Thursday, July 22, 2010

Day 50 Pine Creek to Adelaide River

On the way out of town we stopped to have a photo next to a massive termite mound. Its only one of the millions of termite mounds that we've seen over the past several weeks, but I thought we really needed to document them as they truly are remarkable. Shortly thereafter, Andrew spotted a pair of wild asses off in the bush, and I managed to get a quick snapshot of them.

Thank God for tailwinds again today! We rode in hills (real hills) for most of the day and it would have been a rough 70+ miles if we had also had to fight the wind! We again had several close calls with vehicles- the local road-train construction truckies are a far cry from the professional long haul truckies we've come to know and respect. The heavy traffic was compounded by a lot of road constructions beginning at Hayes Creek. Hayes Creek was a nice, clean little town and I'd have enjoyed spending a little time there... next time.

We Stopped to rest and hydrate several times, but we still managed to roll into Adelaide River by 3.30pm. Just outside of town a vehicle was hailing us, and of course my attitude was not very ambassadorial... I was delighted however that the driver turned out to be a friend, Jason Scheepers! He had driven down from Darwin after work to meet up with us; fantastic!

Along with his co-worker Patrice, Jason joined us in the pub for a couple beers and a nice bite to eat... It was a very long day, and the beer and good company really helped to blunt the edge of it!

Jason and Patrice had to get back to Darwin right after supper, so Andrew and I set to the tasks of preparing to ride in the morning. It is only around 40 mile to Noonamah tomorrow, and I'm really hoping its an easy ride...