Refreshed from my rest day I walked out of Karuah with a spring in my step.My plan: to take some back roads to Gloucester, a few days away. I am walking this section towards Brisbane 'as it comes' and deciding my route as I go. I am well aware that the coastal route is much more humid than other inland routes like the one I am on at the moment. After an hours walking I crossed an intersection of the busy Pacific Highway linking Newcastle to Taree. That took me onto a gravel road called: The Branch. It was a hot day, about 23C with a touch of humidity.
After another hour a man with an air of gentry called Anthony pulled up in a white pickup truck. After a pleasant chat in which I gleaned that he is originally from Cambridge, England. A polo archivist and probably, in his eighties. He has been living in this region of Australia for most of his life.
"I used to own a huge swathe of land over yonder and it breaks my heart when I pass by every day and see it being mismanaged.
Back in 1990 we had a five year drought and it was impossible for me to keep up the repayments on my pastoral. It was worth 3 million Aussie dollars. Eventually, the bank took it off me. All I got for it was 300,000."
Further on down the road I came to a t-junction and turned left. I was back on a tarmac road which led to Booral. From there I turned right onto route 2 and finished my 37 kilometre day in darkness in Stroud. Not knowing where to camp I followed a sign which pointed to the public toilets as they often have an adjoining rest area. It did but first I had to climb up a couple of hundred steep metres to the top of Silo Hill. That's where I camped that night. In the small park a sign informed me that the underground silos were built by convicts in the 1800's and that cannons were shipped from England to defend local towns.
Another late start and after an enjoyable 19 kilometres I got stopped on my walk into a pretty hamlet called Weismantels by Peter Madden, a local farmer who after spotting my Irish tri-colour shouted out:.
"You are a long way from home matey!
I'm what you would call a hobby farmer. I just have a small farm with just a few cows and a bull that I only bought last week."
Pete locked up a gate and drove his tractor across the road to where I was standing at the foot of a short off-road hill that led to his house. Another interesting roadside conversation ensued and I pounced at his kind offer to spend the night at his home.
After a cup of tea we went down the road to visit his daughter and family. Only eight days previous she gave birth to a baby boy. On the way back to Pete's place we stopped at an old mine site.
"That once beautiful area over there was a coal mine site. It was mined bare by the Chinese and shipped over there. As you know we can't use coal here as it's banned. But our government sells it off for half nothing to the Chinese. Now, just look at the ugly state they left the place in after they departed. And our government doesn't care. Those log trucks you see on the road are also shipping the wood to China."
Back in Pete's house he cooked a delicious savoury burger and chips dinner with a fruit salad and ice cream desert. I told some of my road stories and we had a fun evening. He talked about snakes in the area and warned of ferocious Tiger snakes which are pretty territorial and are the most likely to attack.
After another hour a man with an air of gentry called Anthony pulled up in a white pickup truck. After a pleasant chat in which I gleaned that he is originally from Cambridge, England. A polo archivist and probably, in his eighties. He has been living in this region of Australia for most of his life.
"I used to own a huge swathe of land over yonder and it breaks my heart when I pass by every day and see it being mismanaged.
Back in 1990 we had a five year drought and it was impossible for me to keep up the repayments on my pastoral. It was worth 3 million Aussie dollars. Eventually, the bank took it off me. All I got for it was 300,000."
Further on down the road I came to a t-junction and turned left. I was back on a tarmac road which led to Booral. From there I turned right onto route 2 and finished my 37 kilometre day in darkness in Stroud. Not knowing where to camp I followed a sign which pointed to the public toilets as they often have an adjoining rest area. It did but first I had to climb up a couple of hundred steep metres to the top of Silo Hill. That's where I camped that night. In the small park a sign informed me that the underground silos were built by convicts in the 1800's and that cannons were shipped from England to defend local towns.
Another late start and after an enjoyable 19 kilometres I got stopped on my walk into a pretty hamlet called Weismantels by Peter Madden, a local farmer who after spotting my Irish tri-colour shouted out:.
"You are a long way from home matey!
I'm what you would call a hobby farmer. I just have a small farm with just a few cows and a bull that I only bought last week."
Pete locked up a gate and drove his tractor across the road to where I was standing at the foot of a short off-road hill that led to his house. Another interesting roadside conversation ensued and I pounced at his kind offer to spend the night at his home.
After a cup of tea we went down the road to visit his daughter and family. Only eight days previous she gave birth to a baby boy. On the way back to Pete's place we stopped at an old mine site.
"That once beautiful area over there was a coal mine site. It was mined bare by the Chinese and shipped over there. As you know we can't use coal here as it's banned. But our government sells it off for half nothing to the Chinese. Now, just look at the ugly state they left the place in after they departed. And our government doesn't care. Those log trucks you see on the road are also shipping the wood to China."
Back in Pete's house he cooked a delicious savoury burger and chips dinner with a fruit salad and ice cream desert. I told some of my road stories and we had a fun evening. He talked about snakes in the area and warned of ferocious Tiger snakes which are pretty territorial and are the most likely to attack.
Please check out my interview from my previous post
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