A night in Clare

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Today it became obvious that our trip was almost over. We are back in familiar country. The mountains are gone, replaced by rolling hills. Crops are more common and emus less evident. We are amazed by how much the crops have advanced in the brief time since we saw them a week ago. They are much taller and the canola especially, is that much brighter.



Greg’s cold is still wreaking havoc. Joan is still fighting fit. However this is to change by the end of the day. A sneezing fit and that’s it … full on.



Greg managed to orchestrate a timely departure from Hawker that would conveniently place us in Jamestown at lunchtime. The Jamestown Bakery for lunch? Of course! And it was just as good as last time. Armed with a London bun to go we set off for Clare.



North of Clare, and for quite some distance we noticed the roadside, normally covered in wild plants, weeds, shrubs or bushes was planted with grain crops right to the road shoulder. This is an interesting idea. Is this another use for the ‘long paddock’? Will we see more of this in the future?



Closer to town and in almost the identical location as on our way up was a flock of sheep tended by farmers in trucks this time. We doubted it could be the same group.



We were puzzled by the colour of many of the grain crops. Something seemed almost wrong with them. As there have been a lot of heavy frosts in the area this winter we wondered if this might be the cause. If it is, it will probably have a significant effect on the final yield. It seems there is always something to damage the productivity of a farmer’s lot.



A convenient drive through site at the caravan park meant an easy escape in the morning. Once set up we took a walk to the Fauna Park only to be disappointed by the lack of animals. It looked abandoned. The grass was overgrown and there was nothing to see. Or so we thought. Next we heard the deep drum sound of a lonely emu. Looking a little harder, Greg spotted a group of fallow deer feeding at the back of the area. There may have been more, but we failed to find them.



Now that Joan’s sniffles had also kicked in we wondered if our tissue box would last us the night.

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