Heavenly Beverley : Changes In Plans...

Sunday 28 July 2019

Changes In Plans...

We enjoyed a quick twenty four hour stopover back at Tom Price Tourist Park, following our marathon effort at Dales. Practically the first task at hand was to wash some unspeakably dirty clothes. Red Pilbara dust permeates all clothing from undies and socks through to shirts and jeans. The resulting patchy red-brown smears are not uniform, hence I can't suddenly claim a light coloured shirt to be caramel in colour. Our clothing often resembled a piebald pony after he'd just had a jolly enjoyable mud bath.

I have come to admire (as well as love) our nifty top loader washer machine. Whilst most other appliances within Digger have experienced unexpected malfunctions, the washing machine has - so far - never missed a trick. Three loads of washing were completed and hung out. We attended to shopping essentials - more water containers, chocolate, salmon fillets and Michael's drugs (which had been ordered in by the chemist).

The rest of the afternoon and evening passed peacefully. Michael located the TV room and watched the Eagles thrash North Melbourne at the footy. We ate a delicious dinner not too late and retired to bed at a reasonable hour. All was well in our world until...

Michael woke with severe reflux at some ungodly hour of the early morning. He was the unhappiest of campers. The episode ended with some miserable heaving on his part and a profound reluctance to surface this morning. I could hardly blame him. I busied myself with the usual chores whilst trying to work out a plan of action.

Becoming unwell is the unspoken horror of any outback expedition. Vulnerability snuck upon us. We were due to leave for Cheela Plains Station for a couple of nights and then onto Mount Augustus, which would have us travelling in the middle of nowhere for a couple of days.

Michael refused point-blank to attend Tom Price Hospital. So we decided we needed to alter our itinerary and reluctantly bypass Mount Augustus. We still resolved to go to Cheela Plains, which was within an hour's drive of Paraburdoo Hospital and also well acquainted with the Royal Flying Doctor.

Farewelling Tom Price with grateful thanks to Grace and Kerrie at the Tom Price caravan park, we set off for Cheela Plains. This was an easy two-hour drive, all on bitumen. Michael declared himself markedly improved after lunch. We arrived at the Station just before three o'clock.

We were immediately blown away by the hospitality of the owners and staff. All sites formed a ring around a central grassed and gardened meeting spot, with a fire pit, benches, shade and greenery. The birdlife was apparent immediately. We secured site 14, the last of the powered sites. The arrangement offered privacy and peace, along with every opportunity to socialise as desired. Later, we listened to the crickets as dusk fell. And we were rewarded with a spectacular Pilbara sunset in rich orange tones and stars so bright that we believed we could reach out and touch them.

We enjoyed the Station dinner of roast and veggies, followed by chocolate self-saucing pudding. We bid adieu to dinner hosts Louise and Les relatively early. When I explained the circumstances of the previous night, Louise insisted we wake her if needed. "You just ring up the Flying Doctor" she enthused "and they tell you what to do."

Seemed far simpler than making a doctor's appointment. We'll keep you posted.