Day 511 | Hallett Railway Station: still waiting for the train
rest day
One look out the station door this morning and any thought of substantial movement was annulled.
Stormy, windy, bleak.
The station has been converted into free accommodation for the occasional walkers of the 1200 km long Heysen Trail and anyone on the Mawson Trail who knows the combination for the substantial padlock on the door: hint, it’s the local postcode. One room has a old pot bellied stove, complete with a decent pile of dry wood, a table and chairs, a sink with flowing water from a rainwater tank and a log book for the few people who actually use the joint: there’s less than 10 names that have Mawson anywhere adjacent and the book is three years old.
Next door are a few bunks.
Nice.
A roof over my head, a bunk for an afternoon nap, a comfortable chair with table, might as well hang around for the day, ignore that considerable caking of dust on things.
The weather didn’t change much, a few limited showers, warm enough to avoid the need for a jacket, plenty more oxygen at high velocity and as day moved to evening a massive lightning show, forked to all sides, as dramatic as it gets, but for some reason no major eardrum damage from thunder, noise levels just low rumblings at great distance.
The evening radio news mentions 30 small bushfires started by the lightning strikes, more than 150,000 strikes recorded in the last 24 hours for South Australia, although I wouldn’t want to be the one counting them.
After my soft roads and hill climbing of yesterday I needed a day off, a tough day in the office indeed.
Tomorrow I’m off on the roundabout Mawson Trail route to Burra, just 32 km down the Barrier Highway, the main road from Adelaide and Perth to Brisbane via Broken Hill, but my wiggly woggly back road trajectory will head via hills 20 km to the east, the edge of most maps, and take another two days.