Darwin to Katherine



Day 1 - a bit of a shock within 30 km of departing Darwin to see how far away Alice Springs is...

 

Farewell committee in Darwin - Hans and Gwen with whom we rode in Africa six years ago. They 'just happened' to be touring in Australia and came by to renew acquaintances - really nice to reconnect with them...



Rae riding with David Freeman who we met in Rome a couple of years ago...

Not a vulture, but a kite keeping an eye on us...


Black Kite

We quickly got a taste of what we're facing in the next few weeks. Temperature was in the high 30s in the shade, except there was no shade. Ursula's bike computer registered 44 degrees after lunch.

Along much of the road, we could see where burning had taken place. It is a practice to keep down the amount of brush that would otherwise help fire to spread quickly.



A few kilometers short of camp was a general store with cool drinks and ice cream - here Rae with Henry Gold and Fred Promoli.

At camp, the swimming pool was a pleasant surprise - clean, cool, refreshing.

In the camp office, we got introduced to two orphan wallabies, this one four months old...

...and this one two months old in the hands of our leader Andreas...

...and the grounds were full of wallabies that came out and fed in the last hour of the day...

 

 

 

... and more birds...



Straw-necked Ibis

...and sunset behind the pond...

Our first night on the road. Inside the tent was like a sauna.

Then it's morning number two, on the road just after 0600 with the sun coming up behind the trees and a couple of interestingly-dressed termite hills...

Morning was 70 km on a scenic road with hardly any traffic and birds everywhere - such a contrast from China where we hardly saw any...



Black Kite

Sulphur-crested Cockatoo



Sulphur-crested Cockatoo

After lunch, it was back on the main highway where we're becoming familiar with the Australian 'Road Trains' - semis pulling three or four big trailers.

A long afternoon, unrelenting heat, unrelenting sun directly overhead, and unrelenting headwind of at least 20 knots. The day's distance was just over 130 km and we barely were able to finish. The lunch truck had to make a second trip back to pick up riders. If heat and wind are the same next week when we have one day at 169 km, we'll be hitching a ride with the lunch truck too.

Camp tonight gave us a couple of amusing signs...

Another nice sunrise over the mango plantation on day three...

...and more birds in a shade tree approaching town a few kilometers short of the campsite...



Rainbow Lorikeet

Silver-crowned Friarbird

Rainbow Lorikeet

Sunday Oct 26 - an appreciated rest day. But we gave in... we spoiled ourselves with an air conditioned hotel room for the two nights here. Yes, the budget is going to suffer in this trip, but the heat is so oppressive that we're glad we wimped out.

Tomorrow it's back on the road for five successive riding days before a day or rest in Tennant Creek. Average distance almost 140 km, three days over 150.