Day 40, 41: End in Sight!

It’s been a long few days but eventually I have made it to the small town of Ceduna! Civilization at last! I must admit I’m feeling a bit of reverse culture shock after being in nowhere for so long – the first railway crossing I passed over made me smile! And the first pizza I ordered 🙂

Tough 2 days to get here. Headwind almost the whole time, and when it abated briefly the Mosquitos arrived. C’est la vie. On the evening of the first night I crawled into the village Penong, and was so happy with sleeping that I left the bar to crawl into bed. So wonderful! Before dawn I was out of the hotel and in the 24hr petrol station asking about breakfast, as the lady the previous night said they started serving before they opened. ‘Sure said the guy,’ ‘follow me,’ And took me into the kitchen. ‘What do you fancy?’ he asked and I made something up so he started the cooker and through on some bacon. Awesome!

The final day was very hard, although I had some energy from lots of snacks (which I can finally buy!) and put up a strong pace. I will even admit that the first 5 miles were enjoyable as I watched the warm glow of the sun on the surrounding fields. By the end of the day I was done though, and again crawled into town. I should have been full of excitement at having made it, but all I really felt was exhaustion and a worry about getting somewhere to sleep – it’s like I had forgotten how to deal with the real world in the last few weeks. This fear proved founded when I arrived at the main motel in town.

‘We are fully booked I’m afraid – there is a conference in town,’ I was told. Who holds a conference in a town with just 3 motels? I asked her if she wouldn’t mind calling the other 2 places to see if they had rooms to save me the 1km walk each way. Rooms available? No and no. So it was dark and I was stuck with nowhere to stay.

‘Oh, I’m an idiot,’ she suddenly remarked. ‘A guy cancelled today and I forgot to put it in the system! So we do have a room. I’ll give you a discount as well.’ Epic result. Only for one night, but a problem deferred is a problem solved, right. It was the best night’s sleep ever. So here I am, watching the sunrise over the bay as I have breakfast. Life is good!

#runacrossaustralia