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Peddle Power: Blake Douglas
Rest Stop: The Westbrook Family
Well last night didn’t go quite as planned. Our very nice camp site changed dramatically when a fancy car pulled up and two boys got out and put up two tents. We didn’t think much of it until about 10pm when they returned with buddies and girls and drunk. They were incredibly loud. It poured and they got in the car and pumped the radio and turned on their lights and blinkers and were just crazy. I got up and went to the bathroom and came back and they were literally standing, wrestling and dancing just inches from our tent – I thought they might even fall on it. I was debating what to do when an older man – half drunk himself – came up to them and asked them if he could join their party. This didn’t please them at all and they had some choice words for him and then they left and went down to the beach. Finally, some peace and quiet. When we got up this morning we were clammy and hot and short on rest, but we were not in as bad shape as they were. They were soaked and mad and well – I don’t think their night ended as they wanted it to either. They left before we did and even left their skateboard behind.
We on the other hand had a delightful morning. We went to the kitchen area to find it locked and not opening until 8am. This was problematic because our food was in there! After a few minutes of being frustrated we said what has our motto for this trip – ‘Well Bob, it is what it is’. I had been fake interviewing Larry after a particularly hard day and said to Larry, “Well Larry, you have arrived at your destination once again tonight, what can you tell us about that?” to which he answered, “well Bob, it is what it is”. At first that didn’t make sense to me, but then he told me that there is a football coach who always answers that way. “your team had a great game tonight”- and he would answer, “well, it is what it is. We played a tough game etc” or “your team had a rough loss tonight” - and he would answer, “well, it is what it is. Our defense was strong…etc”. So now, that is our answer to everything – So, recognizing that breakfast would be delayed, we decided to go for a morning walk down shipwreck pier which proved to be very interesting and enjoyable. I think we even forgot that we hadn’t planned it. We saw various plaques honoring ships that had wrecked here along the Nobbies as they call it. People had also begun making the walk a memorial to loved ones they had lost. This entered us into some depth of conversation as well about our lives, death and living well, not wanting to be left to make the memorial and so forth. A tender morning complete with a visit from a little dog that was walking with a man on the pier. This dog was very friendly and seemed to enjoy coming to visit us.
We returned to camp for breakfast and had nice conversations with the people around us and hopefully were encouraging to them. We had coffee too which is always helpful but not always possible. This morning we had muesli, bananas and strawberries so we were feeling pretty blessed! We dropped the tent, packed our stuff and headed out to ‘Tea Gardens” - just a short 35 miles up the coast and a long ferry ride away. We hoped to find camping at Hawk’s Nest but the number in our book was discontinued and while the current campground would confirm the campground was still there, they would not call ahead for us and book it. So we thought, well… it is what it is… and rode off confident God would provide.
We knew the day was ‘flat as a pancake’ according to our guidebook and nothing could disturb this from being a pleasant day unless we had a summer north easterly blow in…. Well the rain quit by morning – but it brought and left a pretty stout wind. First thing the owner of the campground said to us this morning was how much fun we would have with this North Easterly wind right in our faces once he found out which way we were going. Oh well… it is what it is. The wind was stout – but not unmanageable and we were even able to make pretty good time, which today was important cause the ferry only ran at noon and at 3:30 and we were hoping to catch the 3:30. The ferry ride itself was supposed to be ‘lovely’ with views of dolphins and the like and it was actually a pretty long ride as well so we definitely didn’t want to wait til the next morning to get it done. Tomorrow is the longest day of the trip – don’t want to start it with an hour and a half ferry ride.
We did the first twenty miles really well. We stopped to joke about the ‘bushland views’ and the ‘great camping in the swamp’ signs along the way…. We pass through all these national parks – constant views of bushes…. Crazy. One cool thing we did see today though was a sign on the side of the road – one word – painted on a small piece of wood and tacked to a tree. TRUTH. I wanted to go paint an ‘e’ in front of it for Seek eTruth! I did stop and take a picture of it. I don’t know why it was there – but it was cool.
