Day 9 Newmans Rocks to Bush camp 165 kms

Lovely nights sleep with a much warmer night all up. The camp noises were minimal with no road noises as we were about a km in off the road. Woody somehow got enough reception to make a phone call home around 9.30 pm so we all got to listen to the one side of the conversation. One of the ladies was talking in their sleep at some stage during the night, we think anyway as some of us heard a female conversation in the early hours. Poor old Annie ended up having nightmares during the night anyway, even though she wasn't scared when she went to bed, and then woke hearing someone saying Hello, hello outside her tent. She thinks now that she may have woken herself talking in her sleep.

Collis changed the distances for today at lunchtime. Instead of riding 110 kms to a bush camp he decided the winds were so favorable that they shouldn't mind doing the extra 55 kms and then stay at a rest area with toilets. Everyone was so happy with the winds today they were all in agreeance for the extra kms.
Marks birthday today and the "younger group" rode together playing cycle cricket all day. Sounded quite fun and they were making it up as they went along. Annie and Kirsten ended up with scores in the negative and Ben and Mark seemed to come drawed. Couldn't find a birthday card for Mark at the Belladonia roadhouse at morning tea so ended up getting him a postcard and a mug with Across the Nullabor emblem.
The salmon gums are getting scarcer and the trees are thinning very fast. I think by tomorrow we will no longer have salmon gums to look at anymore. The lack of wild life is still evident and I can't believe how little bird life is around in this area. After saying that Lorraine and Pat reported they saw an eagle overhead today. Up North there wasn't much wild life but plenty of birds so this change has been very noticeable.

Woody took off after morning tea and got on the back of Georg's wheel. He managed to keep up with him till lunch and then took off after John till the end of the day. I've never seen Woody pedal so fast as he did today. John and Woody were first into camp. John was pessimistic about our ability to have a cooking fire tonight due to the lack of firewood in the camping area. We even had Mark climb a tree to cut off a dead limb. He got pretty high up and there was some concern for how he was going to get back down. I just continued with the preparation of dinner and let them sort out the fire problems. Collis and a few of them took off in the car but only went as far as across the highway before they found a huge supply of firewood so problem solved.
Dinner tonight was Chilli Con Non-Carne (vegetarian) with rice and an upside down apple pudding for dessert. Everyone seemed to enjoy the meal and all food went. The girls did the dishes for me which I love. Kirsten made Mark a crown to wear as the birthday boy which was really cute.

Collis went for tumble number two in as many days when he tripped over the spade in the dark, flicking a large cut branch up in the air as he landed on his arm at the other side of the wood pile. A large abrasion down the underside of his arm and a sore wrist but he is OK. Getting OLD!! We had a wild black cat wandering around the campsite tonight so had to put away all loose food stuffs into the trailer.
A little drizzle of rain for about 5 minutes sent most people off to bed but it soon stopped and the clouds lifted to give a beautiful array of stars. Getting up for a toilet break during the night and looking up to the heavens, made you feel very lucky to be alive and viewing this marvel.