Baxter Camp

Mon 26   

 

It was an uneventful day today. At Madura the next hole, Brumby’s Run, was played.  It was a par 3 hole and just after Woody and Bernie hit off, crows swooped down and took their balls. They had neglected to spray them with smelly stuff before they started. There is quite a rise coming out of the Madura pass and the view across the vast plain is interesting with all the shades of grey and green of the vegetation. The Cocklebiddy Eagle’s Nest was the next hole and finally the Cajuna – 90 Miles Straight named after the world’s longest straight road that begins at Cajuna and ends near Balledonia.  Fuel sure was dear - $2.20. Naturally we didn’t buy it there. We got the cheap stuff at $2.02.  We had planned to stop  where there was a large fresh water tank so that some of us could top up their water tanks. As we approached there were 3 caravans already there with long strings of washing flapping in the breeze. Unfortunately the tank was dry and the area didn’t look too flash so we moved on. We free camped 30km further on at a good roadside camp with a clean toilet about 60 km west of Cajuna. The night was pitch black and there was a stiff breeze blowing (our first  for the trip) so we decided not to light the campfire and have an early night. By 1:30am I had had my night’s sleep and finished reading my book before drifting off to sleep again.  The next time I woke at 5am I couldn’t convince myself I didn’t need to go to the loo so I headed off into the blackness with my trusty torch which had a range of about 2 metres. The only way I could find the toilet was by walkng on the white line into the camp. When I came out I missed the road by that much and wandered off into the scrub. All the waving of the torch for 360⁰ was to no avail. The ground looked the same and the rest was black. Eventually I found the loo again and was able to adjust my angle of approach to the road and make it safely back. Mick was dead to the world and none the wiser.