No need to say it was again hot and dry and windy and not much of a change to previous days. Strategy: get to camp before the wind blows you of the road! Luckily the road direction changed from east to south-south-east, turning the headwind into a less annoying crosswind. Lunch was at a ‘termite mount plantation’, a place that was sometimes cleaned from bushes and trees, but then occupied by hundredth of termite colonies. After lunch I was attacked by a bird. I was cycling along, when I heard a bird’s cry and a shadow following me. I turned around and I saw a bird flying over my head, obviously investigating the bugs on my helmet. The bird tried several times to get one of these. I got my GoPro ready and luckily got the last attempt recorded before the bird gave up. All day no wallabies to see, only the smell of them. However those you can smell, you don’t want to see - too many road kills. And usually next to the dead ‘roo’ is a dead bird. I wanted to see some caves along our route, but unfortunately the park was still closed when I arrived, and not to open for another 70 minutes – too long too wait for. Later I stopped at a world war II heritage site, with a Stirling Mill steam engine. A wallaby as hiding in the engine body, but jumped into the bushes when I get off my bike. Mataranka is a small settlement. Highlight is the nearby fresh water spring in a National Park. Unbelievable to find a river in the middle of nowhere with crystal clear water at 33°C. Even at that temperature a real refreshment. Many of us did the extra 3 km from camp to the river to go for a swim. Tomorrow is another long cycling day. 169km and only one coke stop en route. We will further change direction to go straight south, thus hoping that this will slightly enhance to wind situation.
Chilling out at the last Billabong (waterhole) – the pool at the camp ground – before we go on a 5 days / 660 km trip further south into the dry Aussie interior
Unfortunately the rental car companies were closed on Sundays, thus we were trapped in the town and could not go to see the Gorge …
At least the restaurant at camp is open today and we don’t have to taxi into town again.
The sunrise in the outback is very spectacular. I’ll will a photo or two a day from our current location to this gallery, if I am lucky enough to catch is with my camera …
A short and fast day into Katherine for another rest day. Same conditions as last two days …
Now that we know that the gusty south-east wind is freshen up at around 10am when the temperatures raise above 30°C, everyone wants to make as much of the days distance in the early morning, to avoid going into the wind and heat for too long. Since there is almost no change in landscape and country site and no Coke Stops, there are almost no time lost stopping too often. Katherine is a little town, in the middle of nowhere, and the birthplace of Cadel Evans, an Australian professional racing cyclist and winner of the 2011 Tour de France. Not much to do in town, but some opportunities in the closer surroundings, like a canyon or the Kakadu National Park. Camp is on the Ibis Hotel, however little to no shade, so most of the riders booked a room. I am camping, however there is again little privacy as later arriving cyclists tend to setup their tents right in the space left between 2 others, although there is space available in the size of a large soccer field. Hope this is going to change soon and the craziness of camping like fish in a tin ends. There are certain things happening during such trips, I‘ll never understand. Humans are sometimes a strange species.
All day increasing head or crosswind making the second part of the day a real tough one in the increasing heat. Roads perfect, traffic considerably respectful on Stuart HWY.
The 50th cycling day! You know you are in Australia when a less than 100m ‘climb’ is mentioned as the days ‘challenge’ on the whiteboard!
We took a scenic route out of camp, which extended the ride by an extra 20km. However it was really worth it. The red morning sun turned the landscape into a colorful painting; changing with every minute and the rising sun. Some of the creeks were actually running water and created occasional oases with palm trees and small lakes. No chance for a swim, as signs posted the message of crocs in the rivers and lakes. At one point there were bush fires next to the road, with birds flying low and diving onto the road to catch the fleeing insects. The morning was astonishingly cool, just 19°C and the still low sun and trees produced enough shade on the roads for a while. The full heat was on after lunch. And with the heat the wind sets in, getting stronger with every minute and always from SE. As we are heading east, southeast and finally south we will probably never have a supporting tailwind, on the whole section down to Adelaide. Road-Trains were passing us, most of them with a respectful distance. Some of the 55m length, weighting 168t on 27 axels driving 104 wheels. Even if the pass you in a controlled manner, their impact on the wind requires you to be very cautious at any time. The Lazy Lizard camp is in town, therefore no hike into the wilderness today.
Today a car stopped next to me on the Stuart Highway. It was Craig a TdA2008 fellow from Australia, who was on his way home from Darwin and made it a quick reunion before he headed away in his car to find Chris, leaving me alone in the heat and headwind.
Warm to hot. Wind chilled a bit. Roads perfect. Not too much traffic on Stuart HWY.
What a change to Indonesia. It can’t be much more. All day flat. No humas on the road, except in ‘tins-on-wheels’ (trucks, cars and road-trains) and Stirling on a rented motorcycle. Once out of Darwin traffic reduced but speed of the vehicles increased. Heat was on in the late morning. Lunch was soooo good. What a difference to the Indonesian variations. I am missing coke stops and cheap beverages. Australia is going to blow my budget. 600ml Coke = 4.30$, mineral water 1.5l = 5.00$ (Darwin). It was too hot to see wildlife during the day, just cattle and an Emu. However in camp the wallabies were all around in the late afternoon. Now they are grassing in our camp around my tent.
Chris, Ursula, Rae and I met with Gwen and Hans, who are traveling NT by car for 3 weeks and stayed in our camp in Darwin. We shared stories and beer and went out for dinner.
The 2nd half of our Epic trans-Oceania ride begins in tropical Darwin, which has evolved from “brawling frontier outpost” to cosmopolitan small city, fueled by mining, tourism and crocodiles. After stocking up and making sure we have plenty of Fosters in the “eskie” (cooler) we’ll head off on the Stuart Highway and into the Outback, a vast tract of “scrub-lands, red desert sands, and galloping roadside Emus.” 300 km down the road our first rest day will be in the town of Katherine from where riders can visit the picturesque sandstone gorges at Nitmiluk National Park or the Cutta Cutta Caves. Continuing south we’ll encounter the fascinating ghost town of Newcastle Waters before arriving in Tennant Creek, which services the region’s remote cattle stations and aboriginal communities. Further on we’ll pass by piles of gigantic boulders known as the Devil’s Marbles and camp at roadhouses en route to Alice Springs, known to locals simply as “Alice.” Here, a triple rest day marks the end of this section and will give our intrepid cyclists plenty of time for the 450 km side trip by bus or by plane to astonishing Uluru (Ayers Rock).