We made it to Nelson Bay where we were to pick up the ferry with almost two hours to spare – great riding by our fearless leader Mr. Larry who kept a great pace! We had eaten lunch at a picnic table at a Brewery – the only buildings along this route were military, wineries or a brewery…. So we stopped to get a bottle cap for Larry’s collection (which has been growing on this trip!) and we ate lunch there as well. We didn’t exactly eat at the brewery – a piece of cake was $9.50! We ate PB and J and bananas at the picnic table outside and we were very happy with that! Here at Nelson we had popsicles with the rest of the kids and waited in the shade for the ferry! There were lots of people to watch, lots of boats coming and going, seven public wharfs and well just buzzing with activity.
Our ferry arrived. It was a small boat that sat low in the water. We got on and off okay – which isn’t always the case! We took our seats and as the boat pulled away into the swells I thought, “Oh no – this is going to be a very long hour” as my desire to see the dolphins quickly left and my stomach began to swell with the wind whipped ocean waters. I thought I would be sick for sure – but we went outside and stood on the deck and then the boat made a turn that settled us out a great deal and the ride was actually quite pleasant. Yes, we did see dolphins and more ocean and more bushes! We saw oyster beds and shore birds as well and the lady on the ferry that was the ‘tour guide’ type figure gave us some pointers and a different route to take tomorrow through some beautiful coastal bushland! It was a shorter route – but all dirt. We’ll see. We thanked her though and got off the ferry and began negotiating our way through the Koala reserve to get to Hawk’s Nest. Tea Gardens was about five buildings and Hawk’s Nest is across the river on a bridge.
We headed over the bridge and saw a stingray in the water. We rode under the gum and eucalyptus trees but didn’t see any Koalas. We were soon in Hawk’s Nest and we talked about how we have seen hawks, but the thing that has kept us feeling God’s presence here hasn’t been hawks – it has been kookaburras! They get our attention all the time, we enjoy them and laugh with them and even when we are tired going up a hill or something – we’ll hear one and point it out to the other. Well here at Hawk’s Nest the Hawks and the Kookaburras were about to meet in our minds forever! We went down to the caravan park and sure enough they were booked solid. The other caravan park had closed down for repairs, but they thought they might have some tent sites. We went there – sure enough it was a construction zone and very little was working, but yes – we could camp there. We weren’t excited – there were showers, but no way to cook – not even a bbq or a hot water pot and no electricity… but we settled in because, well Bob… it is what it is!
We were practically the only ones there. There were a few others camped around but overall very quiet. We put up our tent and heard kookaburras and laughed and then walked back into town to go to the grocery store. We just got burgers at a Take Away store since we couldn’t cook. Then we went to the grocery for milk and strawberries for the morning and soda and cookies for a late night snack. We walked back to camp and found bottle caps and such. It wasn’t raining so we decided to go to the beach - this was really cool because the sun was going down and the light on the trees and the sand was really eerie because the skies were also really dark behind us. Then a rainbow started and soon fully developed. It was very beautiful. We took pictures and enjoyed it until we thought it was really going to start to pour at which time we hurried back to the campground and up to our site. When we got to our site there was a kookaburra bird sitting in the tree above our tent! He stayed there for a very long time and that solidified our idea that Kookaburras were our adoptive ‘hawks’ in Australia!
We played Rummy and listened to the rain. When the rain quit it got stifling hot. We ran water from the spigot on our heads and went to bed. About thirty minutes later a family pulled in and for about three hours they were just incredibly loud and foul. This part of these trips is hard. Sleep is important and it is hard enough to deal with the elements and sleep on the ground and walk for food and such… but there isn’t anything you can do about the people who come in around you. Ipods help a lot, but it is a strange thing that so many people can be so courteous and have a great time with their families and then one family or one group can just make things miserable. Yes… yes…. There is a metaphor in that…..
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