Every night when we get into camp Paddy lets us know what tree, mound or mini dune he has put the toilet behind. Last night it was a little further away than other nights but we all knew the vicinity of where it was located.
About 4.30 am this morning I thought I heard a howl in the distance and I just presumed it was a dingo as we have heard several out here.
Next thing several of the other trekkers heard it too and it now sounded like a person. Lisa and Jen got out of bed and had a look around - we could now make the noise out and realised it was someone saying “Help”. Just as Lisa was heading to the car to wake Paddy he realised something was going on. He heard the cry and went running. By now everyone was awake wondering what was going on.
It turns out that our lovely support crew member, Kimberley, had gone to the toilet and had walked back the wrong way and gotten lost in the dark. She had made her way up onto a hill and was singing out “help” hoping someone would hear her. The poor thing only had her T-shirt on with her jacket over it. Once Paddy got her back to camp and we knew she was okay, she copped so much stirring about it all day and she was such a good sport.
After that most of us just dozed until it was then time to get up at 5.30 am. It was predicted to be another hot day so we were leaving early.
Em’s shin splints are not good but she refuses to do anything but keep walking so Kim (our Psychiatrist come GP) has been trying to manage it with ice packs, voltarin and other medication so we can hopefully get her through. She is so determined. We walked 20 kms over 5 hours and 50 minutes today and did 31,702 steps.
We started with a bit a cross country sand dune walking and then we walked for 18 kms along a massive salt lake.
The terrain out here is just so hard to explain. The vastness of it is incredible. Yes, there is sand absolutely everywhere, but you will come over the top of a dune and there will be a mini forest of Gigi trees, or there will be a massive salt lake and as you stand on the top of each dune you can see a never ending track that goes for miles into the distance to the horizon. Then when you finally make it to that horizon, there is more sand track that leads to yet another horizon. The sand just doesn’t end for as far as the eye can see and all we can do is just keep walking until eventually we spot Paddy and the crew.
We are now up to 13 days since we had a shower or washed our hair. Paddy had let us know tonight that we may need to go a little sparingly with the toilet paper as we have already gone through 63 of the 70 rolls he bought with him and we still have a week to go! We have all voted that Ali is the biggest consumer!
We have had some more lovely people travelling in their vehicles stop and speak to us and donate to our fundraising. People are so shocked to see us walking out here and most of them are really encouraging.
Once we got into camp it was really windy and we were camped right next to the salt lake. It’s a beautiful spot but quite a challenge getting our tents up with the wind tonight. And when they were up they just filled up with sand continually. By the time we went to bed the wind had mostly died down so we all took turns with the dustpan and brush to sweep off our beds and sweep out our tents before jumping into bed.
We are all trying to keep each other’s spirits up. It’s tough waking up every morning for 20 days straight in dirty clothes and doing an average of 20 to 22 kms consecutively but, always at the forefront of all our minds is the women and children we are doing this Trek for and that’s what keeps us all going.
Until tomorrow
Donna x
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