Paraburdoo ended up being quite a surprise which is usually the case when everything looks so glum when you first arrive. The showers and toilets were fantastic but with one setback- one key to open them for the five of us and someone kept locking the doors after we would leave them open. The riders had woodchip to camp on and plenty of room to spread out but the ambience was bleak.
Yesterday the riders spent their time in town whilst Collis and I caught up on some paperwork. Jurgen and Jill decided to have dinner at the pub and Gareth decided to eat back at camp as he had some leftovers from the day before. Collis and I went to the miners mess. When we got to the mess they ushered us in for free and told us to make sure we go to the lunch room after our meal and get food for the next days lunch as well. What a deal! All you could eat for nothing.
The others all enjoyed their meals and Gareth felt he may have eaten too much. Quiet night in camp. This morning the campground manager (who works for Rio Tinto) told us to grab as much ice as we needed to fill up the eskis.
Beautiful scenery this morning, which has surprised me as well. We were expecting mining traffic to continue and the landscape to be typical mining country-arid, stoney and big holes in the surrounding hills. But what we got was quiet road, lush green foliage with lots of wildflowers and rocky outcrops. No more mining trucks- yeah! The road surface is slow and hard going but there is no hurry as we are only heading to a bush camp.
Lunch was at the Beasley River Rest Area. Jurgen missed the turnoff and went another 12 kms down the road before a passing car told us he was up ahead and not behind us. Collis went and picked him up and they hid his bike on the side of the road. Thankfully after lunch we were able to find it and he was back on the road again.
It was my job to locate an area to camp for the night. There were lots of dry creek and river beds but we have been hearing of heavy rain up ahead so i was worried that some of the rivers may start to flow while we were sleeping. At 135 km mark found a track into what appears to be an old gravel pit for road making. It had lots of space, a few trees, a bit of grass, plenty of wood and lots of flat areas- perfect.
The fire was started straight away so I was able to cook the chop suey early and then prepare the bread and butter pudding with plenty of time to spare. This made the meal alot more relaxed for me and the wine and ambience of the fire relaxed the riders.
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