April 28, 2014 12:23am

I woke to the sound of more rain. It rained steadily through the night but no major downpours so the tent stayed dry. I ate a fair dinkum brekky ( pretty good breakfast) of pork sausage on a tortilla with chili sauce and coffee. The meat was a gift from a gray nomad (Australia’s answer to snowbirds, retired couples who circumnavigate the continent in old converted buses and caravans). A mate of his owns a hog farm so the sausage was fresh. He also gave me six slices of the biggest bacon strips I have ever seen. That bacon must have come off of hogzilla! They were at least 18″ long and 3″ wide.

I went up to the Western Union office and all went well except they didn’t have enough money so I was told to come back in an hour to give them time to collect some more from customers. I went shopping at Coles (Coles in Australia is an all food store as is Woolworths).

When I got back To Western Union, I noticed a commemorative biscuit tin (biscuit is Australian for cookie) with an engraving of the Australian regiment camp at the great pyramids in Egypt during WWI (December 1914). They took a kangaroo with them as a mascot and it is also in the engraving. It reminded me of the past three weeks of my life so I bought one. The cookies are pretty good too.

Here is a photo of the tin. ANZAC is the Australian equivalent to Veterans Day and it was celebrated on April 25th so most of the stores were closed. If this makes it back to the states in one piece I am giving it to Luc for a tobacco tin.

The Western Union had the cash and counted out $1207.00 AUS. They said the conversion used must have been for USD currency because their calculations was for more than the $1150.00 that Will told me he sent.

The sky looks like it might be clearing up and the forecast for tomorrow is sunny so I’m starting to pack up the kit. It will be good to get back on the road and stretch my muscles.  The plan is to head south to Wyee and cut over to Wyong then to Yaramalong, Kulmara and Mangrove Mountain. This will take me through the national parks and down the west side of Sydney away from the crazy freeway interchanges.  From Mangrove Mt. I cross on Wiseman’s Ferry to Maroota, Maroota South, Windsor and head towards the capital city Camden.  Here is a photo of me studying the maps.