Heavenly Beverley : MY BIG DAY in a small town!

Marble Bar is not known for an enormous populace. Current estimates would place residents at around six hundred and fifty. Just add tourists to inflate these numbers...Marble Bar is also located in the Shire of the East Pilbara, which is the largest local government area in Australia (three hundred and eighty thousand square kilometres - get your head around that!) and apparently, third in the world after a couple of municipalities in Greenland...with a population of around six and a half thousand. That equates to one person every fifty-eight square kilometres. Need to practise social distancing? Then the East Pilbara is the place to be (rather than poor bloody Victoria!).

We arrived in Marble Bar on Tuesday evening. On Wednesday, I attended to four loads of dirty laundry in our marvellous van washing machine. I was most impressed as only Michael's filthy jeans required a repeat wash. Given our chronic money crisis and the probable debacle of having to drive four hundred kilometres in a round trip to Port Hedland to repair the flat tyre, our mood was rather gloomy. Walking from the Shire offices to the Community Resource Centre, I may not have been paying full attention to the path paving, which had been rendered uneven by tree roots. My left foot caught on a paver, my right leg shot as far outwards as able to prevent me from falling, which, alas, did not translate into keeping me upright. With skin off my left foot and my right leg still hyper-extended, I was going down. Chloe Egan, one of the Shire heroines, hurtled towards the scene of my collapse, which may have been ill-considered given the path had already claimed one victim. She was closely followed by Lisa George, who both looked after me quite expertly and called the ambos.

Nurses Adrienne and Brian came to our rescue and hauled my sorry and painful arse off the ground. Adrienne, with eagle-eyes, spotted Michael's dressing and added him to her list of patients for the next day. I was unable to weight-bear at that point which was very unsettling. Visions of having to be taken to Port Hedland and leaving Michael and the dogs in Marble Bar was definitely not on my agenda. Adrienne and Brian helped me into Lily to drive back to the caravan and once there, Adrienne spent a great deal of time coaxing and reassuring me. Whilst I was still vertical (ish), she slapped an ice pack on the intensively painful back of my right thigh. The instantaneous relief allowed me to lurch up the two steps into Digger and onto our bed.

As Adrienne had predicted, ice was my saviour that night. By morning I could walk, albeit in the fashion of an ancient and drunken sailor. However, I chose not to go anywhere early and we didn't set out for the Nursing Post until eleven-thirty.

We passed a couple of Shire staffers relaying the troublesome pavers which had been my downfall. We waved in appreciation at their speedy efforts.

The Marble Bar Nursing Post was new and modern with all comforts. The Flying Doctor was IN as well, so any treatment that couldn't be delivered by the able nurses could be by the Doctor in the House.

I was assured that I was recovering well from my unfortunate accident and Michael's arm was expertly washed and redressed by Adrienne. He felt like a new man and we thanked her profusely before making our way out into another stunning afternoon.

Next stop was to catch up with Volunteer Extraordinaire Margaret at the Marble Bar Visitors Centre. On a visit to Beverley last summer (!), Margaret had requested we bring her a few of Michael's redback fridge magnets - the Famous Magda. She was delighted to see us and promptly purchased three...She had heard on the grapevine that we were in town. As one does in Marble Bar.

After we'd farewelled Margaret, I stopped at the Police Station next door, housed in an original cool stone building. Head copper Nick and young offsider Rhys were both very welcoming and were able to direct us to Shaun, Nick's son-in-law, for the tyre repair. A very agreeable and modest young man, Shaun fixed the puncture and we settled for the cost of a couple of beers. Immediately afterwards, we set sail for Traveller's Rest, where we knew Shaun's wife Kara was working and could give us lunch.

A couple of toasties and chips were supplied by Kara cheerfully and briskly whilst we sat outside with the dogs. Travellers Rest was jumping at lunchtime and she and her kitchen assistant were very busy indeed.

We needed to attend the Shire offices to complete the incident report related to my spectacular tumble. Chloe and Lisa walked me through the paperwork and in between, I asked them about themselves. Both were Pilbara girls - Lisa from Marble Bar and Chloe from Newman. Either of these young women would have looked at home in corporate Perth, but neither had intentions of leaving the region just yet.

Following all this activity, we returned to the caravan for a lie-down, a Bex and a cup of tea. We ventured out in the evening to the pub for a drink and to buy Michael a bottle of red. We promptly sold two more spiders and promised two more to a visiting worker the next night!

We gratefully retired to the caravan for a quick dinner and soon afterwards, to nigh nighs. This day had rivalled the busiest of days in Heavenly Beverley and we were knackered. And delighted by this small community's care and support of us.