Mad Ted and the Mud Song

In our typical fashion, we descended into town for fuel, a visit to the info centre (primarily to get our certificates indicating our crossing of the fabled Nullarbor) and the traditional extra strong take away lattes needed before and during any willful venture. I had collected the coffees and was en route to find the clan who had gone for pictures with corrugated iron renditions of camels, when I found them in avid discussion with a fellow whose name I later found out was Mad Ted...Mad Ted of Norseman to be precise. He was your classical Aussie Old Fella with a long tattered beard to match his clothing and wafting odour. A tremendous soul was he though, presenting flowers to the kids and Jen and having his wife help him show off his Santa stunts on his mobile phone- we nearly had to winch ourselves away from his incessant conversation which eventually subsided. We've promised him a card once we're back in Canada! Back on the tarmac, we pointed the beast directly South towards Esperance. Jen was keen for us to see the Dundas Rocks - only a short trip out of town. Turns out Dundas used to be a small gold mining community which has for the most part simply disappeared back into the forest and scrub whilst Norseman took over. The rocks - multiple large eroded granite boulders piled haphazardly around the area were somewhat impressive but not worth leaving our nicely air conditioned confines. While Jen attended to some urgent nature's business, I attempted to turn Bessie and Gertie around so we could continue our journey south to Esperance. This entailed driving further up the dirt track which due to recent rains appeared puddled and soppy in areas. Sure enough I managed to find the mud pit and much to the kids' delight started spinning mud-balls onto Bessie and the mirrors without making much headway. The irony was that Jen had recently found some Rolf Harris songs on the ipod and as I was wallowing in the muck, Rolf was singing out the "Mud, Mud, Mud" of the Hippopotamus Song. Despite my distress - it was hard not have a little chuckle. Jen was about 400ms back and wondering what the hell I was doing and why I had left her back alone amongst the scrub. I managed to sort myself out of the muck somehow and with Jen back on board, navigated ourselves back to the highway, dirtied but unbowed. We made it to Esperance just after lunch and as we had been unable to replenish supplies for a few days, opted for a Subway lunch which was enjoyed by all. Not sure if it was the last few days of heavy driving, lack of fitness or what but I was feeling listless and lazy today. The kids had plenty of spunk though and after tearing apart the caravan park's kiddie playground we headed across the road to the white sandy beach for a stroll and play. Along the foreshore these seeming nests or bundles of thin, dry seaweed cluttered the ocean break. They were like intermittent straw-like cushions which the kids gleefully threw themselves upon and hopped through. We found the remnants of a deepish sand pit another crew of beach-kids had left and Cole, being the brazen, rather crazy kid that he is, decided to take a run at it and slide down the central mound to the bottom. For all intents and purposes it actually appeared as though he was jumping into a deep unending pit - immediately disappearing from view only to pop up seconds later with a grin that scaled from ear to ear. With dark approaching we scuttled back to Gertie and prepared for another evening amongst the hordes.