Day 19
Sunday
22 July
40 Mile Beach Bush Camp
Finished The Beach Caféby Lucy Diamond. I really enjoyed this novel and was glad to have been able to read it in a large chunk.
L A Z Y… that was the day. Paul got out at 7.30am to put the generator back on and my serenity was broken. I resisted the urge to crawl out, but by 815am, I was up too and having breakfast. The morning binge of internet done, I was happy to perch on the chair and read my book. In the meantime, Paul went off for a walk.
He returned of tales of other people fishing and catching good ones, so I trailed down on to the rocks to sit with my feet in a rock pool, while he tempted the fish with his lure. It felt so good soaking my feet giving them a good wash, nothing says clean like clean feet.
I watched little fish and shrimp scurry about the rocks, ducking and diving and skirting across the surface. Some were game enough to sit near my toes sussing out what the pudgy white things in the water were.
Paul’s fishing didn’t last long and we returned to the van where I immediately sat outside in the sun reading my book. Paul, not one to stay idle, was keen to fix the 12v system and set about pulling out the remaining wiring cutting up an extension cord we had with us and then rewiring the fried system. Lucky he is good at sussing stuff out and with a bit of bush mechanics, had the system back up and we were able to turn off the generator. That just leaves the Anderson plug to source tomorrow.
I relished the opportunity to get my teeth stuck in my book, chewing through a good chunk of the story. It was a soppy romance in many ways, but the characters and story line had me hooked and I found myself eager to keep motoring through it. I did eventually put it down and we went for a well needed walk.
As the tide was out there was a slice of exposed beach and we were able to walk for a good length. We watched crabs scurry about, sea eagles glide on the thermals and then picked out interesting shells and rocks to add to our growing collection. Once we returned it was time for lunch and more reading.
I did eventually turn on the computer and add the photos and blog, all the while the wind was blowing around us. We had had to pull the awning in and the van’s vents were rattling away. Before I even realised it was near on 5pm.
We took the car off the trailer, got changed and then made our way to see Brad at the Devil Creek gas plant. He met us out the front and then showed us around the control room, meeting the night shift workers. We looked through the rest of the building and the well equipped medical office, before saying our goodbyes.
We all then crammed into over overcrowded getz and drove the 2km t the miners’ village. Brad showed us around the facilities, which were very impressive; basketball and tennis court, long lap pool, fully equipped gym and music/rec room. We made our way to his donger, small and cosy, but it at least had its own bathroom. It was then on to the kitchen to order our meal before stopping in at the bar for an hour to relax and hang out, while watching the dreary news from home.
We chatted with some other workers, one had just completed the Mitchell Falls and was raving. I can’t wait to check it out at the end of the month. We shared travel stories and then wandered over to the mess for our dinner, snapper with Asian greens. It was delicious. We finished with a selection of desserts and were well full by the time we finished up.
We said our goodbyes and then began the drive back to the van. It was inky black, not really ideal conditions for driving and we were on high alert for moving animals. Just as well, as a number of cows crossed our path, seeming to appear out of nowhere. We did eventually make it back to home safe, no animals harmed in the process and we were straight into bed.
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