Retracing our Steps

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Hi, to you all,

One week ago we left Ceduna, South Australia headed towards Perth, West Australia. Tomorrow we'll be in Ceduna again and ready to start the next phase of our trip. We're working our way towards Wollongong, New South Wales, to meet a family we've corresponded with for several years but have never met in person. Richard from Wollongong (south of Sydney) has already phoned us on our new mobile phone to see when we'll be arriving; it was wonderful to hear his voice.

We've enjoyed our trip back through the Nullarbor Plains as much as the first time. We've been watching for animals and were rewarded with more kangaroos. One night we saw two feeding in the scrub near our campsite. We wandered out closer to them but Barry remembered snakes also live in the scrub so we cut the walk short. And one day we saw a huge emu wandering near the road. It's so amazing to see these animals in the wild. No camels, alas.

It's really hard to keep track of what time it is! In one two-day period we had to change our watches twice. A week later we changed them twice again. Cocklebiddy, a small town along our route, runs on Central Western time which is 45 minutes ahead of Perth time in the west and 45 minutes behind Adelaide to the east. So, as we traveled from South Australia to West Australia we went through three time zones. And we never knew if we should adjust up or down.

Yesterday was a fun day for us. Since we were driving back on the same road we knew we'd be catching up to Leigh and Sam, the two Aussie travelers who are walking across Australia. We put some Cokes in the fridge to get cold and we bought two huge bars of chocolate to put in the freezer for them. We met them several kilometers out of Eucla, West Australia, and they seemed quite excited to see us again. It was hot and the flies were horrible but they were having a good day. The Nullarbor Plain is flat and they had a good tail-wind pushing them. We had a fun chat in the shade of our motorhome and then Barry and I gave them the goodies. You'd have thought Christmas had come! We couldn't have given them anything better. As soon as they got to Eucla they planned to take two days off. They've already posted an update in their blog and we are mentioned in a very kind way. Thanks, boys! Their blog, if you don't have it, is
www.perthtosydney.blogspot.com.

So, we're continuing our journey. The flies have been awful the past few days but seem to be lessening as we continue east. Every day is really hot, upwards of 28-31 but almost every day we get a bit of rain to cool things down. All is well with the motorhome and the driving seems quite natural now.

Hope you are all doing well at home!

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Photos

Cocklebiddy Roadhouse Clocks
The clerks are tired of people always asking 'What time is it here?"

Haughty emu
This fellow was annoyed when we slowed down to take his picture.

Cokes and Chocolate
Sam and Leigh on the road near Eucla, WA..

Ready to Carry On
The promise of two days off is about to be fullfilled seven km. down the road.