and mandarine (from Marion & Ralph). Thanks you people, and creative love for making up people like these, who have then chosen to work along with creative love.


Arvo waddle: 


Dinner: 


Food: Pumpkin Soup from Dom & Amy, with a Packet of Shapes from Danni & Brooke & fam,




PenDay45(Sun 29/6/’25)



From last night’s campsite (33km from Bramwell Station Roadhouse) towards the Jardine river ferry [142km to go (with a 6km detour to swim at Fruit-bat falls) at start of day]



Slept in, …on the road about 6:20am.


Good morning! To all here with me.

Just a bit before sunrise:

After walking till 8:30am… a bit of a slog! Expecting to have done 7-10km. I check my map again to see how many km left (and take that from 142 km). From here it says only 182km to go! (???) I do think I'm going the right way… but maybe last night the map had defaulted to one of the shortcuts through the Old Tele Track? No! Found out what it was - I had added the Fruitbat falls as another point to visit but it was added as an end-point not a way-point, so it had me getting to the Jardine Ferry then doubling back to FruitbatFalls. It is really 128km… so that’s…(142-128=) 14 km done since I started on the road this morning! Time for some breaky!


Lovely… pack up again around 9:30am to get a good 2 hr in before a middle (heat) of the day break.


Thanks for the loveliness of regularity (as well as spontenaity/ irregularity).


Stephen & Diana From Bonny Doone in Vic. stopped to say G’day 


and see if they could help, .. we got a photo… then they gave me a handful of nuts to keep going this morning, then ..


a bag of 2 min noodles for the next few days, then a classic coke to help for morning tea… Off again… they might make Archer River today then work on the locks on the van which have got a bit stuck… Thanks folk, for connecting with and blessing me.


Next… from WilliamsTown in South  Australia, 

L to R: (Back row): Sully, Esther, (front row): Finley,  Hamish, Penelope, 


Dad: Dave, Mum: Naomi,


on a “5 weeks to the Cape” adventure. And… Might get some audio books to listen to together…

They gave me a cold lemonade & a cold passionfruit drink and 3 cans of baked beans to keep me going. How good is that! Thanks people.





John Reichenbach from (Glenlee, near) Horsham In Vic, a retired farmer. Coming up to do the tip and wandering about… (his wife flew home recently)..

In his VW Touareg, taking opportunities to connect with people as he comes & goes (Told me about John Alley from Rocky … & various Christian Churches he has been involved with, and experiences of blessings and cursings)


Thanks for sharing a Sunday meal with me, and telling me bits of your story, as well as asking me regarding my own. We also discussed a bit what blessings and cursings mean, and maybe how they might work … 


And, John swapped me some sardines and tinned ham for one of my corned beef tins, that I was getting sick of.. Thanks mate!



Back on the road by ~3:10pm..


About 4:30pm, a family carload stop to check out what on Earth I am doing… 


Danni, Brooke, Larni, Remi, Deegan, Kobi (left to right). will bring a drink and a pie with them tomorrow, and, I am going to try to do a drawing of the Mum & Dad overnight for them to take tomorrow. What fun.


Just after 6pm who should I meet driving from in front towards me … but 


They’ve swapped drivers now, Shawn and Leah, followed by her Dad, Darren Adams & Mum, Helen, (& their dog) who  made it to the Tip! They showed me a picture of the whole 5 at the tip (yesterday or this morning?). Now they head back to Bramwell, then on to The Savannah Way, through Darwin to Broome.. Thanks for the nut bar and mineral water too Darren. May you folk be blessed with love and truth in all your  relationships: especially family and friendships.



Peninsular Day44(Sat 28/6/’25)



From last night’s campsite towards the Jardine river ferry (by my map ~145 km to go at start of day)



On to the road at ~6am, after some kilometres at 7 a.m. i found a little creek going across the road 

 

 and wash my clothes and myself in it feeling much better i'm back on the road at 8 a.m. 



The name of the creek looks familiar

I don't secure my tent door mat ( a DMR transport flag found in the grass on the side of the road) & lose it along the way. I have to decide whether to retrace my steps about one or two km to get it. I decide against it, though it was very helpful. I have had for breaky one of the frozen sausage rolls I bought yesterday lunch for the trip, the other one must wait till I have some sauce or something. I know I'll ask Dick and Ruth when they come by, if they stop.


A few km on and Dick and Ruth, instead of coming up from behind me, from Bramwell, meet me coming from in front. They stop and ask why i'm going the wrong way? What a very disappointing thing to realise and what a very beautiful gift to receive. I realized they are not joking. 

