So here i am today in Ariah Park…

Woke up early & downed 1.5litres of water, that has been my routine for a couple of weeks now, hydration is so important on this trip. I said goodbye to my grey nomad neighbours and headed off to the local IGA to grab some mandarins. Was searching around for a rainwater tank to fill my bottles but there was none in sight, luckily a man powerwalking past stopped for a chat & offered to fill up a water bottle at his place and bring it back for me! How lovely! While I was waiting I did a little resistance routine in the park consisting of bench pushups, dips and static lunges. The other day too I forgot to mention that I got mum to send my resistance band to me so I can keep up my muscle-building. I have used it a couple of times over the last week and have been feeling sore muscles in return! A great feeling though.

I grabbed some mandys and waited for the guy to come back. He’s name is Popeye! We had a great chat and he gave me some alternative directions but unfortunately they included some gravel so I opted out. I then checked out the newsagents and found my article on Page 2, quite big actually which impressed me but no blog details!! Ah well Im going to approach more papers and news as I go so just early days.

Today Im feeling very tired and as a result made a few silly mistakes with my directions consequently seeing me back track over the same 5kms of road 3times! Ah the joy! Also underlating hills are coming into play now, the scenery is definitely nicer but Im paying the price! It’s all good, fitness inducing. I have decided to stop in Ariah Park and head off towards Barmedman (could’ve spelt that wrong but rushing) tomorrow. The local caravan park has a free spot for me to pitch my bivy which is great. There are 2 other travelling grey nomads which Im sure I will chat to. There’s definitely some very interesting people out there to meet.

The goal tomorrow is to get to Grenfell then head towards Forbes then probably across to Orange but I don’t want to get to ahead of myself!

kms:50.5