“Must be” stop and first goal reached.
The wind had changed already in the morning (strong and more from the front). Due to the humidity of the night, I had to wait until the tent was dry because it looked like it had really rained.
The table lands are nice… BUT: one can see that Australia was once connected to Chili some millions of years ago (isn’t?). They cannot built roads. Always up and down and mostly straight instead of some more turns but flatter.
Anyway, the wind did not really help and the lack of sleep of the last night(s) as well as my mood did not really help. My legs were slowly feeling the long distance.
I had something to eat in Mount Garnet, a town kind of dedicated to mining: nearly all road have names related to the mines. Opal Street, Uranium road, Silver street, etc etc.
But my goal for today had its source in Chile: I wanted to stay at the hot sources caravan park, even if the distance was not 120km as “daily business”. On the other hand: I ‘m on time, I just have reach the 3000km mark so why should I rush? I would arrive about at 14h giving me plenty of time to rest.
About 2km before arriving, I saw a groupe of mountain biker, which I saw again on the camp ground: Glen (with a Specialized Stumpjumper like I have, just another colour and no Speedhub) invited me to stay near their “camp”. We had a nice chat, but then three of the seven had leave, including Glen. Carol & Ross and Judy & Paul were staying. But the discussion were still nice: Where I have been, what I ‘ve seen, what I thought about Australia etc etc. But then it was time to set up the tent and make me ready for the hot bathes. Already the shower was very hot because the cold water already over 35°C and so the temperatur hard to regulate.
The big difference to Chile was the temperatur of the air. While at over 3600m, the air was around 0 – 15°C, here above Cairns, the temperatur is nicely at 25°C or more. So your head is not cooled.
After 30 minutes I had enough, took another shower and went back to the tent to get my shaving stuff: It was time to looks like more “human”.
Until the group came back, I spend some time on writing…yep, that take a while – and it was soon evening: We cooked on the different stove (my first gas bottle just ran empty) and had my dark, slow burning carbohydrate pasta with curry vegies. And some nice Australian wine. The discussion continued… and we went sleeping.
Cheers, Georges
The day in numbers: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/81683978
