A view of turtle beach, where the sea turtles come to lay their eggs, and where the babies just finished hatching only about a week ago.

Journal and photos by Nancy Olson

I had a big day today!

I awoke in the turtle hatchery campground (the hatching season ended only a few days ago, so no baby turtles...turtlets?) at about six in the morning, with rain sprinkling down on me. I jumped up and put my sleeping bag, clothes, and everything else that needed to stay dry, into my North Face Waterduffelo (dry bag) and moved to a tree where I could set up a tarp over my tent and things. I rested a bit and watched the sunrise over the ocean from within my tent.

A bit later, I got up and went for a short 20-minute run on the beach. It was a great run, but my ankle was hurting. I went back, changed into my bikini, and put my laundry in the wash. I hit the beach for some body surfing and swimming for about a half hour and then tended to the laundry and took a shower.

I didn't have enough change for the dryer, so I had to hang everything on the clothesline to dry, which meant I had to kill another half hour. I grabbed a trashy gossip magazine and headed back to the beach. It was an amazing morning, and the beach was beautiful. Finally, I packed up, grabbed the laundry off the line, and headed out.

I needed to check e-mail before heading out to Childers, because I suspected a town as small as Childers probably wouldn't have Internet. I went seven kilometers in the opposite direction to use the net at Bargara, because I had to make sure the e-mail I had sent to our subscribers had gone through. It hadn't.

After using the net, I found a $7.70 salad bar and piled fruit, lettuce, cheese, vegetables, rice, and brussel sprouts as high as I could onto a plate in order to get my money's worth. I couldn't even eat it all...oops.

I didn't pull out of town until 1430, which meant I had to race to make it the 60+ km to Childers before dark. The race was on!

It was a nice ride along a country road, but I was disappointed that there was no shoulder. Luckily, traffic was low. I got to Childers at 1720, and all the pub rooms were closed for renovation. There was a disastrous fire at a backpacker hostel herenot long ago, and 17 or so travellers were killed. Because of that, all the lodges, etc., had to renovate to conform to new fire regulations, and they are still closed for those reno's. I had to go a couple of kilometers north to the other side of town to a campground.

The caravan park was full of backpackers who were employed as fruit pickers, so I was worried about possible noise from partiers. But, for $10, I couldn't afford to pass up this campground. Heck, the humor on the bathroom door was enough reason to stay at this campground. On the men's room door was a sign with a male stick figure and the word "MANGOES." I didn't think much about it, I mean, this place was populated by fruit pickers, afterall. And I was too tired to notice that it was misspelled. It didn't click in my head until I saw the sign on the women's door: there was a woman stickfigure and the words "NO MANGOES." HAHAHAH. Man-goes and No Man-goes. Too funny. I appreciate that sort of humor.

I set my tarp up over my tent using my bike and a power terminal as supports, and laid out my camp. I had fruit, cheese, crackers, and Vegemite for dinner and went to bed early. I went to bed with the Blackeyed Peas playing through my headphones.

I needn't have worried about loud fruit pickers. They were well-behaved, and I slept well until morning.

Mileage: 68
Weather: Brief morning shower/Partly cloudy/Nice
Final Location: Childers

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