They offer me some watermelon (which Ruth shares a bit of with me),  which was growing wild have the back of the Bramwell Roadhouse in the bush and give me an apple and a couple of cold drinks to keeping me going, as well and laugh with me in my unstable feelings: disappointment but also great gladness that they stopped me before I got further. With the overcast sky i didn't really notice where the sun was.


We wave, and look forward to any more chance meetings…  Thanks for your blessing to me.


So i get to pick up my dropped doormat on the way back, traceing the maybe 17-10km i had walked yesterday afternoon and then again this morning and have to process the disappointment as well as gladness. i remember creative love & am glad. It is beginning to rain / spit lightly again. I sing.


7 things to learn for me in response to this.

Four regarding keeping on the right direction

  • on map app, wipe off any old way points I may have passed in the dark, 

  • Check I have the right destination on my map app

  • Draw an arrow in the dirt with my stick before making camp the night before (on the road?)

  • Check the sun when it comes up where it is… compared to which way I go

And three more general…

  • Ask for wisdom before I set my direction, not after 

  • Trust HESED (creative love) to even use my mistakes to connect me as I’ve asked in the past, with those creative love would like to connect me with - people to whom I can be a blessing, as well as be blessed by .

  • being a blessing (which will involve actions, and can involve words that are just thought of, and words that are spoken, and both) is more important than what I get out of something, since that’s why I’ve made!


Then, a convoy of two vehicles stops to say G’day, the daughter and her boyfriend greet first, and ask if they can give me some water or watermellon, they were told about me by Karsten & Maxine too… & the Dad (Darren Adams, the driver of the second vehicle, the bus)  gives me a $10 donation to give for him to my choice of the two causes I am speaking positively about, Movember or the Bible Society. 


Thanks…  Thanks heaps though for the offers of water Mellon, water, and money for a good cause. 

My last donation like that, I gave the donation to Movember, so I think this one I’ll give to the Bible Society, though many people haven’t even heard of them…. (Done! @ 7:39am Sunday 6th July 2025 with reception after trip completed. Thanks again Darren!)






Paul, Javier, Noakai, Keisha, (left to right) from the Tweed coast, heading to a secret location for a family fishing adventure, stop, give me an apple and hear a bit of each other’s stories:


Thanks for stopping to connect. I tell them the blessing I am giving every car I pass and that passes me… Learn to  Love and keep their word (personal truth) with Family and friends ..


They drive off, and Ron & Grace Hurst, stop going South:


They are (voluntary) Environment Beach Cleaners, they pick up ghost nets, bottles, plastic, most things that wash up, & they have 1& ½ ton on their trailor, where they recycle or get rid of them. Been married over 40 yrs.


John from Cairns just bought this boat and is delivering it to Bamagar near the tip, just checking I'm ok.

Thanks mate.


~10:30am I get to where I camped last night, & Karsten & Maxine etc in the OKA and The Combi, stop to say G’day again and drop 2 cold drinks off too. 


Here is Zuri & his Dad, Karsten, who are in the Combi.. (that made Gunshot yesterday).


Thanks for connecting in the adventure…


Shortly after, a car slowed and asked if I needed water. Two authors (Anne & Graeme, a couple) who were travelling to Billy’s landing for a few days, 

and had written two books based on the France, Spain, & Portugal, the Comina de campostella ( extended versions of which they had twice walked). 

We talked for a while and they left me with some sliced  beautiful thick brown bread, a big block of cheese and an apple. Thanks you two for bringing that spirit of family hospitality from the Camino pilgrimage in Europe, back to Australia. Thanks for the time talking, the food, and the advice from your research too.



Yesterday I walked about (10km + about 15km =) 25km, today if I make it to 33km out from Bramwell, with my walking the 7½ km of walking the wrong way this morning, I will have walked 33km.

A lunch break from 2pm-3:15Pm.

Then…


Simon and Maureen from Adelaide stop to connect a bit, been at the tip for three days, heading back down to Adelaide, to wash the car, see the grandkids, go to the footy, & get ready to head over to Perth later this year. They give Fruit-bat falls a plug - worth a look and a swim there, & only 2.5km in.

They give me three home baked Anzac bickies. Arvo tea! Thanks you two. And for your time connecting. May all your relationships benefit from thoughtfulness and honesty.


A couple travelling from Denmark in W.A. travelling around for 15 months so far, have some wisdom to pass on: “Be in nature to spark joy.” Here is Dane, 

and then he gave me a cold can of  refreshing drink. Thanks to both of you, and all the best on your travels and letting the spirit of the big eco-system seep further into you sincerity and both tender & clockwork commitment to your word. Thanks for slowing down to connect.