Donation from Flo who works for the Aboriginal Land Council last night - must have been Gordon's witty and uplifting conversation that inspired her.....or perhaps not. Thank you Flo.
An early start again with reveille at 0600 hours. Had breakfast with Colin and some of the other guests who were going out to fix up security screens on various buildings. Gordon still comatose. I know I keep going on about the mornings being the best time for cycling up here, but rolling along the 25 kilometers of bitumen to Coen airport as the sun was rising, temperature perfect, and the birds singing just reinforces my view. Saw an enormous Brahmin bull on the road and gave him as wide a berth as possible....he was a big lad with lots of equipment dangling.
After the airport, the road turned to dirt again. The road is quite varied. This morning it was very wide, sandy and flat. Later on it became narrower with steep cllimbs in and out of creek beds. The main thing, however, with the exception of just a few spots, the road condition is so much better than before and I was able to make good progress.
I got to Archer River Roadhouse by 1100 hours where we had a break. Everyone on the road is very friendly - lots of waves and thumbs up. One guy drew alongside me and asked me where I had come from and what I was doing. He could not quite believe we had come from south of Melbourne in 5 weeks. "Bugger me! You're bloody mad! Good on yer mate!"
Stopped for lunch and Colin's catering gave me a real boost and I was able to pedal beyond the planned destination which was the junction with the Telegraph Road. It had been sunny for most of the day, but then this afternoon it became overcast and started to drizzle - this was quite good as it dampened down the dust and kept me cool and fortunately did not affect the road conditions. It has been very humid.
As I pedalled north, Colin and Gordon went to find a campsite by the road. The road north here is much quieter and more narrow than the main drag to Weipa. It was also pretty smooth for a dirt road. The iPod was back for this stretch. Gordon had selected a good campsite in an open area. On arrival, I had a strip wash in a bowl. I was covered in orange dust. Although it was still drizzling, I felt a whole lot better for the wash. Today I cycled 147 kilometers (92 miles) - quite pleased to get the contingency distance under the belt.
Tonight Gordon cooked Moroccan Chicken - very tasty. Colin is trying to contact home with his satellite phone complete with personally manufactured ariel....it worked!
A good day.
Thoughts and comments:
- There do not appear to be emus at the Archer River Roadhouse, but there are a number of fine looking horses.
- I have absolutely no doubt as to the moral virtue of the girls who serve at Roadhouses in this part of Queensland. Gordon thinks otherwise....
- Fact of the day: The telegraph system in the Cape was started in 1886. The southern section began at Fairview where we stayed the other day.
- Snack of the day: Archer River Roadhouse - Archer Burger(burger, egg, salad, cheese, bacon, pineapple)
- Tune of the Day: Today I was humming The Blues Brothers - Everybody Needs Somebody
Tomorrow we have planned to stay at Bramwell Junction but intend to go further if possible.
Gordon says ...
I'm not sure at which point during the last month and a half, for Nigel, the blog changed from being an adjunct to the bike ride, to it being the other way around - but change it did. The masterpiece above took over three hours, for Christ's sake ...
A further gripe. Nigel keeps writing ' Gordon still comatose', 'Gordon feel asleep when we got to the motel' etc. All kidding aside, the only time I can sleep is when Nigel doesn't. I think I am now in the final stages of severe sleep deprivation. In contrast to Nigel's happy 8--9 hours sleep per night, I am getting by on between 3 and 4, which is just not enough. Fair enough, I think I'm probably quite a light sleeper, but Nigel snores so loudly, that ear plugs and two pillows over my head make no difference at all. Day after day, I've woken up having hardly slept at all - staring down the barrel of 150 kms on the road, only to face the same thing the next day ... and the next. The day I crashed, I don't think I had slept at all. In fact, that morning, a guy at the campsite complained to Nigel in the morning about his snoring ... and he was camped 10m away, inside a campervan... yes, INSIDE a soundproofed van ... and Nigel was still deafening - something like an elphant seal being skinned alive. Imagine being three feet away from that, night after night. As the guy spoke, Nigel loooked like he was sucking the world's bitterest lemon. Did Colin and I laugh ... Now I realise Nigel doesn't do it on purpose, but I feel I need to put the record straight on a line of blog humour that makes me look like a lazy slob.
As the above rant probably indicates, I am currently finding it a bit hard no longer being a functioning part of the ride. My role now that of making sandwiches for Nigel as he heads for the top end. Not quite the finish I had in mind.
Do you want tomato on that Nigel?
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