I slept well last night inspite of the cows and was on the road by 0830. It was a bit blowy for most of the day bit I just pottered along, singing to myself and watching the birds.  I saw a falcon swoop down and pick up a piece of rope from the roadside but then realised if wasn't rope but a snake. Saw the usual roos and wedge tail eagles, brahman cows and that's about it, animal wise.

First stop of the day was Pardoo roadhouse where I had a coffee then a lunch/ fuel stop at Sandfire. where and met Peter and Lesley, originally from Epsom. They gave me details  of various free camps on the direction I was heading which saved me the job of finding them for myself.

A peacock and several other birds strutted around the tables, learnt having realised the value of the place as crumb central.

I also chatted to a truckie who told me about his own travels and then  all about local wheat farming. He reckoned small famers spend between 1.5 - 5 million dollars per year on seed, gambling that it will grow ok and not get wet and germinate the heads. That's a stonking amount of money to gamble on the e weather, and pitch against crops grown by other big producers - Russia, Ukraine and N America. He also reckoned that wheat in WA  costs a third of what it costs to grow over in NSW. Something  to

do with freighting charges and the fact that WA crops are grown as a cooperative system.

A bloke on a VIctory pulled up too, massive  against Gerty. Dean from Melbourne, ex USAF and originally from South Missouri , heading for Broome. He was nice to chat to and these  chance roadside encounters are what makes trips like this for me, crossing paths with others and then going on your way again.  They are like little punctuations a in a day which you can't foresee but still shape what that day becomes for you. 

I'd only gone about 90 kms  further on when I met Mike, another long distance walker, pushing his trolley round Oz, this time in aid of Arthritis and men's health. I had a chat to him and he later camped next to me at the free camp, where I also rediscovered Peter and Lesley and met Maryeka and Gerald.  

Mike has walked Australia before, averaging about 40 kms a day and replanning his day so that he goes to bed by 6pm and gets on the road at about 0200, making uses off the cooler hours of darkness. He also reckons it's safer because it's only road trains on the road at that time which he can see coming and get out of the way of.

He also said that walking has become a way of life for him, helping him deal with various conditions, one of which affected his ability to walk; he used sticks for many years but gradually got himself more mobile to the point where he now walks a continent. Determination and positive thinking at it's very best.