We left camp at 7.45 am this morning. It was going to be a hot day and we had 22 kms to walk.
The sand was thicker today and the journey longer. We stopped at 8 kms to have a snack and sit in the shade of a little bush for 10 mins before we started again. At 12 kms Paddy and crew were set up on the side of the road with our lunch ready. We sat for half an hour and then set out again.
The sun was so hot and there was no breeze but we kept each other busy playing games and chatting. We finally got into camp at 2 pm after doing 22.2 kms and 37,310 steps.
Several people had blisters to deal with and there were lots of sore legs. Everyone was still in great spirits but glad to be finished for the day.
This morning when we left Paddy put out over the CB radio that we were on the track and what we were doing the trek for. We had lots of vehicles pull up to say hi and give us donations. We ended up with $427 cash for Jenny’s Place by the end of the day !
Today is Mumma C’s birthday. When we got into camp, Paddy had put her tent up as a little surprise.
Lisa cooked a damper cake for Carol’s birthday. We couldn’t light a fire tonight and so it had to be cooked on the gas but it was still awesome.
Tonight we had creamy mushroom chicken with rice for dinner. We all grabbed a cuppa and a piece of Lisa’s birthday cake damper.
We were just about to sing happy birthday when the wind rushed in at full force. It was like nothing we had seen before. The awnings were about to rip, the tents were almost blowing away and sand was blowing up everywhere. Once we all got the awnings down, Paddy got us all to go to our tents to put our body weight in them. It got so wild Paddy took everything out of the cars and came around to tell us we could jump in the car as he thought it would last for several hours and it was only 6.30 pm. Most of us opted to stay in our tents. It was quite scary to start with as Paddy says the winds were around 90 - 100 kms per hour. Lisa opted to jump in the car with Ken and Kim’s tent pole snapped so she slept outside in her sleeping bag with her jacket over her head! The wind didn’t actually subside until 11.15 pm so needless to say not a lot of sleep was had ! It was like being caught in a tornado.
Memories of this wild evening include:
Mumma C - “best birthday ever”
Ali - “75 kg body weight came in handy but as wild as it was I felt really calm”
Troy - “unbelievable”
Em - “Mother Nature says welcome to the Simpson Desert”
Lisa - “if the guides are getting in the car, so am I”
Shay - “never mind walking 440 kms, worry about holding up your tent”
Kim - “custodians of the Simpson ruins”
Jen - “what a night!”
No camel sightings yet !
Until tomorrow
Donna
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