Hiking the National Trail - Australia: Day 40

Wednesday 26th May, 2021 (back tracking to Mingela)

The actual walk back into Mingela isn't that long after yesterday's effort so I wasn't in a hurry to move. 

I was determined this morning to boil myself up a brew of tea. This I did and then I started pulling the tent down and promptly knocked the cup over when folding up the tent poles.  I cursed loudly at the responsible diety and boiled up a second brew (Lucky I carried the extra water last night). I finished packing and sat down, enjoying every sip of the tea. 

Normally I would be gone before 7 am and breakfast would be around 9. It was a little different to sit in the tent and watch the day come alive. During the night there are a lot of noises. Sounded like a galah was getting eaten by a snake last night. But you can't see anything. Watching the different birds come through the trees as the light changes was interesting. One of the earliest birds to move was a hawk. At last light went yesterday it was in the trees above me scanning around. Then this morning at first light it was back scanning around. 

I could here some galahs coming then a flock of black cockatoos came and chased everything away. They looked to just pick and drop small branches. As the sun came up nectar birds arrived. A willy wagtail landed on the wire beside the tent and picked a few bugs off the tent. Some birds came through with a different way to fly between trees, like a couple of beats of their wings then they fold them back and move through the air like a missile and then another couple of quick beats and fold back again. 

None of that dawdling gets any kilometres under the belt so eventually I lift the pack get back to the road and start north. 

One lady stopped for a chat this morning. She had seen me plodding yesterday and even picked up that I was wearing Scarpas. Her husband's favourite brand until his last pair a goretex upper that was falling apart. Goretex is another industry fabric I'm not a fan of. I like good old leather. (Sorry Vegans)

I dropped in on the Mingela cemetery and looked at the couple of graves here. I like cemeteries. I am a believer that when I stand there and read their stone for that instant I bring back a relevance to their existence. When you read a stone with words from a mother who lost a 3 year old I can empathise even though it was over 100 years ago. We all have a story.  We all don't get into the history books. For those I like to spend a couple of seconds imagining. 

Then it's only a short walk back to the pub. Ivan likes to grow Desert Roses and is working his way up to just not growing them but to graft different colours on each plant. It may be worth coming back in a couple of years to see how he is going - as long as he looks after himself.  He has lost a toe already and looking at his legs he is not on a merry future. But this evening he asked me if it was alright if we just had a roast chicken dinner. I know I paid for it but Ivan and Moana have looked after me when I have been here. 

I stayed up late to watch the lunar eclipse but couldn't get a photo of it, then had a good night's sleep. I don't have to get up early as the bus leaves Charters Towers at 8am and we are 48km away.