AND WE'RE OFF!

Yesterday, under cloudy skies, we set off from Station House. Excited doesn't even come close to our feelings as we drove away. There was the thrill of finally leaving. Apprehension for Pip. He'd lost his companion Ruby Chew only five days previously. Concern for housesitters Liz and Patrick handling Madame Cat's medication without being bitten or clawed. So much gratitude to our fabulous volunteers in the East End Gallery. Wondering what the hell we'd forgotten. And of course, a detour to our GPs in Northam to investigate Michael's very sore throat before we ventured Beyond the Black Stump.

Doctor Richard proclaimed Michael to be the lucky recipient of a nasty virus. He advised Michael that he was in for a rough five days or so. Richard's announcement immediately had implications. I was not keen on bush camping until Michael was better. With some very wet and cold weather on the horizon, we needed power for the first week to guarantee Michael didn't become chilled, leading to an upsurge in his asthma. The good news was that he had no chest infection implications.

We decided to shout ourselves Subway for lunch and some artiste supplies for Michael at Red Dot. Plus some symptomatic relief from the chemist. Michael's meds were contraindicated to mix with cold and flu tablets so I walked away with throat lozenges, nasal spray and a herbal concoction. Michael promptly declared the herbs were manufactured from powdered horse shit. I responded that meant they must be good for him.

We left Northam at two o'clock. We travelled through the afternoon, our destination Beacon. We stopped to see Rusty in Dowerin, Koorda's wonderful entry statement, their original Roads Board building and a plethora of seargent ants' nests. We chose to stick to minor roads which gave us a taste of the agricultural regions of the Northern Wheatbelt.

We eventually pulled into Beacon at almost six o'clock. Nobody was in the office and the park manager wasn't answering the phone. There was one other caravan in residence. We set up on the other side of the ablutions and plugged into power.

We still couldn't get the telly to work, so we gave up in disgust, enjoyed our prepared dinner, a couple of glasses of vino and retired to bed. We'd had a long day. Struggling to find comfort in Digger's bed, we eventually fell asleep.

Quite a start...

Michael with Rusty in Dowerin

Rusty's name tag

Rusty's story

Rusty's other side

In the middle of nowhere was the remains of Minnivale

The Minnivale Bakery's ovens

Lily and Digger at Minnivale (note their colour)

Minnivale Bakery crest

Koorda's fantastic entry statement

The impressive Koorda Road Works building plaque

And the less than impressive building!