Wilsons on the road: Wednesday 6 March 2013

Wednesday 6 March 2013 - Richmond

Today dawned cloudy and cool. Someone out there must have known I’d reached my limit yesterday and decided to turn on the air con for me! We ate a quick breakfast, packed a backpack (and a toddler into a backpack, Glenn’s turn this time) and set out on the gorge walk. Yasmin took it all in her stride (‘scuse the pun) on the way down and both girls had a great time once we reached the creek at the bottom, paddling and throwing rocks in the water and generally running amuck. The cloud hung around for a few hours, so we weren’t in any rush to begin our ascent and it was quite pleasant just to potter around for a while, having the whole place to ourselves again. On our way back up, the sun decided to make a bit of an appearance and so did Yasmin’s more whingey temperament. She stumbled a few times (crying twice, but one time she sucked it up and pushed on without a whimper) and to her credit, she made it all the way to the top. Daddy rewarded her with a square of his Aero caramel chocolate bar when we got back to camp.

Seeing as the sun was shining again, we figured we were better off just packing up and heading for the nice lake at Richmond and an hour later we were on the road again. We called into Hughenden on the way with the intention of visiting the Flinders Discovery Centre for an hour or so, but they were 5 minutes into an hour long lunch break and we couldn’t be bothered waiting so just drove on. Although what we were driving into looked like a great big storm. I checked the bureau website and the radar and it was raining all over Julia Creek, but Richmond and further east was completely dry.

We pulled up at the Lake View Caravan Park, paid for our site ($22 powered, bargain!) and as we started setting up, big fat raindrops began to fall. It wasn’t heavy and was actually quite a relief in contrast to the heat. After we’d set up, the caravan park manager came and informed us that they’d received warnings for strong winds, heavy rain and flash flooding. Fortunately, nothing consequential hit us but we did get a good hour or so of rain. The girls had a ball running around in it and we enjoyed a nice cool afternoon under the camper awning. Glenn cooked up a mean curry (and did the dishes afterwards – looks like he has to be nominated for Husband of the Year at this rate!) and I read my book, as much as I could whilst keeping half an eye on the girls. Then I took them for a nice long hot shower in the disabled toilet, where Yasmin insisted I fill up the baby bath for them both as well. Caravan parks are really quite a luxury for us now – funny how quickly your perspective changes!

It’s been exactly a month since we set out from Brisbane. In some ways it feels like much longer, as we’ve seen so much already and covered quite a few miles – yesterday was the first day we actually drove north of Mackay! But at the same time, the past four weeks have gone quickly and I’m really glad I’m trying to record everything so often, as often I find I’ve forgotten what we’ve done just a few days ago. I’m definitely grateful we’ve given ourselves about two years to do this trip (and even then, that’s not locked in stone – if we’re still not finished and we can afford to, we’ll keep going) because it gives us the freedom to truly go with the flow. One thing I have learnt is that the country, despite it’s often extreme conditions, isn’t as harsh and unforgiving as you first perceive it and will provide respite and relief just when you think you can’t handle it anymore.