Day 7 Point Samson Rest Day 0 kms cycled, a few kms driven.

Kathy asked Collis if he'd like to write the blog today and he has delegated it to me (Annie). So here is my first (and last?) stint as guest writer. As I've got the opportunity I'd like to say thank you to Kathy for writing the blog everyday and keeping everyone up to date with our news. Also thanks to both Kathy and Collis for organising such a great trip for us and working so hard on our behalf. Kathy will think I'm only writing that because of the offer of dinner this evening but it is genuinely meant!
My day began at 5am when I met Joan in the bathroom (not pre-arranged!). She was worried that she had woken me up as her tent is very close to mine but I assured her I had woken because I needed to go to the loo, she was up and dressed and I saw her a short time later heading out on her bike. I went back to bed and dozed for a while, then got up to do my laundry and have breakfast.
The camp kitchen has a good seating area so most of us were eating breakfast in there between around 0645 and 0800.

We'd been offered use of a 9 seater mini van by Paul, the manager of the campsite (he was born in Leeds, where I live, but left in 1970). Theo, Chris, George, Peter and I decided to take up his offer and headed off to visit Cossack, a historic town. Woody and Joan had declined, they prefer to ride their bikes. Mark and Ben also decided to do their own thing. Kathy and Collis have visited Cossack before. It was a very interesting place to visit. It is now a ghost town, having been abandoned after WWII but there is lots of information about its history and residents during the pearling industry. It was only lived in for around 50 years. There are some substantial stone buildings still standing. Coming from England I often forget what a young country Australia is and was reminded when Chris pointed out that it must have been one of the first places to be settled around 1880.
We then headed off to Wickham where there is a small shopping centre. We passed Joan on her way to Cossack battling a fierce headwind. The shopping centre is a bit run down with the shop windows barred to such an extent you can't see inside. However we got all our shopping done, bumped into Woody there , had a coffee, bumped into Joan who had enjoyed a great ride back with the wind behind her, then bumped into Kathy and Collis. On a rest day you are guaranteed to run into someone you know! We put $20 of fuel in the van as a thank you to Paul and headed home for lunch. I enjoyed the morning and was certainly happy not to be out cycling against the wind today.
Everybody spent the afternoon doing typical rest day things, laundry, emails, reading, cleaning the tea box, bike cleaning etc.
Woody and Peter ate out this evening and had a good meal. The rest of us made use of the camp kitchen and BBQ. I helped Kathy and Collis finish off the bush camp meal which was even better second time around. Most people headed off to bed fairly early in preparation for tomorrow's ride. The forecast gives a tailwind for about 100k but then it will be from the side which will slow us down a bit.
A nice rest day enjoyed by everybody and I'm looking forward to the next few days of riding. (Hi Kev!)