Macksville

24th April : I've made my way all of the 40 odd km to Macksville. At the local hotel I stayed for a lock in beer and chat. Saturday night activities are fading and it's almost swag time.

Letter : The reminents of our ancestors lives still mark the roadsides on the outskirts of Fredrickton. Chimneys stand where they once warmed themselves and gathered to tell their stories.
An army convoy passed me, waving and tooting as their trucks or jeeps wizzed by like all the other traffic. They're like cannonballs, hopefully aimed to miss. I marched on past the carcasses and white crosses of the fallen. This endless walk, its smell of death and tragedy sometimes feels like I'm locked in a battle.
From Fredrickton to swag-down in Macksville is about 46km. One of the breaks in the solumn stretch is 'Paddys Rest Stop'. I couldn't help but recite my repitior of Irish drinking songs while I watch a sneaky policeman hide in the bushes with a hair drier. In this part of the world it's beauty over duty. There's something about a job that asks for sneakiness that doesn't sit well with me. Maybe it's something to do with respect?
10km from Macksville I came across two young girls selling Kelpie pups by the road. Some company on the trail would be a real temptation, but I can barely take care of myself let alone a dog.
The Macksville lights were a welcoming sight in some yellow neonish like way. The Numbucca Hotel is in town, quite a few kilometres from Numbucca Heads. There's a warmness in the furnishings and the clientel and an old local called 'Bluey' wants me to have a drink on the hotel verandah by the river. He says it'll be a life-defining moment.
Tomorrow morning I'm attending the RSL dawn service for ANZAC Day. It's a day to commemorate the sacrafices people have made to protect our freedoms, a day for singing 'And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda', and remembering it was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Perhaps the next day and every day thereafter will forever be about making war a redundant part of society.
My dream is to have grandchildren look up the word 'war' because they've never seen examples of it.
I'm three quarters of my way to Brisbane but I can only see my next step. The visions of what I will do after my walk is solidifying day-by-day now.