My world walk blog Australia 49

Last Saturday before leaving the town of Miles I sorted my puncture that I got the day before. I decided to go the full hog and got two thorn-resistant inner tubes and a bottle of the slime self-sealing gu. I removed the value of one of the new tubes and poured it into the inner tube, reinserted the valve and pumped my tube up nice and hard. The other tube will be a spare. Ready to roll!

I walked out of Miles with a lot of smiles. That day it was pretty overcast. I turned right just outside of town and changed to the Leichhardt highway, I am now walking along route 5. Despite my 1 pm departure I still clicked out 22 kilometres when I arrived at the Possum Park campsite. I don't normally stay at campsites, I normally prefer to pitch behind a bush or whatever. This time instinct told me to check it out. And it was to turn out to be pretty sharp instinct. When I arrived at the office it was closed and I had to walk another 500 metres to the site. The worst part is that I will have to return in the morning and all this extra distance is off my route

At the site, I met up with Julie and Dave the owners. Julie soon took it upon herself to mammy me as she fussed about my comfort and well-being and eventually not only giving me a free night but then she kindly upgraded me to a 100 dollar a night cabin! There were a group of boys and girls who were out enjoying the great outdoors with their cub's group. They were a nice bunch of kids, aged between 8-10. Julie apologised about the noise but I didn't care, I love to see children enjoying themselves. The leaders gave me some leftover hot dogs and baked potatoes, so I didn't have to cook that night. The mossies were biting hard, so I ran for my cabin.

The Possum Park campsite is actually a former Royal Australian Air Force explosives store and it compromises of 20 concrete underground bunkers. In 1985 David and Julie purchased the disused bunkers along with 360 acres of land and turned it into Possum Park campsite. Since then several of the underground bunkers have been converted into self-contained motel units. 

I had a look inside a Vickers Viscount 756c aeroplane which is now obsolete but previously used for postal deliveries. My hosts bought it a couple of years ago and are converting it to accommodation! I reckon this will be pretty big on Air B&B for couples that want a romantic weekend away!

Next day I walked 31 kilometres on a hot day and made it to a cafe in a hamlet called Guluguba. It was closed for refurbishment. I stopped under the veranda to cook my dinner on my stove. Just after I packed up, Steve, the owner arrived back after an almost 1,000 km round trip to Brisbane and invited me inside and gave me a bed. 

Next day Steve mentioned that he works as a chef in a hotel in Wandaon, 18 kilometres down the road. I asked him to take my pack on ahead and when I arrived he treated me to a delicious lamb souvlaki wrap lunch. It was another hot day and I pushed on through the worst of it and sat down on my mini fold up stool a couple of times to rest under shady trees. I have been told that some of the places that I have walked through recently had minor flooding issues. Dominos Pizza in Chinchilla was flooded out. To me, this flooding was obvious as I could see that the rivers are muddy brown and that grass is both long and green. I have also been warned that because of this to keep a sharp eye out for dislodged snakes.

That day I walked long into the evening. At nine o'clock I pitched my tent in a safe area down a side road.