Written at 6.45pm in total darkness (headlamp used to write).
I am almost too exhausted to eat. We didn't get to sleep until 11.30pm last night and I was awoken several times during the night by different things, including Dave rummaging for his sleeping bag after he'd fallen asleep right on the floor. Today was spent almost completely climbing- it was a gradual one, but almost constant until the rangeview rest stop 40 miles out of Port Augusta.
Andrew was off course off like a rocket this morning, and Dave and I made good time initially. However several small things happened in rapid succession including Dave having a massive rear tire blowout that shredded his tube! In addition to repairing the tire, Dave also had to re-true his wheel as the blowout bent the rim a bit. I stayed with him in case we needed to call for a new rim/tire/etc. Anyway over the course of the day we lost a bit of time and with the constant 12 mph headwind we struggled uphill...
By 4pm Dave and I reached the Rangeview and were ready to stop.... However, with Andrew at least 20 miles ahead of us we had to keep moving as we had no plan for what to do if we became separated (we do now!). Exhausted, we decided we need to just gut it out for the next 20 miles and catch up with Andrew. As luck would have it, we did find him waiting patiently for us at a rest area that was a full 7 miles closer than what we expected- AWESOME!!!
So with the sun setting we pitched our tents, made a quick supper which tasted like chalk in my mouth... but now as I'm writing, I'm becoming aware of the billions of stars overhead including the Southern Cross. I'm going to spend 5-10 minutes stargazing and then off to bed for some well-earned rest.
