After the quick update at Nundle, I headed up to Hanging Rock. The plan was to head to Barrington Tops. However, it was cold!! It was midday when I got up there, had lunch at a place called Shiba Dam (Had a picnic at Hanging Rock), and I was shivering. If it was that cold at midday, I thought the nights might be too cold for me, so I headed back to Woolomin. Took me 1.5 hours to walk up to Hanging Rock, and 5 minutes to coast down. I did camp one night at Nundle, and found ice on the tent in the morning when I woke. Woolomin was cold, but not as cold.
So for the last three weeks, there has been lots of shivering! Still getting rid of stuff - down to just a pair of sandals now - got rid of the shoes I had. I've never liked shoes that much, so not sure why I thought I would suddenly start wearing them now. Gone. 1.5kg lighter (they were heavy shoes!!)
The other thing about Woolomin was that Merv and George had all these books. The General Store had books also, so I did a lot of reading while I was there. George went ferreting on the last weekend, and brought me a rabbit skin. I wanted to try brain tanning it. Well, I learnt alot about hides - fleshing the hide wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. After several hours, cramps in my hands, holes in the pelt, I admitted defeat. I know for next time - start with a more comfortable handled knife, a hard surface to work on, have water handy, and probably start on not such an old rabbit. The pelt was from and old female and was very mangy. But still for a first try, I was happy. No I didn't get to the tanning stage. Next time. Though then I'll have to catch the rabbit myself.
For interested people, here is the link on how I was going to do the tanning: http://www.braintan.com/articles/furs/miller1.html
I was in Tamworth yesterday, but had internet problems so didn't get an update. I'm now at the Manila caravan park. And it is a nice park. My lesson from yesterday is 'drink water'. I set out from Woolomin about 8, got to Tamwoth at 9:30, did postal stuff, internet, some shopping, and then set out. About lunch time cramps started, and I struggled on to Manilia before thinking about why. Realised that I'd only drunk about a liter all day, and the day was very dry. Also had a head wind the whole way. (Why is it that when I stop the wind goes the way I want to head, but the moment I start riding I get a head wind?) Decided that I'll rest up here for a couple of days to recover before moving on. There are also more books here to read :)
Sorry to all the people that I've got email addresses for that I've not emailed yet. I keep forgetting and packing the address book at the bottom of the bags. Sooner or later I'll rememeber and keep it on top.
Yesterday was the first day not shivering, and now the weather here has gone cold :( Hope the washing dries - my jumper is in it.
